dagblog - Comments for "Presidents"

Interesting list, Barth. And

acanuck — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 08:03:15 +0000

In reply to The Republicans have plenty

Interesting list, Barth. And I've got a nominee totally out of left -- I mean right -- field.

Barry Goldwater. Latter-day Goldwater. He'd been a hero of both the conservative and libertarian wings of the Republicans back in the '60s, but as the religious right asserted increasing control of the party, his libertarian principles took over. He took amazing stands on Watergate, gay rights, medical marijuana, separation of church and state -- things you knew had to be on principle because they were eroding support among his base.

He would have been a disastrous choice for president in 1964, of course. But by the end of his life, I had nothing but admiration for him.

Good post, Barth, and

Oxy Mora — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 13:10:26 +0000

In reply to The Republicans have plenty

Good post, Barth, and necessary, even though the adoration of Reagan in any context nearly makes me physically ill.

I'm reminded of the saying, "From shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations". Reagan helped set the stage. But it was the grandson of Prescott, George Bush, who squandered the family's resources, the "family" as the middle class. It's going to be a very long road back and I think we have barely begun the journey.

Good list, Barth. I had

Ramona — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 12:05:34 +0000

In reply to The Republicans have plenty

Good list, Barth. I had forgotten some of them. Today's Republicans would just as soon forget the ones you've mentioned, of course. If they actually counted them as heroes, they would be trying to emulate them instead of closeting them.

That they've latched onto Reagan as the Republican to look up to speaks volumes about where they're planning on taking their party. In time even he will be too tame for them.

Ten things about Reagan the

cmaukonen — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 03:43:07 +0000

In reply to Presidents

Ten things about Reagan the right would like you to forget.

The Republicans have plenty

Barth — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 03:02:00 +0000

In reply to An eloquent reminder, Barth,

The Republicans have plenty of heroes, flawed in some ways, but so are ours. They were the party wich stood up to the divided and racist Democratic Party, of course, and are, at least technically the party of Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. though, of course, the core of the party of today was the one that renominated William Howard Taft, rather than Theodore Roosevelt or Robert LaFollette---real heroes both.

But for their many faults and blind eyes to things unpleasant, there are Thomas E. Dewey and Dwight Eisenhower, who made the party accept the New Deal over the remaining Taft on the scene. There is even, spare me the Nazi stuff, G H W Bush's father, Prescott Bush who, as Senator from Connecticut knew what Joseph McCarthy was doing to our country and did his best to stop it.

There is Senator Everett Dirksen who knew his job, after President Kennedy was murdered, to collect enough northern votes to pass the civil rights and voting rights acts. There are Jacob Javits, Clifford Case and Charles Goodell and, lest we forget, Lincoln Chaffee who represented the best of their party (mostly) and even William Scranton, the two Governors Rockefeller (Winthrop and Nelson) and George Romney, who, sadly, had a son whose head turned out to be as empty as everything else that surrounds him.

Ronald Reagan destroyed all of that. What's left of that party is a comic book. They drove Senators Jeffords and Spector away (and probably Senator Hagel) and what is left---beyond Senator Lugar, the John McCain of 2000 (wherever he may be) and a handful of once in a blue moon reasonable people---Snowe, Collins, Murkowski, etc., the party is a band of screwballs and nuts. Like President Reagan.

An eloquent reminder, Barth,

Ramona — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 01:25:28 +0000

In reply to Presidents

An eloquent reminder, Barth, of who Reagan really was and how revolting this celebration of a false memory really is. It's a fact that Reagan was our president and he would be 100 years old, but everything else about these tributes are not just false but phony. The Republicans have few heroes and so have to make the most of any they can pawn off as such.

I despise that there are so many who can so easily forget the hardships we had to endure under Ronald Reagan. He was the perfect puppet. A man who was content to just play a president and not actually have to be one. It spawned George W. Bush, as well--another one who loved the trappings but not the job. (Something else I won't be celebrating this weekend.)

We're a sorry bunch. I hate to keep saying it, but it's true. That there is even a Republican party after what they've done to this country is dispiriting enough. That they won major victories in November and are already looking for ways to reward themselves is almost more than I'm able to bear.

Why is it that nearly

cmaukonen — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 23:49:02 +0000

In reply to Presidents

Why is it that nearly everyone this country supports and has supported are dictators and total pricks ?

Birds of a feather maybe ?