Ronald Reagan Documentary

Mott the Hoople

Mott the Hoople

Sweet Jane
I just saw the Ronald Reagan documentary on HBO last night. Partisans on both the left and right will probably hate it. Which is probably about as strong as evidence as one needs that the film is spot on accurate.

On the whole the film is very fair to Reagan. I'm pretty sure the Grover Norquist and "Reagan as Mythology" crowd will be very, very uncomfortable with Ron Reagan, Jr's. comments as he is scrupulously honest about his father as a man, a person and a politician. That doesn't exactly jibe with the mythology they have created about Reagan.
 
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Mott the Hoople said:
I just saw the Ronald Reagan documentary on HBO last night. Partisans on both the left and right will probably hate it. Which is probably about as strong as evidence as one needs that the film is spot on accurate.

On the whole the film is very fair to Reagan. I'm pretty sure the Grover Norquist and "Reagan as Mythology" crowd will be very, very uncomfortable with Ron Reagan, Jr's. comments as he is scrupulously honest about his father as a man, a person and a politician. That doesn't exactly jibe with the mythology they have created about Reagan.
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I love Ronald Reagan Jr., I will have to check it out, thanks!
 
If it was Ronald Reagan: An American Journey by Robert Kline, I thought it pretty much sucked. The historical details were interesting, about his youth, growing up and all, but it was the constant pinhead left-wing interjections that bugged me. Could they not find some conservatives to interject? What the fuck do I care what Robert Reich has to say about Reagan? Or his half-wit son? I mean, if you are going to constantly bombard the documentary with partisan political opinions, what is the point? I watched about 3/4ths of it and had to turn it off, it was so bad. Not as bad as the pathetic hack job CBS did on him a few years ago, with James Brolin playing Reagan, that sucked on ice.
 
Reagan was a good leader for difficult times, but not the ideal conservative. Like most Republicans, he cut taxes but didn't push for spending cuts. One could argue that his hands were tied by the Democrats in Congress, but that's a tired excuse. Bush had control of both houses of Congress and did the same thing. The bottom line is Republicans don't think deficits are a big deal...well, unless a Democrat is in the White House.
 
Dixie said:
If it was Ronald Reagan: An American Journey by Robert Kline, I thought it pretty much sucked. The historical details were interesting, about his youth, growing up and all, but it was the constant pinhead left-wing interjections that bugged me. Could they not find some conservatives to interject? What the fuck do I care what Robert Reich has to say about Reagan? Or his half-wit son? I mean, if you are going to constantly bombard the documentary with partisan political opinions, what is the point? I watched about 3/4ths of it and had to turn it off, it was so bad. Not as bad as the pathetic hack job CBS did on him a few years ago, with James Brolin playing Reagan, that sucked on ice.
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No, I don't believe it was that one. That sounds like a PBS documentary. Though I'm reasonably sure you probably won't like this one either. They interview quite a few right wing partisans and few, if any, left wing partisans. Still and all, the documentary is fair and accurate not only about Reagan but to history as well.

The criticisms made about Reagan, and they were more then fair about extolling his virtues, were correct and accurate. The most serious criticism made in the documentary about Reagan was quite surprising as it comes from a man who was a serious Reagan partisan and it comes at the very end of the documentary.

I liked the documentary because it portrayed Reagan as the man of flesh I voted for twice and not the mythological idol that the Grover Norquist gang has tried to create about him. The documentary does a good job in demolishing these myths. Among my favorites is how they demolish the mythology of Reagan being a small government conservative.
 
Imperator Julius Caesar said:
Reagan was a good leader for difficult times, but not the ideal conservative. Like most Republicans, he cut taxes but didn't push for spending cuts. One could argue that his hands were tied by the Democrats in Congress, but that's a tired excuse. Bush had control of both houses of Congress and did the same thing. The bottom line is Republicans don't think deficits are a big deal...well, unless a Democrat is in the White House.
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I'd argue that. First there's no such thing as an "ideal" conservative. On the second no one person has had as significant impact on the modern conservative movement as Ronald Reagan did. Reagan's greatest political accomplishment was that he was able to galvanize blue collar working class resentment towards the excesses of the liberal movements of the 60's and 70's into vast levels of support for a Republican agenda that was often contrary to their economic interest and that political landscape has not changed much in recent years.

As for difficult times, I'd say that the situation in 1980, when Reagan came into office, are not nearly as difficult as the disaster President Obama inherited from the Bush administration in 2008.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
No, I don't believe it was that one. That sounds like a PBS documentary. Though I'm reasonably sure you probably won't like this one either. They interview quite a few right wing partisans and few, if any, left wing partisans. Still and all, the documentary is fair and accurate not only about Reagan but to history as well.

The criticisms made about Reagan, and they were more then fair about extolling his virtues, were correct and accurate. The most serious criticism made in the documentary about Reagan was quite surprising as it comes from a man who was a serious Reagan partisan and it comes at the very end of the documentary.

I liked the documentary because it portrayed Reagan as the man of flesh I voted for twice and not the mythological idol that the Grover Norquist gang has tried to create about him. The documentary does a good job in demolishing these myths. Among my favorites is how they demolish the mythology of Reagan being a small government conservative.
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Well Reagan WAS a small government conservative. Unfortunately, he had to work with a big government liberal congress! He could have been a completely polarizing figure, but he adopted an approach of working with Tip O'Neil, to get things done. It is only in retrospect that leftists can paint him as not being a small government conservative, and it's a totally dishonest portrayal.
 
