"In truth, Ronald Reagan was never as popular as he is being presented to be with Americans," writes Slate Magazine's Eric Alterman.
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Consider the source. |
Posted on 06/08/2004 2:03:13 PM PDT by kattracks
Frustrated liberals, angry at having to spend an entire week watching the nation pay tribute to the man they derided alternately as "an amiable dunce" and a heartless autocrat, are now claiming that Bill Clinton was actually a more popular president than Ronald Reagan.
"In truth, Ronald Reagan was never as popular as he is being presented to be with Americans," writes Slate Magazine's Eric Alterman.
"As president, [he] was never even as popular as Bill Clinton during the period of Clinton’s impeachment," argues the disgruntled Democrat.
For evidence, Alterman cites a Gallup poll that tracks approval ratings for Clinton, Reagan, Carter and both Bushes to back his claims. The same poll is touted prominently on Democrats.com, a web site run by former Clinton White House staffers and DNC veterans.
Unfortunately for Alterman and the rest of the Reagan-haters, some of us still remember what the voters said when they actually got a chance to make their will known at the polls.
Clinton, for instance, never won more than 49 percent of the vote, managing that feat in 1996. And he probably never would have been president at all without Ross Perot acting as a Republican spoiler in 1992, when Clinton squeaked in with just 43 percent of the vote.
Reagan, on the other hand, trounced his two Democratic opponents in 44 and 49 state landslides.
In fact, no president in U.S. history has ever gotten more votes than Reagan did in 1984, despite the fact that the nation's population has grown by more than 30 million in the last twenty years.
the klintoons will forever be remembered as lying, cheating, backstabbing, murdering, slime scum, perverts with NO redeeming qualities.
"In truth, Ronald Reagan was never as popular as he is being presented to be with Americans," writes Slate Magazine's Eric Alterman.
|
Consider the source. |
True true. Reagan is an icon and an inspiration to a movement and a generation of young conservatives, President Bush, and even Clinton (welfare reform). Reagan still inspires and helps Republicans win elections, but the Democrats won't let Clinton touch them without ten foot pole!
How many Republicans out there respect Clinton? Few if any
How many Democrats out there at least respect Reagan or acknowledge that he's a man of character? A great many.
A good test of popularity is how much respect your enemies give you.
Rush Limbaugh said today that "Bill" Clinton (an alias) is the only former president who has declined to make funeral arrangements. See, Clinton does not believe that he will die but will somehow escape at the end; it's a lesson the liberal Senate taught him.
Clinton is more recent than Reagan, so is better known these days. A lot of people are too young to personally remember the malaise that lay over the land before Reagan's time.
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NEVER FORGET
You have just summarized my conversation with LARRY ELDER during his remote Talk Radio Show broadcast from the REAGAN Library yesterday.
A now passed on REAGAON1 will re-elect BUSH2 right on passed a barely breathing KERRY.
Just like REAGAN Election Eve Letter to the American People announcing that he had Alzheimer's Disease helped bring on the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress.
No greater LOVE hath a man...
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Very, very well said!
They sound like children...*my daddy can beat your daddy*....I hate rats!
They are confused about the relief that will be felt when BJ dies. Yes, his death will be popular, in deed.
Actually, that could be quite a turnout.
Oh please, Lord, may it be soon.
I have a question for the parents here. Are you teaching your children that the most important thing in life is to be popular? Think about that and I think we'll start to realize how silly this whole line of reasoning is.
I have never read a history book that dwelled on how popular a president was in his time. This isn't to say that Ronald Reagan wasn't popular. Other posters here have more that addressed that. But someone like Abraham Lincoln was pretty unpopular among a lot of people in his time and I think history has been pretty kind to him.
Well .. I'd like to see Reagan's personal approval numbers (not job approval) when Reagan left office.
CLINTON'S PERSONAL APPROVAL NUMBER WHEN HE LEFT OFFICE IN JANUARY 2001 WAS TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT (25%). I'm sure Reagan could do better than that ..?? In fact, I'd guess most other president could do better than that, except for Jimmy Carter.
Not necessarily. Some may be there because they need bladder relief.
That's right. His campaign people calculated that he was so close in Minnesota that all it would take is one or two quick visits by him there to win that state too. The aides were giddy at the thought of a clean 50-state sweep - an absolutely unprecedented scenario in modern times (not seen since the earliest days of the republic). But he overrode them and refused to go there, because he didn't want to completely humiliate Mondale. That's the kind of human being he was.
Ahh ..... I still fondly remember flipping the TV channels that night, cycling between Gunga Dan and the others. I just couldn't get enough of watching their long faces as they tried hard not to cry. That was always my favorite part of election nights back then.
Clinton never won more than 46 % of the popular vote.
Reagan would have cleaned his clock.
The biggest difference between Reagan and slick willie is that Reagan cared not for himself but the country, clinton cared not for his country, but himself.
These people really are sick in their attempt to prop up the sink emperor, aren't they? Does anyone have this twits email addy?
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