:BRIGHTSTUFF:..Personal & Political Musings & Rants by a Liberal Leftist Black & Asian Teacher

A forum friend of mine, ScotBot, posted these as a reminder of what a "great communicator" Ronald Reagan supposedly was.

Personally, I can't say that I remember too much about his policy except for the fact that his administration supported the apartheid government of South Africa when I was an anti-apartheid activist helping to spearhead a chapter of Amnesty International in my high school.

Here are some things that Reagan said.

A great communicator?

You decide:

Just before the Kent massacre, on April 7, 1970, Republican pro-war Governor Ronald Reagan in California said: "These students seek disruption...if it takes a bloodbath, let's get it over with!"

or

"You've seen one redwood, you've seen them all."

"Facts are stupid things."

"I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting."

"For decades, we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals.
You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we are not bound by that same limitation?"
—Inaugural address, Jan. 20, 1981

"An almost unbroken 50 years of deficit spending has finally brought us to a time of reckoning. We have come to a turning point, a moment for hard decisions. I have asked the Cabinet and my staff a question, and now I put the same question to all of you: If not us, who? And if not now, when? It must be done by all of us going forward with a program aimed at reaching a balanced budget. We can then begin reducing the national debt."
—Second inaugural address, Jan. 21, 1985

"I am not worried about the deficit, it is big enough to take care of itself."

"They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong."

"It's true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance."

"Trees cause more pollution than automobiles"

"All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk"

"We are trying to get unemployment to go up, and I think we're going to succeed."

"How are you Mr. Mayor? I'm glad to meet you. How are things in your city?"
- greeting Samual Pierce, his secretary of Housing and Urban Development, during a White House reception for mayors.

"My name is Ronald Reagan. What's yours?" -introducing himself after delivering a prep school commencement address. The individual responded, I'm your son, Mike," to which Reagan responded, "Oh, I didn't recognize you."

...and let's not forget the ever-famous "There is no word in Russian for 'freedom'."

Ahem.