Sorry Dixie. That's another Grover Norquist and gang mythology. There was a 60% increase in government spending during Reagan's tenure and all Reagan had to do to reign in congress was to simply use his veto power so your argument doesn't wash. Reagan grew increased government by 3% of GDP as compared to the 1.3% increase under Carter and Ford.

Then lets talk about regulation. Some deregulation had begun under Carter, such as, abolishing the civil aeronautics board and the deregulation of oil prices. Reagan halted that momentum. Cost of regulation grew substantially under Reagan. Cost that the executive branch of government are responsible for. Not congress.

Reagan also signed into law 43 environmental bills into law including, Superfund Amendment and Reauthorization Act, Safe Drinking Water Ammendments, Clean Water Act, Ammendments, Comprehensive Response, Compensation and Liability Act. Reagan easily could have vetoed these bills and the would not have been able to obtain a super majority in congress to become law but he didn't. He signed them into law and grew both the size of government and the scope of regulation and that's just one example of where Reagan grew the size, scope and cost of the executive branch of Government when he easily could have reigned that growth in by simply exercising his veto power.

So your "It's congresses fault" argument just doesn't hold water.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
I'd argue that. First there's no such thing as an "ideal" conservative. On the second no one person has had as significant impact on the modern conservative movement as Ronald Reagan did. Reagan's greatest political accomplishment was that he was able to galvanize blue collar working class resentment towards the excesses of the liberal movements of the 60's and 70's into vast levels of support for a Republican agenda that was often contrary to their economic interest and that political landscape has not changed much in recent years.

As for difficult times, I'd say that the situation in 1980, when Reagan came into office, are not nearly as difficult as the disaster President Obama inherited from the Bush administration in 2008.
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Yes, you would say that because you are a partisan hack.

The times were certainly different as were the challenges each faced. But to declare that the double digit inflation, the lack of growth in GDP that Reagan inherited from Carter wasn't as difficult is absurd. Reagan led. Obama thus far has pandered and wandered around not knowing what to do. Reagan made the hard choice to go with Volcker's plan that was necessary to right the ship, something Carter was afraid to do. Something Obama is afraid to do. Because both Carter and Obama were afraid it would kill their chances for a second term. To be fair, Reagan was able to make the choice at the beginning of his first term, Carter was not. Obama was provided that same chance and instead of righting the ship he decided to force Obama care down our throats rather than addressing the economy and jobs.
 
The Dude said:
Reagan was the biggest government Facist we have had since Nixon.
Skinheads and Klansman loved him though.
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LMAO.... yeah, amazing how the 'skinheads and klansman' were able to vote Reagan into office in massive land slides. Also, if you are going to call him a fascist.... at least learn to spell the word correctly.
 
Superfreak said:
Yes, you would say that because you are a partisan hack.

The times were certainly different as were the challenges each faced. But to declare that the double digit inflation, the lack of growth in GDP that Reagan inherited from Carter wasn't as difficult is absurd. Reagan led. Obama thus far has pandered and wandered around not knowing what to do. Reagan made the hard choice to go with Volcker's plan that was necessary to right the ship, something Carter was afraid to do. Something Obama is afraid to do. Because both Carter and Obama were afraid it would kill their chances for a second term. To be fair, Reagan was able to make the choice at the beginning of his first term, Carter was not. Obama was provided that same chance and instead of righting the ship he decided to force Obama care down our throats rather than addressing the economy and jobs.
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Oh what would you know? You were still shitting yellow in your diaper back then. Talk about hackery, it fucking hillarious that you refuse to recognize the historical fact that the period of stagflation was inherited by Carter from the Nixon/Ford administrations and that it was the policies implemented by Carter's Fed Chair Paul Voelker (which Reagan adopted and continued) that ended it but what ever dude. Keep drinking the kool-aid.
 
what did the budget do under Reagan,
the right doesn't like science but fuck the small gov BS is laughable. fucking morons

talk about the economy improving, likely due to all the gov spending fucktards.
 
The Dude said:
what did the budget do under Reagan,
the right doesn't like science but fuck the small gov BS is laughable. fucking morons

talk about the economy improving, likely due to all the gov spending fucktards.
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Isn't incredible how they operate under the philosophy of "If we repeat the same line of bullshit often enough then people will believe it's true?" LOL
 
I was all with them when I was younger and the stock market was all that mattered to me. All you have to do is read a little and you don't spew off that retard making statement of small gov. These morons are too stupid to look at what he did instead of just the script he read from.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
Oh what would you know? You were still shitting yellow in your diaper back then. Talk about hackery, it fucking hillarious that you refuse to recognize the historical fact that the period of stagflation was inherited by Carter from the Nixon/Ford administrations and that it was the policies implemented by Carter's Fed Chair Paul Voelker (which Reagan adopted and continued) that ended it but what ever dude. Keep drinking the kool-aid.
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LMAO... what is truly fucking funny is that you continue to proclaim Carter inherited the same. I have shown you the ACTUAL STATISTICS dozens of times PROVING YOU WRONG. Yet you continue to spout off such nonsense.

Volcker tried to initiate his plan under Carter, then Carter pussed out and convinced him to drop rates because the economy started to go south. It was REAGAN who allowed Volcker to re-implement his plan and see it through to the finish. No matter how many times you stamp your feet and pout, that is not going to change.

Now, usually this is the time you run away and refuse to return to the thread... lets see if you continue this cowardly trend of yours... or will this be the time you try and produce the actual data that proves your case?

What was the unemployment rate as Carter took office?
What was the GDP rate?
What was the inflationary rate?

When did Volcker first raise interest rates? When did he then lower them?
 
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