US Politics: Common Ground Between Democrats and Republicans

[Swordfish]

Because conservatives live in a bubble where anything pre-2009 didn't really exist unless you're talking about the God Reagan.

The thing i find fascinating about this is why people on the left are so obsessed with talking about Reagan. it's something that has been sort of slowly escalating over the past few years. i have no idea where it started or why, but it is kind of amusing.

Especially in the context of posts like this, because the funny thing is, i almost never hear anyone on this board mention Reagan except those who are trying to disparage him. I've never seena ny idolotry of him on this board, and i also never hear him mentioned in conversation with conservative friends.

Now granted I don't watch the news or listen to conservative talking heads, so that could explain it. But from where I'm sitting, it's pretty odd and disproportional. Is this the new liberal mating call or something?

[Maithanet]

The thing i find fascinating about this is why people on the left are so obsessed with talking about Reagan. it's something that has been sort of slowly escalating over the past few years. i have no idea where it started or why, but it is kind of amusing.

Especially in the context of posts like this, because the funny thing is, i almost never hear anyone on this board mention Reagan except those who are trying to disparage him. I've never seena ny idolotry of him on this board, and i also never hear him mentioned in conversation with conservative friends.

Now granted I don't watch the news or listen to conservative talking heads, so that could explain it. But from where I'm sitting, it's pretty odd and disproportional. Is this the new liberal mating call or something?

If you've ever watched a republican primary presidential debate, you would know that all of the candidates will make every effort to compare themselves to, and lionize Reagan. Every effort. I remember one debate in the 2012 cycle where they asked what politician they most admired/sought to emulate. I think every single one (there were like 8 of them) said Reagan (it's possible Ron Paul didn't, I don't remember). So the moderator asked the followup of "BESIDES REAGAN" who would you pick? One candidate still picked Reagan.

[Swordfish]

If you've ever watched a republican primary presidential debate, you would know that all of the candidates will make every effort to compare themselves to, and lionize Reagan. Every effort. I remember one debate in the 2012 cycle where they asked what politician they most admired/sought to emulate. I think every single one (there were like 8 of them) said Reagan (it's possible Ron Paul didn't, I don't remember). So the moderator asked the followup of "BESIDES REAGAN" who would you pick? One candidate still picked Reagan.

Well... OK. I guess. I don't watch those debates. But even if that's true, and i have no reason to believe it isn't, it still seems out of proportion. Primary debates are not every day occurrences after all, the example you're mentioning was years ago.

look at the post i quoted for example. No one was talking about debates, or Reagan, or as far as i can tell, anything that had anything to do with Reagan. it was a completely out of the blue.

ETA: Do a search on 'reagan' in the forums, and you'll see pretty clearly what I'm talking about I think.

[DanteGabriel]

I suspect a lot of the hits on the Reagan search will come up with my posts, so I'll discuss my animus for Reagan.

Reagan normalized and mainstreamed a lot of the bullshit that is par for the course these days. Supply-side economics was derided by a George HW Bush, a Republican standard-bearer, as "voodoo economics" when he was running against Reagan for the nomination in 1980. Then when he became Reagan's running mate, he accepted it. We've had 30 years of proof that supply side economics doesn't work -- or at least doesn't work in the implementations that Republicans have made into their dogma. Look at Kansas, which is suffering very current budgetary problems because they went Whole Reagan. Never go Whole Reagan. I would love for supply side economics to be a thing of the past. But it's a real and current problem. The Pope just called it out a few months ago. The widening gap between rich and everyone else, middle class wage stagnation, all this came about as a result of Reagan's toxic legacy of normalizing and mainstreaming greed.

It frustrates me that someone who was so incredibly wrong, so toxic, so willing to play to racial fears and McJesus, is so lionized that even fucking Obama has to pay lip service to that old fraud's whitewashed legacy.

Reagan was a very influential President. His influence and legacy, in my opinion, have done incalculable damage to the country. And since politicians of both sides feel it necessary to worship at his altar, I am going to keep badmouthing him at every opportunity.

[TrackerNeil]

Well... OK. I guess. I don't watch those debates. But even if that's true, and i have no reason to believe it isn't, it still seems out of proportion. Primary debates are not every day occurrences after all, the example you're mentioning was years ago.

Swordfish, the example he's talking about was about two years ago -- the last goddamned Republican presidential primary debate. They only happen every four years, you know, so it's not like we can often cite examples that happened last week. Jeezly crow.

[Swordfish]

Swordfish, the example he's talking about was about two years ago -- the last goddamned Republican presidential primary debate. They only happen every four years, you know, so it's not like we can often cite examples that happened last week. Jeezly crow.

