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@victor-meldrew yeah Reagan was a great president. I see the Twitter generation tries desperately to smear him.
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@kirwan said in US Politics:
@victor-meldrew yeah Reagan was a great president. I see the Twitter generation tries desperately to smear him.
The weirdest are those who accuse him of homophobia when he was the polar opposite and detested it.
He and Nancy had many openly-gay friends and their kid's have said their favourite "Uncle and Aunt" growing up were a lesbian couple. Doesn't fit with the progressive view that everyone on the Right is evil personified, I guess.
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I remember at the time the thought of Reagan as POTUS seemed horrifying. An actor ffs and a warmonger. Time to build your shelters everyone. But he actually turned out not so bad, got good people around him, listened to them and let them do their jobs. Seemed to work.
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@victor-meldrew said in US Politics:
@kirwan said in US Politics:
End stage Ronald Reagon
Reagan left office at the age of 78 after 8 years as POTUS. Looked tired at times but still more than capable. Here's his last presser:
Contrast with Biden who assumed office at the age of 78..... Frightening
What the US could do with someone like Reagan (or even Clinton) right now.
As an aside: "or even Clinton" - he was one of the most accomplished public speakers I have seen.
On the morning that we learned of the World Trade Centre attacks, past President Bill Clinton was surrounded by Australian reporters at a golf club car park in Port Douglas. Without specialist advisers and media scribes present he delivered thoughts, wisdom and advice as powerful and as reassuring as you could imagine. His personal calm and focus was extraordinary.
Bill was good at that, outstanding.
On President Ronald Reagan - he left office at the same age as li'l joey biden entered office! He had governed California for eight years, an economy with a GDP about the size of the tenth biggest country in the world, and had led his industry and union organisations from age 30 onwards. He earned his degree whilst working as a lifeguard. By age 26 he had launched his successful acting career and six years military service, during World War II.
By comparison, by age 28 the degenerate kiddie sniffer had scraped through law school in the bottom 10%, avoided the military draft a half dozen times until he discovered the fabulous impairment afforded by asthma, worked about two years in a solicitors office (his only lifetime employment) and wriggled into political representation where he relaxed for life. He did nothing much from that point on, other than drawing a public salary while building a bank of favours and corruption - became known as the "big guy". His financial fortune was built on Chinese and Eastern European interests who need favours.
President Reagan went on to forge extraordinary change in domestic and international spheres, notably in the company of Pope Saint John Paul II, Lech Wałęsa, Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev. These are foreign, unknown names all, and unimportant - I know. He survived been shot by an assassin, which is also little known.
Expert critics typically lose interest in him soon after sighting someone old looking like John Howard, who is therefore stupid. That assessment is locked in when they learn he suffered Alzheimer's and decide that he deserved it.
References to his grand legacy, readily demonstrable in objective terms, invariably attract such uneducated ignorance from smart people.
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@victor-meldrew said in US Politics:
While the New York Post is on the right, I've just watched a fair bit of the Biden presser and, bugger me, is was painful to watch.
He really looked and sounded like a bloke who's no longer mentally fit for his job. If he actually is mentally fit, the problem is even worse.
Even more concerning given his clear decline is who in the background is making decisions? With an appalling first 100 days and approval rating, it's clear to me that his administration are amping a possible conflict in Europe. One most European countries don't want. Germany for example which needs Russian gas.
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@mick-gold-coast-qld said in US Politics:
As an aside: "or even Clinton" - he was one of the most accomplished public speakers I have seen.
On the morning that we learned of the World Trade Centre attacks, past President Bill Clinton was surrounded by Australian reporters at a golf club car park in Port Douglas. Without specialist advisers and media scribes present he delivered thoughts, wisdom and advice as powerful and as reassuring as you could imagine. His personal calm and focus was extraordinary
Bill was good at that, outstanding.Bit of a tarnished record on domestic economic policy but he was very good at foreign policy - no question. He also tried to unite people - unlike Obama, Trump & Biden.
President Reagan went on to forge extraordinary change in domestic and international spheres, notably in the company of Pope Saint John Paul II, Lech Wałęsa, Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev. These are foreign, unknown names all, and unimportant - I know. He survived been shot by an assassin, which is also little known.
The thing I recall was he was always graceful and with a warm touch. He said to the surgeons, as he entered the operating room after being shot: “Please tell me you’re Republicans.”..... He was putting them at ease even then.
