Ronald Reagan
By Mitch Berg
Today would have been the 97th birthday of the greatest president of the second half (and maybe all) of the twentieth century, and almost-certainly the greatest president of my lifetime, Ronald Reagan.
I’ll try to bring some jelly beans to the office.
I thought about digging out a slew of quotes from the Great Communicator – and other blogs no doubt will. Check ’em out.
But I was reminded of the greatest testimony to Reagan as I spoke with the fella from the Caucuses at the caucuses. The man, who grew up under the Soviet system, and I spoke for a while, and as we talked about conservatism, he move the conversation over to Ronald Reagan; he testified to the reverence people all over Eastern Europe feel for the man.
The Georgian reminded me of a quote I got from a Ukrainian co-worker a few years ago. A bit of a liberal bohemian himself, he’d likely never have been a Reagan voter.
And yet when we talked politics, he solemnly noted “Ronald Reagan gave me my life”.
With that in mind, I give you this.
Happy Birthday, Gipper.
February 6th, 2008 at 9:46 am
[…] Mitch Berg has his annual tribute to Ronald Reagan on what would have been his 97th birthday. […]
February 6th, 2008 at 11:04 am
The more I read about Reagan, the more I like him. Read the things he has said a written over the course of his life. Incredible mind.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Here’s the link to my tribute to Reagan.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
That tax-raising, free-spending, amnesty-granting, arms-trading, terrorist-negotiating, cut-and-running, negotiator with Evil???
Rudy would never stand for such a thing.
/jc
February 6th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
slash, your schtick never gets any older.
February 7th, 2008 at 3:11 am
Slash,
Disingenuous as ever:
tax-raising,
I’ve handed you your ass on that one enough times that you should have a bit of Tupperware in your fridge labeled “My Ass”.
His increase was a tiny fraction of his cut. And you either know it, or the koolaid has rotted away your frontal lobes.
February 7th, 2008 at 4:59 am
The notion that Reagan raised taxes on the middle class is deeply embedded in the democrat mind. I know two people — otherwise intelligent, though liberal — who repeated this nonsense. I’ve actually shown them the figures and the tax tables. It did nothing to convince them. It’s like a religion with these guys. They will never, ever admit that Reagan did anything but raise taxes on everyone but the rich and give the proceeds to evil corporations.
February 7th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Mitch,
That no-good tax-raising Reagan raised taxes more than Bubba!
Wall Street Journal says so:
Contrary to Republican claims, the 1993 [Clinton] package with a $240 billion tax increase is not “the largest tax increase in history.” The 1982 deficit-reduction package of President Reagan and Sen. Robert Dole in a GOP-controlled Senate was a bigger tax bill, both in 1993-adjusted dollars and as a percentage of the overall economy.
10/26/94 Wall St. J. A22
Mr. Reagan’s 1981 tax cut — “the largest tax cut in history,” he called it — was followed by Reagan-blessed tax increases in almost every ensuing year of his presidency.
6/7/04 Wall St. J. Eur. A1
US News & World Report says so:
According to a [2001] Treasury Department study (www.ustreas.gov/ota/ota81.pdf), there have been 15 major tax bills since 1980. Of these, 11 were tax increases. Ronald Reagan, the arch tax cutter, signed into law six of them, including the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, one of the largest tax increases in history. And of the four tax cuts, only the Economic Recovery Act of 1981 was significant.
3/8/01 USNWSW
Thank god the GOP has learned never to trust a flip-flopper on taxes like Reagan again!
/jc
February 7th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Counting NUMBERS of increases – as has been shown to you several times in the past – is meaningless.
The size of the cuts dwarfed the size of the increases.
Because size counts.