Hal (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
libertango) wrote2004-06-21 09:49 pm
libertango) wrote2004-06-21 09:49 pm
Late comment on Reagan
I was always ambivalent about Reagan. As a small-c conservative, I never thought replacing "tax and spend" with "spend and borrow" made much sense. On the other hand, he did have that famous line from the debates:
"(A)re you better off than you were four years ago?"
But an awful lot of current day "conservatives", when they bother to pay attention to Reagan at all, tend to quote that line by itself. In the recent rush of Reagan articles, I saw the whole paragraph Reagan said at the time, and you can readily see why supporters of the man I call the Anti-Reagan, George W. Bush, tend to avoid it:
"Next Tuesday all of you will go to the polls... and make a decision. I think when you make that decision, it might be well if you would ask yourself, are you better off than you were four years ago? Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago? Is there more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago? Is America as respected throughout the world as it was? Do you feel that our security is as safe, that we're as strong as we were four years ago?"
As far as I can tell, Dubya is 0 for 6 on Reagan's checklist.
"(A)re you better off than you were four years ago?"
But an awful lot of current day "conservatives", when they bother to pay attention to Reagan at all, tend to quote that line by itself. In the recent rush of Reagan articles, I saw the whole paragraph Reagan said at the time, and you can readily see why supporters of the man I call the Anti-Reagan, George W. Bush, tend to avoid it:
"Next Tuesday all of you will go to the polls... and make a decision. I think when you make that decision, it might be well if you would ask yourself, are you better off than you were four years ago? Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago? Is there more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago? Is America as respected throughout the world as it was? Do you feel that our security is as safe, that we're as strong as we were four years ago?"
As far as I can tell, Dubya is 0 for 6 on Reagan's checklist.