Um... It's like you didn't even read my posts...

The fact that it was two years ago and they don't happen often enough to provide recent examples was exactly my point.

Grizzly cow.

[Suttree]

Robert Reich brings us today's GOP gem from Congressman Dan Young.

Commenting on a recent student suicide at an Alaska high school, Alaska’s Republican Congressman Don Young said yesterday suicide didn’t exist in Alaska before “government largesse” gave residents an entitlement mentality. “When people had to work and had to provide and had to keep warm by putting participation in cutting wood and catching the fish and killing the animals, we didn’t have the suicide problem.” Suicide comes from federal handouts that tell people “you are not worth anything but you are going to get something for nothing.”

This is the kind of mentality the nation is up against as we vote on our future. Please vote, and vote wisely.

[OnionAhaiReborn]

Recent conservative media Reagan praising:

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/10/21/A-Time-for-Choosing-The-Next-Generation-Entitlements

http://spectator.org/articles/60716/time-choosing-50

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-ronald-reagans-a-time-for-choosing-endures-after-all-this-time/2014/10/23/d833c49e-587a-11e4-bd61-346aee66ba29_story.html

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/10/23/four-lessons-ronald-reagan-can-teach-us-today/

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/oct/22/crowley-a-reagan-refresher-course-on-freedom/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/10/a-time-for-choosing-50.php

Apparently a speech Reagan gave 50 years ago in support of Goldwater calling for the privatization of Social Security and accusing Democrats of Marxism was worth a lot of attention.

Oh, and then there's this, which is very amusing: Author Calls for South to secede and form country called Reagan

A conservative columnist-turned-author is calling on southern states to secede from the rest of the nation and form their own country, called Reagan.

[K-26dp]

Recent conservative media Reagan praising:

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/10/21/A-Time-for-Choosing-The-Next-Generation-Entitlements

http://spectator.org/articles/60716/time-choosing-50

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-ronald-reagans-a-time-for-choosing-endures-after-all-this-time/2014/10/23/d833c49e-587a-11e4-bd61-346aee66ba29_story.html

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/10/23/four-lessons-ronald-reagan-can-teach-us-today/

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/oct/22/crowley-a-reagan-refresher-course-on-freedom/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/10/a-time-for-choosing-50.php

Apparently a speech Reagan gave 50 years ago in support of Goldwater calling for the privatization of Social Security and accusing Democrats of Marxism was worth a lot of attention.

They don't count because Swordfish hasn't personally read those.

[TrackerNeil]

Um... It's like you didn't even read my posts...

The fact that it was two years ago and they don't happen often enough to provide recent examples was exactly my point.

Grizzly cow.

No, I read it, and I got your point, but MY point is that the VERY LAST REPUBLICAN PRIMARY DEBATE contained a fascination with Reagan, but you dismiss that as "years ago." How recent does the Reagan-worship have to be before you'll acknowledge it?

[Swordfish]

No, I read it, and I got your point, but MY point is that the VERY LAST REPUBLICAN PRIMARY DEBATE contained a fascination with Reagan, but you dismiss that as "years ago." How recent does the Reagan-worship have to be before you'll acknowledge it?

here are some things I also said:

Well... OK. I guess. I don't watch those debates. But even if that's true, and i have no reason to believe it isn't, it still seems out of proportion. Primary debates are not every day occurrences after all, the example you're mentioning was years ago.

look at the post i quoted for example. No one was talking about debates, or Reagan, or as far as i can tell, anything that had anything to do with Reagan. it was a completely out of the blue.

Especially in the context of posts like this, because the funny thing is, i almost never hear anyone on this board mention Reagan except those who are trying to disparage him. I've never seena ny idolotry of him on this board, and i also never hear him mentioned in conversation with conservative friends.

Now granted I don't watch the news or listen to conservative talking heads, so that could explain it. But from where I'm sitting, it's pretty odd and disproportional. Is this the new liberal mating call or something?

Context is your friend.

Criminy bunnies.

[TrackerNeil]

here are some things I also said:

Context is your friend.

Criminy bunnies.

The lengths to which some will go to avoid conceding a goddamned point. Have it your way, SF.

[Fez]

Here's your Reagan-fetish for you.

Conservative author Douglas MacKinnon has expressed the need for southern conservative states to break away from the Unites States in order to form a new nation that will “attack all faith in God with a particular and unhinged bias against the Christian faith.” MacKinnon promoting his new book, The Secessionist States of America: The Blueprint for Creating a Traditional Values Country … Now, has proposed to name the new nation “Reagan,” in honor of the 40th President of the United States of America.

