<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Real @ Aug 1 2008, 07:22 PM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Dumpy @ Aug 1 2008, 07:11 PM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Real @ Aug 1 2008, 06:58 PM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Actually Dumpy, that's good logic.
Now in the future twenty years from now, when kids born after 1/20/09 tell me that Bush was a horrible President, I'll tell them to STFU because they weren't alive during Bush's presidency!</div>
You don't get it, do you? There's a MATERIAL difference between saying, "I wasn't alive, but from what I've read, I think Reagan was a great president," and "the left should have shut the **** up after Reagan's presidency." You are imposing your mindset onto others that, because they were ALIVE, may have had a different impression and, yes, recollection of his two terms. Because you weren't alive, you can not fully appreciate the complexities that existed in those eight years. Sure, you can say statements like "Reagan ended the cold war," and "Reagan's fiscal policies rescued the country from high inflation and led to the economic expansion that followed," but you have no right to denigrate those that are focused on other things that happened during those years, things that you either don't know about or choose to ignore. I don't want to get fixated on Reagan, because it is far off-point, but, for instance, if you were a homosexual in the '80s, you'd have a far different opinion of the man. Simply because he did some things well does NOT give you the RIGHT to tell others--who lived during those times--that they can not and should not be critical. I wish I could say it clearer. You're better than that.
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There's no doubt that different people will have different opinions of the man, just as they would on any public figure.
Denny was commenting on how if Obama goes into office and screws up, the left wouldn't be able to talk anymore, since they had their chance in the White House, and screwed up, and I was commenting on how the left would never do that, since Jimmy Carter was an unpopular president who by many accounts didn't do so well, and was succeeded by a Republican who was very popular and by many accounts did a good job. Yet there were still Democrats who said their agenda was better and four years later Clinton was elected. You don't have to be alive or remember the times to realize this.
The right will never STFU either. Is the Republican party folding this year against Obama? I didn't think so.
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A couple of comments. First, the ideas and ideals espoused by the "left" and "right" have shifted over the years. Many positions once considered "left" are now mainstream; the same can be said for positions once considered "right." Everything is dynamic. It is overly simplistic to go back 20 years and to say that the "right" or "left" was proven correct or incorrect, as the case may be. Positions change; and conditions change. That said, perhaps I should remind you that Reagan was succeeded by his vice president, who enjoyed one of the highest approval ratings ever recorded with roughly 18 months remaining in his term. I believe he was up around 70%. Obviously, to get that kind of support, there couldn't be a left-right spectrum divide such as what it appears you are alleging. He was well on his way to getting re-elected in a landslide. Then things kind of . . . fell apart. To lose the support he lost in such a short time was due to more than just the democrats supporting a wholly different agenda--he lost the support of independents, moderates, and a whole bunch of republicans, also.
and, for the record, I've voted for democrats; I've voted for republicans. More often than not, I don't vote at all. I am currently registered as an independent. I would consider myself liberal on most (but not all) social issues, but a fiscal conservative; the politician that comes closest to my point of view, as far as I can tell, is a republican--schwarzenegger, as hard as it is for me to say that without feeling ridiculous. I have not decided who I will vote for for president.
