MetaFilter posts tagged with reagan

Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine

Astro Zombie — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 11:59:54 -0800

Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine. Via Wikipedia: Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine is a 1961 LP recorded by Ronald Reagan. In this 11-minute recording, Reagan "criticized Social Security for supplanting private savings and warned that subsidized medicine would curtail Americans' freedom" and that "pretty soon your son won't decide when he's in school, where he will go or what he will do for a living. He will wait for the government to tell him." The LP was a product of Operation Coffee Cup, a stealth program by the American Medical Associaltion in opposition to what would later be Medicare. A history of the campaign from HuffPost.

1983: The Brink of Apocalypse

empath — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:22:13 -0800

1983: The Brink of Apocalypse -- In 1983 the NATO war exercise Able Archer almost started a nuclear war. Unknown to NATO, just a few months earlier a false alarm had already put the Soviet leadership on edge, and the exercise triggered preparations for a counter attack in the Soviet military. Only a few double agents on each side may have saved the world from nuclear armageddon. Bonus MAD Documentary: The Brink of Eternity (2, 3, 4, 5). Of course, if more world leaders listened to Matthew Broderick, none of this would of happened.

Is this 18.5 minutes of tape anything important?

Horace Rumpole — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 10:01:39 -0800

It's been a busy week for presidential libraries. The Nixon Library released 200 hours of tape (excerpts) and 90,000 pages of documents (excerpts) that detail his obsessive attempts to destroy his political enemies. The LBJ library released MP3s of dozens of phone calls, including one where he accuses Nixon of treason for stalling Vietnamese peace talks in advance of the 1968 election. Finally, the Reagan Library released 750,000 pages of documents (NYT, reg. req.) to researchers. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Ronald Reagan: A Graphic Biography

PostIronyIsNotaMyth — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 18:09:27 -0800

Ronald Reagan: A Graphic Biography From the writers of Malcolm X: A Graphic Biography. [via]

TSA busts myths, too!

spec80 — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 10:23:05 -0800

Last week, a woman at DC's Reagan Airport was detained because of water in her son's sippy cup. In an unusual step, the TSA has posted their own Mythbusters site where they show the security footage and the official incident report. Here is BoingBoing's take on the video. And a security/security technology blogger posts about the larger lesson that people readily side against the TSA "because there's no accountability or transparency in the DHS."

Excerpts from Reagan's diaries

ibmcginty — Thu, 24 May 2007 19:51:54 -0800

Excerpts from and pictures of Ronald Reagan's diaries while president, with a brief intro from historian Douglas Brinkley.

Stockman indicted

afu — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 22:37:50 -0800

Stockman agreed that supply-side theory was, in Greider's words, "only new language and argument to conceal a hoary old Republican doctrine: give the tax cuts to the top brackets, the wealthiest individuals and largest enterprises, and let the good effects 'trickle down' through the economy to reach everyone else." Said Stockman: "It's kind of hard to sell 'trickle down,' so the supply-side formula was the only way to get a tax policy that was really 'trickle down' .. . Kemp-Roth [the supply-side tax bill] was always a Trojan horse to bring down the top rate."

Reagon's Budget Director, David Stockman "was indicted for defrauding investors and banks of $1.6 billion while chairman of Collins & Aikman Corp., an auto-parts maker that collapsed days after he quit." via

Tim O'Brien: Every Time You...ah, forget it.

gottabefunky — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 13:53:12 -0800

Tim O’Brien – the painter and illustrator, not the writer – is so good with Photoshop (not to mention paintbrushes) that he can make Ronald Reagan cry.

Russian Bear Cartoons

maryh — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 12:32:38 -0800

There is a bear in the woods. Some people say he is adorabley blotto. Some people say he is a ponderous Pooh. Still others say he is as cute as a bug's bottom. Since nobody really knows for sure, isn't smart to be smarter than the average bear? If there is a bear? YouTubery Ahoy

Reagan tops Lincoln

papoon — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 05:56:52 -0800

A poll that the GOP is actually winning Reagan?! What is happening to The Atlantic?

The Hiding of the President

digaman — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 10:10:18 -0800

Keep Bush away from the press. Joe Scarborough (in the news lately for asking rude questions about the President's intelligence) opines that "If George Bush has lost his ability to give a commanding presser, then stage manage him differently. Play to his strengths... Show him only in settings where he is in control." Curiously, while Bush's press conferences have become unsetllingly less coherent in recent days -- even for him -- the so-called liberal media and even the blogosphere have barely mentioned it (perhaps in the spirit of preserving the dignity of the office, like FDR's wheelchair?) Example: watch this video -- what happens at 1:34 or so, right before the President abruptly terminates the questioning? Will Bush in his twilight years, as Foxborough advises, become like Ronald Reagan, protected from public humiliation by his faithful staff?

World Leader Family Photo Album

fenriq — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 12:39:36 -0800

World Leaders Were Kids Once Too
Photos of a whole bunch of world leaders as kids up through adulthood. Hey, Reagan was Teh Buff! And proof that Joe Stalin was NOT born with that mustache!

