Quote:

Dave the Wonder Boy said:

I think you and Jim Jackson, Jackson in particular, have gone out of your way to express your contempt for Reagan. I'd suggest you start a "FUCK REAGAN!" topic, but you've already done your best to destroy the affectionate tribute to him here, and taint it for those, like myself, who admire and have affection for Reagan.



Now, hold the phone here...I do not have contempt for Reagan. In fact, here's what I have said that is on point regarding Reagan...

June 6: "Iran-contra. If you're going to take note of the highs, you must also note the lows."

June 6: "Reagan had stengths and weaknesses as president. In fairness to him as a man, we should not overlook or overemphasize either."

June 7: "I was never a Reagan supporter. I did not vote for him in the one election he ran in during my adulthood. I never felt that I was someone, as a liberal, whom Reagan would have embraced despite the fact that I, too, was born in the same United States as he. I found he skated out of harm's way over Iran-contra far too easily, and I felt in far more fear of nuclear proliferation than in any time up until the election of George W. Bush. "

Nonetheless, I am saddened at his passing. Despite our undeniable differences of opinion, Reagan was a great American, and in these immediate days following his death, I mourn his loss. I misted up at images of Nancy, clearly devastated at his death, and as one who has known death too, I understand her grief and the sense of loss that appears to permeate her. Reagan was cut from a cloth similar to that of my late father-in-law. Both worked for their country, my father in law as a soldier in WWII and Reagan as 40th US President. Both are gone and represent aspects of era we will likely not see again during our lifetimes. In some ways, that's a good thing, as both men probably held beliefs whose times had come and gone. But the time for that discussion is another day.

I wish the Reagan family well."

June 10: "Despite my disdain for VP Cheney, I thought his speech at Reagan's laying-in-state last night was very good."

June 11: "From Paul Krugman, NY TIMES: 'But Reagan does hold a special place in the annals of tax policy, and not just as the patron saint of tax cuts. To his credit, he was more pragmatic and responsible than that; he followed his huge 1981 tax cut with two large tax increases.'

Reagan did raise taxes.

Go to this source to read some interesting commentary on how much of what we've heard this week deifying Reagan isn't true. http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/4820649.html

I'm not going to dwell on anything anti-Reagan until after this weekend."

Show me where anything in that even resembles "contempt." I pointed out, to dispell myths that were being touted as fact upon his death, that Reagan did increase taxes later in his tenure and that Iran-contra occurred on his watch and with his knowledge. I also noted that Reagan didn't like talking about AIDS, but nowhere did I or do I label him a homophobe, anti-gay or anything of that nature.

I think I had very nice things to say about Reagan, I shed tears over his passing; I fucking even likened him to my late father-in-law, a man whom I loved dearly!

You have just decided to pigeonhole me as a Liberal who hates everything that doesn't speak to my politics. And that is so fucking wrong. But if it's easier for you to do, and it helps you sleep better, go right ahead. Changing your opinion doesn't mean a goddamn thing to me anyway. I'm not that quixotic.

Jim

We all wear a green carnation.