Youtube Video of a Supercool Ronald Reagan hanging out with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin

[pinochet]

Here is a youtube video of Ronald Reagan hanging out with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG5WAFzwlIA

This video has inspired me to make some observations. One of the greatest mistakes conservatives make in analyzing the 1980 election, is to exaggerate the weakness of Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election. I am not a Carter-hater, and I think Carter was a better President and stronger leader than several American Presidents, including Obama, Clinton, James Buchanan, etc. To say that Reagan won his election victories because his opponents were weak, is like saying Muhammad Ali became the heavyweight boxing champion of the world because his opponents were weak. Such an observation would diminish the accomplishments of both Ronald Reagan and Muhammad Ali.

Ronald Reagan was elected to his political offices because of a combination of good ideas and his (for lack of a better word) Supercool-ness. Ronald Reagan was not the first Presidential candidate in the post-war era to have strong conservative beliefs. Sen Robert Taft lost in the 1952 Republican primary to Dwight Eisenhower, and Barry Goldwater lost in the 1964 election. Both were as strongly conservative as Reagan, but they lacked Supercool-ness. I am absolutely convinced that Jimmy Carter could have beaten Barry Goldwater in 1980 election, if Goldwater was the candidate. Goldwater was a really tough guy, but he was lacking in Supercoolness. This made him unattractive to young voters and women.

Reagan was also a tough guy, but his Supercoolness partially concealed his toughness. As an intellectual counter-puncher, he was as skilled as Donald Trump, but his style was witty counter-punching. Those twinkling Irish eyes, better hair than Mitt Romney, the 50,000 Watt smile, and the razor sharp wit, was a deadly combination.

Reagan carried the aura of a winner since he was very young. He got a job as a lifeguard at the age of 15, and before he had graduated from college, he had saved 77 lives. Reagan was profiled in the December 1939 issue of Motion Picture magazine wearing only his swimming briefs, and at the time, he was an internationally recognized movie star. Even the liberal Slate magazine could not resist carrying a reprint of the article. Scroll down in the article to see it:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2013/08/29/photo_page_from_fan_magazine_shows_reagan_s_status_as_teen_idol.html

Reagan won his election victories against very strong candidates. In the 1966 election for Governor of California, he stood against Pat Brown, a very strong and politically experienced Democratic candidate, who had beaten Richard Nixon in the contest for governor of California in 1962. Pat Brown ran in the Democratic Presidential primary in 1960 and 1964. When Reagan, an actor without political experience, challenged one of the most experienced Democratic politicians in the country, his candidacy was seen as a big joke. Reagan had to perform like Fonzie, the character from the Happy days TV show which came on a decade later, who epitomized cool-ness on TV. His victory over Pat Brown in the 1966 election was a big shock.

In the 1960s popular culture, the showbiz superstars who epitomized Supercool-ness in American popular culture, were the Rat Pack. The leader was Frank Sinatra, and the members were Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford. They used to perform in Las Vegas to sold-out venues, where they traded jokes, and tried to outshine each other in a Supercool-ness competition. The Rat Pack campaigned for John F Kennedy in 1960, and helped to get him elected. Kennedy fit in very well in the group, because he was high on the cool-ness factor.

The Rat Pack were American Patriots, and turned against the Democratic Party in the late 1960s, because of the anti-Americanism of the left-wing element of the Democratic Party. By 1976, they had become supporters of Ronald Reagan. Reagan lost the 1976 primary to Gerald Ford, because Ford had a reputation among both Republicans and Democrats of being an extremely nice guy. The media and the country really loved Ford, for pardoning the middle class kids who fled to Canada, to avoid serving in the Vietnam war. Ford's Supernice-ness was able to beat Reagan's Supercool-ness, in the 1976 Republican Presidential primary.

The Youtube video is from 1978, and it shows how well Reagan fits in, hanging out with the most Supercool people of that era.

[pinochet]

Another link to the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG5WAFzwlIA

[pinochet]

By the way, Nancy Reagan was Supercool in her own right.