Insulation in High Places

digaman — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 20:40:44 -0800

Bush in the Bubble. Newsweek's analysis of the man who is possibly "the most isolated president in modern history."

you look so tired unhappy

jonson — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 13:53:34 -0800

Bring down the government! Flickr collection of scans from a CIA published guide for revolutionaries in Nicaragua; many of the suggestions are universally applicable. I myself have been guilty of at least one...

Everyone’s favorite conservative talk show host does battle with a 3-headed liberal monster!

you just lost the game — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 11:05:15 -0800

A must for Rush fans everywhere, and those who enjoyed Reagan's Raiders and Liberality.

Why are we not talking more about Haiti?

j-urb — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 09:48:03 -0800

Why are we not talking about Haiti? "No one has asked questions about the wildly partisan officials in U.S. State Department now running U.S. policy in the Caribbean and Latin America. These include such Blast-from-the-Past supporters of Reagan era highjinks in Central America as Otto Reich, John Negroponte, Elliot Abrams, and (before his ignominious departure last summer) John Poindexter."

dangerous radicals

31d1 — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 12:54:54 -0800

A Brief History of Slime , or How The Current Wave Of Global Islamic Terrorism Was Precipitated By A B-Movie Actor.

Thanks for the memories

growabrain — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 23:56:50 -0800

Thanks for the memories ..."I know it’s a fallacy * That grown men never cry Baby, that’s a lie * We had our bed of roses But forgot that roses die * And thank you so much..."

Reagan should be on a $3 bill

Postroad — Fri, 11 Jun 2004 16:03:21 -0800

Reagan should be on a $3 bill "For the funeral of Ronald Reagan, they took the body from Beverly Hills to Simi Valley, the white Los Angeles suburb, where it stayed for a day and a half or so then they drove it in one of these two hearses to the airport and flew it to Washington and then they had a march and afterwards put the casket into the Capitol for crowds to pass by and now there was to be another march and a religous service and then a drive to the airport, where the casket will be shuttled back to the airport south of Los Angeles and in a hearse to the final ceremony at his library on Friday. That is quite a funeral. They buried George Washingon in half the time. You keep thinking of Harry Truman, whose code was, "Do not impose." He left an order that there were to be no eulogies at his funeral."

Vote for Braaaaaaiiiiinsssss!

mathowie — Wed, 09 Jun 2004 12:11:43 -0800

Bush has a new running mate: Zombie Reagan. From the FAQ: What are some other advanatages of adding Zombie Reagan to the ticket? He will demonstrate America's resolve to continue the battle against terrorism. Instead of retreating to an undisclosed location, for instance, Zombie Reagan will be on the front lines, eating illegal combatants.

Margaret Thatcher writes about Reagan

David Dark — Mon, 07 Jun 2004 03:33:55 -0800

Flashback: Margaret Thatcher writes about Ronald Reagan. President Reagan saw instinctively that pessimism itself was the disease and that the cure for pessimism is optimism. He set about restoring faith in the prospects of the American dream — a dream of boundless opportunity built on enterprise, individual effort, and personal generosity. He infused his own belief in America's economic future in the American people. That was farsighted. It carried America through the difficult early days of the 1981-82 recession, because people are prepared to put up with sacrifices if they know that those sacrifices are the foundations of future prosperity.

Juan Cole remembers Reagan.

skallas — Mon, 07 Jun 2004 01:17:25 -0800

Juan Cole remembers Reagan. Cole: I did not say anything yesterday about Ronald Reagan's death. The day a person dies he has a right to be left alone. But yesterday is now history, and Reagan's legacy should not pass without comment.

R.I.P. R.W.R.

wendell — Sat, 05 Jun 2004 14:03:29 -0800

Breaking History: Ronald Reagan dead at 93.
Will today be marked as the culmination of his achievements or the "end of the Reagan Era"?
MeFites are advised to please avoid piling onto the subject or the messenger

Rich on Reagan

adrober — Sun, 16 Nov 2003 09:14:07 -0800

Terrific Frank Rich piece (NYT link) on Angels, Reagan, and AIDS in America.

CBS may cancel 'Reagans' mini-series over GOP protests.

skallas — Tue, 04 Nov 2003 02:17:37 -0800

CBS may cancel 'The Reagans' mini-series over GOP protests. Rep. John Dingall has some thoughts on the matter: As someone who served with President Reagan, and in the interest of historical accuracy, please allow me to share with you some of my recollections of the Reagan years that I hope will make it into the final cut of the mini-series: $640 Pentagon toilets seats; ketchup as a vegetable; union busting; firing striking air traffic controllers; Iran-Contra; selling arms to terrorist nations; trading arms for hostages; retreating from terrorists in Beirut; lying to Congress; financing an illegal war in Nicaragua; visiting Bitburg cemetery; a cozy relationship with Saddam Hussein; shredding documents; Ed Meese; Fawn Hall; Oliver North; James Watt; apartheid apologia; the savings and loan scandal; voodoo economics; record budget deficits; double digit unemployment; farm bankruptcies; trade deficits; astrologers in the White House; Star Wars; and influence peddling.