Reagan, Clinton, and to a lesser extent Bush, tried to bring people together and reach out across divides. The likes of Obama, Trump & Biden seem to want to build political walls rather than bridges.
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@antipodean said in US Politics:
One most European countries don't want. Germany for example which needs Russian gas.
The deciding issue which made me vote Remain in the Brexit referendum, despite how much I detest much of the EU, was Russia. I believed the UK being in the EU and the US's closest ally, would bring a lot more coherence and unity in dealing with Russia & Putin
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@antipodean said in US Politics:
Even more concerning given his clear decline is who in the background is making decisions?
Is anyone actually making decisions? The White House looks like it's on autopilot with buggy software.
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@victor-meldrew said in US Politics:
Bit of a tarnished record on domestic economic policy
His tax cuts created a rise in GDP and the top 10% not only paid more tax they paid a greater proportion of the revenue. People love to mention Clinton's balanced budgets but they neglect to recall that Reagan's forward estimates had removed federal budget deficits by 1993 anyway.
I think what's tarnished Reagan has been the association with the modern GOP. Well, that and Greenspan.
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@antipodean significant changes to reporting pandemic numbers from hospitals to the federal government starting on feb 2.
Some wonder the political motivations for such a change.
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@antipodean said in US Politics:
His tax cuts created a rise in GDP and the top 10% not only paid more tax they paid a greater proportion of the revenue.
There's a very good argument he created a housing bubble which eventually led to the GFC. He was still better than most, I think.
I think what's tarnished Reagan has been the association with the modern GOP. Well, that and Greenspan
I recall Reagan being subject to as much abuse as Trump from the day he was elected. He just rose above it and disarmed it time after time.
A left-wing opponent (may have been a UK MP) once sent Reagan a publicity still of him holding a chimp in a movie, thinking it a clever publicity stunt. Reagan sent it back signed with the words "I'm the one with the watch". Classy response.
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@siam said in US Politics:
Ronald Reagan speaking in black and white. Pretty insightful and rings true 40 odd years later:
He was branded as stupid by his opponents and many commentators, Read his diaries though, and it's clear he was anything but.
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@victor-meldrew I Agree, oh for his calibre of politician nowdays
I have heard some criticism of him for closing mental facilities way back then and the resulting homeless scourge devastating US cities today. But I don't know anything more than that.
Mind you 50 odd years is enough time for someone to rectify that.
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@victor-meldrew said in US Politics:
@siam said in US Politics:
Ronald Reagan speaking in black and white. Pretty insightful and rings true 40 odd years later:
He was branded as stupid by his opponents and many commentators, Read his diaries though, and it's clear he was anything but.
A legitimate blind appraisal/ comparison of his speeches and policies versus that of modern politicians would have all but the loony left saying they'd vote for him. History (outside of the pronoun brigade) will be kind to his legacy, as it should.
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@antipodean said in US Politics:
...A legitimate blind appraisal/ comparison of (Ronald Reagan's) speeches and policies versus that of modern politicians would have all but the loony left saying they'd vote for him. History (outside of the pronoun brigade) will be kind to his legacy, as it should.
From Victor Meldrew: "He was branded as stupid by ... many commentators"
From Siam: "I have heard some criticism of him for ..."
One day I will reconcile a long held curiosity about criticism of outstanding achievers. They could readily present a long parchment of their achievements, yet some media mediocrity or political hack can expect to be applauded for focusing on a single perceived failure ... an individual who does nothing more than watch those who accomplish many things, and write about their faults. So very many did that to Winston Churchill and to Douglas MacArthur, for example.
Banjo Paterson wrote about this phenomenon long ago:
But all the finest horsemen out, the men to Beat the Band
You'll find amongst the crowd that ride their races in the StandThey expect no level of perfection in their own efforts.
I suppose I should stop wasting time pondering this and simply be selective about the opinions worth reading. 😁😁
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This post is deleted!
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@mick-gold-coast-qld said in US Politics:
@antipodean said in US Politics:
...A legitimate blind appraisal/ comparison of (Ronald Reagan's) speeches and policies versus that of modern politicians would have all but the loony left saying they'd vote for him. History (outside of the pronoun brigade) will be kind to his legacy, as it should.
From Victor Meldrew: "He was branded as stupid by ... many commentators"
From Siam: "I have heard some criticism of him for ..."
Banjo Paterson wrote about this phenomenon long ago:
But all the finest horsemen out, the men to Beat the Band
You'll find amongst the crowd that ride their races in the StandWell shit, that could be the Fern by-line couldn't it?
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