Douglas MacKinnon, a former speechwriter for Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush, told right-wing radio host Janet Mefferd yesterday that his proposal for “Reagan” with the aid of “a constitutional law expert, two former military officers, two former diplomats, a minister, another special operator, and experts on banking, energy, farming, and infrastructure.”

MacKinnon has surprisingly decided to leave out Texas in the proposed plan in fear of incursions from Mexicans. He said “there have been a number of incursions into Texas and other places from some of the folks in Mexico.” However, “Reagan” would include states such as Florida, Georgia and South Carolina with hopes of other states joining in.

ETA: This happened yesterday.

[BloodRider]

The thing i find fascinating about this is why people on the left are so obsessed with talking about Reagan. it's something that has been sort of slowly escalating over the past few years. i have no idea where it started or why, but it is kind of amusing.

Especially in the context of posts like this, because the funny thing is, i almost never hear anyone on this board mention Reagan except those who are trying to disparage him. I've never seena ny idolotry of him on this board, and i also never hear him mentioned in conversation with conservative friends.

Now granted I don't watch the news or listen to conservative talking heads, so that could explain it. But from where I'm sitting, it's pretty odd and disproportional. Is this the new liberal mating call or something?

Why do you care? Either thay are off base, and therefore wasting thier resources chasing phantoms, or they are not, but they are talking about someone who you do not care about.

[Gneisenau]

Well who else can the GOP pay hommage to ? Bush Jr/Sr ? Nope. Nixon ? Hell no. Eisenhower ? Would made the current GOP look bad.

[lokisnow]

Also congress resisted and opposed Reagan agenda but also compromised with him on policy and continued the duties of goverance. They didn't put up barriers of total opposition.

[aceluby]

Now we have the irony of a guy who doesn't care about Reagan, talking about how weird it is to talk about Reagan.

[ThinkerX]

Being a life long inhabitant of Alaska, I figure my two cents might count for something here:

Commenting on a recent student suicide at an Alaska high school, Alaska’s Republican Congressman Don Young said yesterday suicide didn’t exist in Alaska before “government largesse” gave residents an entitlement mentality. “When people had to work and had to provide and had to keep warm by putting participation in cutting wood and catching the fish and killing the animals, we didn’t have the suicide problem.” Suicide comes from federal handouts that tell people “you are not worth anything but you are going to get something for nothing.”

This is the kind of mentality the nation is up against as we vote on our future. Please vote, and vote wisely.

I grew up on an Alaskan homestead at the edge of civilization. This homestead was one of several dozen in the immediate area. Homesteading is hard, brutal work - give Don Young credit there. But for every homesteader that proved his parcel, there were eight or ten others that failed. They gave up and left, drank themselves into oblivion, went nuts in not so amusing ways, or they died - frequently by suicide. My father was a founding member of the local volunteer fire department. SOP was, when possible, that suicides would be listed as 'accidental gunshot.'

OR to put it another way, Do Young is an idiot.

[TrackerNeil]

Well who else can the GOP pay hommage to ? Bush Jr/Sr ? Nope. Nixon ? Hell no. Eisenhower ? Would made the current GOP look bad.

I know, right? Think about the 2016 conventions of the two major parties. At the Democratic convention you'll see Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, and various others who were either in the White House or ran for it. The Republicans? Well, you won't see any Bush there except maybe Jeb, nor will Dick Cheney or Dan Quayle put in an appearance. Mitt Romney might be allowed to lurk in the shadows somewhere, and John McCain's invite will be lost in the mail.

If you don't count Ronald Reagan, the last president Republicans aren't ashamed of left office in 1960. (Before that, maybe Calvin Coolidge.) Democrats, despite how much we bitch about our presidents, are proud to own up to any one of them for the past 100 years except Jimmy Carter and sometimes LBJ.

[theprincethatwasntpromised]

Being a life long inhabitant of Alaska, I figure my two cents might count for something here:

I grew up on an Alaskan homestead at the edge of civilization. This homestead was one of several dozen in the immediate area. Homesteading is hard, brutal work - give Don Young credit there. But for every homesteader that proved his parcel, there were eight or ten others that failed. They gave up and left, drank themselves into oblivion, went nuts in not so amusing ways, or they died - frequently by suicide. My father was a founding member of the local volunteer fire department. SOP was, when possible, that suicides would be listed as 'accidental gunshot.'

OR to put it another way, Do Young is an idiot.

Alaska huh? Enjoy that 37% rate increase for your government healthcare.