h/t Rising Hegemon for Ronnie and the lawn jockey pic
It's good to see Bob Herbert shine the light on Ronald Reagan the person as opposed to the myth of St. Ron promulgated by professional ditzes (e.g. Peggy Noonan). The cult of Reagan, which has become so extreme that some zealots want to stamp his visage on the dime or name something after him in each state is an insult to those of us in the reality-based community.
Now, compared to Shrub, Reagan wasn't as bad, but that's like comparing a convict doing time for fraud and extortion to a raving lunatic axe murderer. Neither one is particularly suited for, oh, I don't know, THE HIGHEST ELECTIVE OFFICE IN THE LAND.
To be sure, Reagan's racism wasn't the rabid, let's burn some crosses while wearing white sheets variety...but it was no less virulent (take a look at The Autobiography of Malcolm X for an excellent analysis of rabid versus passive racism). By the way, Paul Krugman pointed to a few more examples of the Gipper's rather ugly reality in this regard over the weekend. And, I recently came across this quote from wingnuttia's sacred hero:
Reagan on his promise to repeal California's fair housing act when he was running for governor in 1966: "If an individual wants to discriminate against Negroes or others in selling or renting his house, he has a right to do so."
Maybe they can put THAT on the dime, next to "In God We Trust."
Or maybe they can just put a picture of St. Ron having a good laugh in Philadelphia, Mississippi, without so much as saying a word in honor of three American heroes who paid the ultimate price in defense of our freedom.
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