An active link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG5WAFzwlIA

[bimboeruption]

IMHO, Nancy Reagan is a nutcase. I don’t know what Ron saw in her.

[Duchess47]

What a great video, thanks. Not only fun but seeing again so many of my favorites enjoying the roast. :)

[Albion Wilde]

bump

[LS]

Sinatra was, like Reagan, a Dem much of his life. However, he supported RR, and soon gravitated toward him and the GOP. I don’t know if he ever changed his registration.

[pinochet]

GQ magazine agrees with my analysis:

http://www.gq.com/story/back-when-presidents-looked-cool-ronald-reagan

[USMCPOP]

I think Obama took a cue from Reagan. He chose Bonzo Biden as a running mate.

[uncbob]

IMHO, Nancy Reagan is a nutcase. I don’t know what Ron saw in her.

Not a big fan here either

[Larry Lucido]

I’m sure there were purist future FReepers in 1979 who would have questioned Reagan keeping such dubious company.

[MinuteGal]

Oh, how great to see the old familiar faces...probably most of these great stars are departed by now.

Thanks for the link to Memory Lane.

Leni

[spel_grammer_an_punct_polise]

“IMHO, Nancy Reagan is a nutcase. I don’t know what Ron saw in her.”

Well, according to peter lawford, the brit, socialist bitch, she gave the best “b******” in town. You were close.

[pinochet]

>>>Sinatra was, like Reagan, a Dem much of his life

One thing you need to remember, is that Democrats won the majority of seats in the US Congress in 1980 and 1984, years in which Reagan won the Presidency in a landslide.

Reagan won even pro-choice states like New York, Vermont, and Massachussets in 1984. He won all states in 1984, except for Minnesotta. Many Democrats voted for Reagan in 1980 and 1984. But Democrats won a majority of congressional seats. The supercool-ness factor did it.

[Norm Lenhart]

Considering every lib on that stage was far to the right of Mitt Romney and 99% of the GOP today, I sorta doubt it.

[basil]

l loved it!

tHanks for posting!

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

In 1980 I was certainly not as politically aware as I am now. I think the reason for RR’s win over Carter is much simpler. Carter had become associated with a pretty fetid decline in everything America. The gas crisis was big deal, the Iranian situation was very uncomfortable; and those things happened one after another right after the 1776 celebration which was of course a big deal....but right after that adrenaline shot came event after event that Carter got tattooed with. I was a Dem at the time, having been brought up in an East coast lib household. Even to me, Carter looked like such a fool and whatever the heck he was doing was not benefiting America, nor Americans.

The stark contrast with today is how all the miserable crap going on in the world is somehow never, ever the fault of 0bama. This, I find astounding. “He got us out of the worst financial crisis since the GD”. Yeah, right. “He got Bin Laden”.

[I cannot think of a name]

“One of the greatest mistakes conservatives make in analyzing the 1980 election, is to exaggerate the weakness of Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election. I am not a Carter-hater, and I think Carter was a better President and stronger leader than several American Presidents, including Obama, Clinton, James Buchanan, etc.”

Carter was elected in 1976 because no one knew who he was or anything about him. By 1980 we knew ALL about him. And I would have voted for a small brown spot of liquid on the floor over that Anti-American liberal idiot.

A lot of the messes we face today started with that sorry excuse for a President. While he may not have been quite as incompetent as “the bent one” or “zero”, he still deserves a special place in the toilet list of American Presidents.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

It would be nice if much of government work was just getting basic stuff done right. Then presidents would be chosen purely on organizational and inspirational qualities.

We were very fortunate to have a conservative candidate who also happened to be so telegenic and "supercool".

Here's hoping Cruz becomes a bit more lovable or Trump stays conservative.

[Fiji Hill]

In 1980, I attended a birthday rally for Reagan at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles that featured several celebrities including Dean Martin, Wayne Newton and Frank Sinatra, who led the crowd in singing, “Happy Birthday.”.

[montag813]

Why is Reagan never seen with anyone else? Odd editing