Was Ronald Reagan truly a man of integrity?

[Ivan Seeking]

There is nothing wrong with teenagers that reasoning with them won't aggravate. <Anonymous>

Insanity is hereditary: You catch it from your kids - Ronald Reagan

[in his personal diaries just released]

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Some of these are great!

Getting shot hurts

The Girl Scouts came by this morning and made me an honorary Girl Scout; and I didn't even have to go to Sweden for the operation!

I've heard that hard work never killed anyone, but my feeling is, why give it a chance?

- Ronald Reagan

 

[Ivan Seeking]

For all who remember the days of Reagan, this may be quite interesting - a review of his newly released diaries. It reminds of why Reagan was so loved and why I respected him so much: What he valued most was his integrity. No matter how I felt about any particular decision, for me this always shined in him.


[One reason that I like Obama so far is that I get hints of the same thing from him.]

See the second half of Meet the Press from this morning.

 

[Evo]

Reagan impressed me because he actually followed through (or at least made an attempt) on his campaign promises. He came across as a very likeable person.

 

[Astronuc]

Ronald Reagan should have stayed in show business, and Bush should have stayed in Texas.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Ronald Reagan should have stayed in show business...

He did!

 

[Astronuc]

in California.

 

[fourier jr]

yes reagan was a good guy. here's some good stuff about him:
http://deoxy.org/reagan.htm
& greg palast's tribute:
http://www.gregpalast.com/killer-coward-con-man-rngood-riddance-gipper/

 

[Ivan Seeking]

yes reagan was a good guy. here's some good stuff about him:
http://deoxy.org/reagan.htm
& greg palast's tribute:
http://www.gregpalast.com/killer-coward-con-man-rngood-riddance-gipper/

Well, let's take one of your quotes
"We're not building missiles to fight a war.
We're building missiles to preserve the peace." Ronald Reagan

He did help to end the cold war, and he and Gorbachev nearly managed to eliminate all missiles, but I assume that you weren't even a twinkle in your mamas eye back then.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I'll take an actor with integrity over a rich brat with none any day of the week.

 

[Astronuc]

I wish I could agree on Reagan's integrity, but I saw another side. He was not quite honest, and his support for groups like the Contras (and other illegal CIA activities in Latin America) and certain dictators, including Saddam Hussein, who violated human rights in various countries is problematic.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I wish I could agree on Reagan's integrity, but I saw another side. He was not quite honest, and his support for groups like the Contras (and other illegal CIA activities in Latin America) and certain dictators, including Saddam Hussein, who violated human rights in various countries is problematic.

Astro, I'll move these posts to the Remembering Reagan thread a little later.

My take on that is that he may have done things that I disagree with, but after watching the Iran-Contra hearings, I was convinced that he always did what he thought was right, and people around him like BUSH were ultimately responsible for any genuine wrong doing. In fact, this goes back to the origins of my disdain for Bush I. Unfortunately, Bush II is in a league of his own.

You might be interested in knowing that my support of Reagan almost caused Tsu and I to split.