The propaganda about Reagan and AIDS is sickening misinformation.

In 1981, AIDS didn't even have a name yet. In 1982 500 people died of AIDS in the US, and Reagan spent $8,000,000 on research. That's eight million dollars to research a disease that had killed less than 1000 people, in the same year it was even named. There wasn't even a test for AIDS until 1985...

Between 1981 and 1990 77,000 people died of AIDS in the US, the entire decade. In 1985 alone 771,000 people died of heart disease. Yet for some reason Reagan was supposed to see into the future and just KNOW that all our resources had to be devoted to it before we even knew what how to start researching it.

Can you really imagine that Johnson or Carter would have done anything any differently? Not. They probably wouldn't have done as much.

This has been done to death. Feel free to visit this blog if you want information on Reagan's record with AIDS.

JFK Never lied under oath.  And much to the chagrin of Mr Hubbins, neither did reagan.  Ony one president did, and he was impeached for it.

Latour and NJ, it is unfortunate that in the heat of debate such a statement was made.  However, the catalyst was made by a leftie,albeit a whacko one.

And you both are correct.  Generalizations are never accurate, just uninformed.

And you are an effing idiot!  You may not agree with trickle down, but it is NOT a transfer of money, unless you beleive all wages are the governments and they 'allow' us to keep some of it for our private use.  All Reagan and Bush did was ALLOW us to keep more of OUR money.  Why are you so effing arrogant to think your hands are holier than mine in my back pocket?

It is this type of attitudes that confirm why you wont get a chance anytime soon to put your grimy hands in my back pocket.

And you other statements?  Shere lies, but then you dont know how to tell the truth any more. If you ever did.

Odd, given that Reagan inherited a gas crisis and one of the worst modern recessions, and yet the 1980's under his administration were one of the most prosperous times in US history. Then, we have eight years of Clinton, whose tenure ended with the economy in a steep decline.

Of course, Bush was blamed for that, even though armies of economists had been warning that it was happening since 1998. Bush comes into office, is there 6 months or so, and all the Dems start screaming he ruined the economy, . Gullible folk, Dems...

So we have huge prosperity under Republican administrations in the 1980's, a steep decline after eight years of Clinton, and a steadily recovering economy under Bush. Of course, though, this all shows that Republican economics is... flawed? Odd way of thinking.

reagan is difficult to characterize because he was and remains a complexity of contradictions.  he was a hollywood 'star' who was at best a mediocre actor. of his film performances, those most often recalled are hokey or goofy ('bedtime for bonzo').  as president of the screen actor's guild, he defended the blacklist, informed on other performers and during his first tenure as head of the union he helped engineer a deal that granted talent agency mca the right to hire actors they also represented.  he was initially an fdr democrat but switched parties about the same time he switched from movies to television and from first wife, jane wyman, to the 2nd mrs. reagan.

those qualities that weakened his onscreen performances made him a very popular host of the general electric theatre, an effective spokesman for ge and, eventually, a prominent anti-communist speaker.  he delivered a stirring speech in support of barry goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign that ultimately led to his own candidacy for governor of california.  

altho claiming to share goldwater's fiscal conservative philosophy, as governor he raised taxes and increased state spending.  during his 2 terms,state universities began charging residents tuition for the first time.  he closed most of the state's mental hospitals, putting patients out on the street resulting in the creation of permanent homelessness as a way of life in america. 

much of his life prior to becoming president in 1980 was recycled and travelled with him to the whitehouse.  he took on and fatally wounded america's already ailing labor unions by firing striking aircraft traffic controllers. while cutting social programs (adding to the homeless problem he created in california) he engaged in deficit spending (setting new records in fact) and nearly tripled the national debt.

his strident hatred of communism led him to engineer the overthrow of two democraticaly elected governments in our hemisphere, dealing with terrorists in order to fund those campaigns. demanding gorbachev tear down the berlin wall had less to do with the fall of the soviet union than other dynamics.

he launched the current war on drugs (which like all the other 'wars on ______' has yet to achieve anything in the way of victory) which has succeeded mostly in diminishing individual liberty he claimed to champion. 

as far as his integrity goes, when a number of illegal and unsavory activities came to light and he was examined under oath, he reprised his 1962 appearance before a grand jury investigating the screen actor's guild sellout to mca and conveniently claimed he was unable to recall the details of the deal. as much as i hate to admit it, he may have been smarter (if less honest) than clinton.