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I see since we have a regular "Reagan was God" freeper on this thread (not you) who is, gasp, trashing Rudy, I thought I'd post a few facts:

If President Reagan were able to eschew the Media/Democrats by speaking directly to the country, why did he post sub-par job approval ratings for much of his presidency (Gallup):

1981: despite a major bump after the assassination attempt, President Reagan ended the year with a JA rating below 50%
1982: averaged a JA rating of 41% for the year
1983: after beginning the year with a JA rating of 35%, averaged 44% for the year
1984: averaged JA ratings in the low 50s yet still won re-election in a landslide
1985: averaged JA ratings in the 50s/low 60s
1986: averaged JA ratings in the low 60s until December when the Iran-Contra scandal broke -- within one month, President Reagan's JA rating dropped double digits (a record) to the mid-40s
1987: averaged JA ratings in the 40s
1988: averaged JA ratings in the 40s/low 50s . . . And even though only 40% of Republicans would have voted to re-elect him, Reagan recovered enough to help get his Vice President elected

1992: According to Gallup, President Reagan received a 47% approve/49% disapprove JA rating while Jimmy Carter received a 49.5% approve/43% disapprove -- UNBELIEVABLE!
1993: According to Gallup, 28% of Americans considered Reagan's economic policies a FAILURE

2004: President Reagan is lauded by Republicans and Democrats alike . . . now considered one of the best presidents of all time! . . . I predict the same result for President George W Bush, the most transformational president of modern times!

For more insight (and a major REALITY CHECK), please read the following commentary from COMMENTARY magazine:

IS CONSERVATISM FINISHED?
By Wilfred M. McClay

. . . We also forget that the Reagan administration itself, far from being happily unified, was driven by internal battles between “pragmatists” and “ideologues,” conflicts that prefigured many of the policy battles of the present. And we forget that, outside the administration, Reagan got plenty of grief from his own Right as well.

The querulous Richard Viguerie, for example, an influential but notably unhappy camper in those halcyon days, began hectoring the Reagan presidency almost from the beginning, complaining to the Associated Press in January 1981 that with his cabinet appointments Reagan had given conservatives “the back of his hand.” A July 1981 op-ed by Viguerie in the Washington Post, entitled “For Reagan and the New Right, the Honeymoon Is Over,” was thoughtfully timed less than four months after the President had nearly been killed by an assassin’s bullet. By December 1987, Viguerie was declaring that Reagan had actually “changed sides” and was “now allied with his former adversaries, the liberals, the Democrats, and the Soviets.” A year later, in the final months of his presidency, when it was clear to all that Reagan had fundamentally changed the terms of debate in American politics, Viguerie announced that, thanks to his tenure in office, “the conservative movement is directionless.”

It is especially pertinent to recall such statements when one opens Viguerie’s current book, a catalog of Bush-administration horrors whose pages are replete with inspirational Reagan quotations and the highest praise for Reagan and his appointees. For a movement that claims to rest upon long perspectives and deep cultural sources, American conservatism can be remarkably short-sighted, impatient, brittle, fractious, and downright petulant. Indeed, conservatism has been found by its adherents to have “cracked up” or “lost its soul” more times than are worth counting in the years since 1980 (at least as many times as America has “lost its innocence”).

You can read this entire MUST READ commentary at
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/cm/main/viewArticle.aip?id=10812&page=all

Ronald Reagan on compromise:
When I began entering into the give and take of legislative bargaining in Sacramento, a lot of the most radical conservatives who had supported me during the election didn't like it. "Compromise" was a dirty word to them and they wouldn't face the fact that we couldn't get all of what we wanted today. They wanted all or nothing and they wanted it all at once. If you don't get it all, some said, don't take anything.

I'd learned while negotiating union contracts that you seldom got everything you asked for. And I agreed with FDR, who said in 1933: 'I have no expectations of making a hit every time I come to bat. What I seek is the highest possible batting average.'

If you got seventy-five or eighty percent of what you were asking for, I say, you take it and fight for the rest later, and that's what I told these radical conservatives who never got used to it.

~~ Ronald Reagan, in his autobiography, An American Life .

This thread is about the truth of liberal Rudy Giuliani`s supporting abortion on demand. Its not about President Reagan's strong pro-life legacy.

Reagan is no god. But you trashing the Reagan legacy makes no sense whatsoever, and really shows a total disrepsect for a great leader. Here are President's Reagan job approval ratings from Gallup. In January 1983 Reagan hit his low point. Just before his Economic Recovery effort took full effect adn hit full stride. The only month Reagan ever finished below 40% in his entire Presidency. One month. Liberal Democrats did try and undermine the Reagan Presidency during the Iran-Contra Affair, but Reagan left office with a 65% approval rating from the American people. After falling from a 90% approval rating shortly after 9-11, President Bush has lived in the mid-30% range for the better part of the last year. Not breaking 40% too often. As I told you yesterday. President Reagan united America behind common goals and objectives. While President Bush has done a good job of dividing America. Coming during a time of war, that is a disasterous outcome.

January 1981 51.00
February 1981 55.00
March 1981 60.00
April 1981 67.00
May 1981 68.00
June 1981 58.70
July 1981 58.00
August 1981 60.00
September 1981 52.00
October 1981 56.00
November 1981 52.00
December 1981 49.00

January 1982 48.00
February 1982 47.00
March 1982 46.00
April 1982 44.00
May 1982 44.50
June 1982 44.50
July 1982 42.00
August 1982 41.30
September 1982 42.00
October 1982 42.00
November 1982 43.00
December 1982 41.00

January 1983 36.30
February 1983 40.00
March 1983 41.00
April 1983 41.00
May 1983 44.00
June 1983 45.00
July 1983 43.00
August 1983 43.30
September 1983 47.50
October 1983 47.00
November 1983 53.00
December 1983 54.00

January 1984 53.50
February 1984 55.00
March 1984 54.00
April 1984 54.00
May 1984 54.00
June 1984 54.00
July 1984 53.50
August 1984 54.00
September 1984 57.00
October 1984 56.00
November 1984 61.00
December 1984 60.50

January 1985 63.00
February 1985 60.00
March 1985 56.00
April 1985 52.00
May 1985 55.00
June 1985 58.00
July 1985 63.00
August 1985 65.00
September 1985 60.00
October 1985 63.00
November 1985 63.50
December 1985 63.00

January 1986 64.00
February 1986 63.50
March 1986 63.00
April 1986 62.00
May 1986 68.00
June 1986 62.50
July 1986 63.00
August 1986 61.00
September 1986 61.00
October 1986 63.00
November 1986 55.00
December 1986 47.00

January 1987 48.00
February 1987 40.00
March 1987 46.50
April 1987 48.00
May 1987 no data
June 1987 53.00
July 1987 49.00
August 1987 no data
September 1987 49.00
October 1987 no data
November 1987 no data
December 1987 49.00

January 1988 49.00
February 1988 no data
March 1988 50.50
April 1988 50.00
May 1988 49.00
June 1988 49.50
July 1988 52.50
August 1988 53.00
September 1988 54.00
October 1988 51.00
November 1988 57.00
December 1988 63.00

BRAVA !