You still haven't answered this question:
Was Reagan wrong when he said he shouldn’t have signed the abortion legislation, or was Reagan wrong when he signed the legislation?
“Facts are stubborn things.”
BTW. General Patton did some stupid stuff too. But he was still a great General.
You are starting to be a one note guy. Try and answer the question without insults. Knee-jerk liberals and knee-jerk Conservatives really are funny.
Unlike you, Bill Buckley never took cheap pot shots at Ronald Reagan. Unlike you, Bill Buckley appreciated when his fellow conservatives engaged in intelligent debate and listened to what they had to say. Unlike you, Bill Buckley didn't cherry pick half-truths, he used ALL the facts and his messages were thoughtful and stimulating.
If you want some insight into Reagan's thought process on a wide range of issues, I suggest you read books like, Reagan In His Own hand, An American Life and The Reagan Diaries. On the abortion issue look at Reagan: A Life In Letters, pages 197-198, October 11, 1979, Letter to Mr. Robert L. Mauro.
"Dear Mr. Mauro:
I hope you won't mind my writing you about a recent column of yours suggesting that I might be preparing to abandon my anti-abortion position and that I signed a permissive abortion bill while I was governor. I think there are things I should make plain here.
First, my position is that interrupting a pregnancy means the taking of a human life. In our Judeo-Christian tradition, that can only be done in self-defense. Therefore, I will agree to an abortion only to protect the life of the prospective mother.
Now, with regard to the permissive bill I supposedly signed, let me give you the correct history of what took place early in my term as governor. A bill was introduced that was permissive, indeed abortion on demand. Naturally, there was great controversy about this bill. The author finally sent word that he would amend his bill to anything the governor thought he could sign. Faced with this responsibility, I probably did more study and more soul searching on the subject than I had done on anything in my eight years as governor. I came to the conclusion, as I have already stated, that it could only be justified to save a human life. . . . Perhaps it was my inexperience in government, but like so many pieces of legislation, there were loopholes that I had not seen, and the thing that made the California abortion bill become somewhat permissive in nature was violation of the spirit of the legislation by the very groups who were supposed to police it. This was particularly true in the case of psychiatrists. If faced with the same problem today, I can assure you I would make sure there were no loopholes in the bill. Indeed, I have already written Congressman Hyde telling him of my support for his amendment.
Again, please rest assured there is no way I could or would change my position with regard to my opposition to the permissive abortion that is taking place throughout our land.
Sincerely,
Ronald Reagan"
Next time, leave Reagan out of your attack rants and you won't hear from me. Otherwise....