"Those who control the present control the past"

During and after his presidency, Reagan was not popular. The Republicans have always hated the fact that a liberal president, JFK, was - and continues to be - very popular. They have been spinning Reagan's accomplishments and historical popularity for many years, just so they can have an historical figure to compete with Kennedy. Hell, Reagan would be called a communist by today's Republicans.

I remember he was stupid, took more vacations than any president up until GWB, needed all of his presidential briefings boiled down to a single page or even a single paragraph (because he was a "big picture guy" not a details/nuances guy), and I remember hating his guts.

The first time I was eligible to vote (you had to be 21 then), I voted against Reagan for governor of California. I voted against him twice for governor and twice for president. Maybe I'm a jinx.

I remember writing a paper about him in a Poli Sci class at the university many years ago (before he was president). In doing research about his time as governor, I discovered that he was even worse than I had thought. Which was pretty bad.

I'll tell you how much I disliked him, I believed Dark Victory.

The book or the 1939 movie by the same name. He was in both.

I linked the book.

I know. I was just fucking around.

Reagan was the president of a union. He later destroyed the unions when it was advantageous to him politically.
When he was still pro-union (and working in the movies), he lobbied for the implementation of  income-averaging in federal taxes. As soon as he became president, he did away with it.
When he was governor, he vetoed a bill that would have implemented withholding for state income taxes. We used to have to write a check at the end of the year for the year's taxes. Part of the support for the withholding bill was that this method was painful for many taxpayers. His remark was that, "Taxes should hurt." He did not pay any income taxes that year. He managed to get his ranch in Santa Barbara classified as agricultural in order to save massive amounts on property taxes. The land was not suitable for - nor was it used for - agriculture. No one else with similar property got the tax break he did.
He was a slimy, dishonest turd. Which may explain why the Republicans now love him - he fits in with the rest of them.

I know.

That's why the book was titled what it was.

Doncha know.

_Howard wrote:

He was a slimy, dishonest turd. Which may explain why the Republicans now love him - he fits in with the rest of them.

Except these days he would be so far to the left of their platform that he wouldn't get funding or nominations for anything.

Yeah, they would probably never forgive him for once supporting the American Communist Party.

To say nothing of:

• raising taxes 11 times
  
• giving amnesty to illegal aliens
  
• compromising with Congress
  
• grew the debt by 3x
  
• enacting some environmental protections
  
• etc.