The U turn that saved the Gipper

[JoFerret]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1235299,00.html

Ronald Reagan's presidency collapsed at the precise moment on November 25 1986 when he appeared without notice in the White House briefing room, introduced his attorney general, Edwin Meese, and instantly departed from the stage. Meese announced that funds raised by members of the national security council and others by selling arms to Iran had been used to aid the Nicaraguan contras. Anti-terrorism laws and congressional resolutions had been wilfully violated. Eventually 11 people were convicted of felonies. In less than a week, Reagan's approval rating plunged from 67% to 46%, the greatest and quickest decline ever for a president.
On December 17 1986, William Casey, the director of the CIA, was scheduled to testify before the Senate intelligence committee. But he collapsed into a coma, suffering from brain cancer, never to recover. Lt Col Oliver North, Casey's action officer on the NSC, explained to a select congressional investigation that Casey had been the mastermind in creating an "overseas entity ... self-financing, independent", that would conduct "US foreign policy" as a "stand-alone". Called "the Enterprise", it was the apotheosis of the Reagan doctrine, the waging of a global war for the rollback of communism.

The hardline secretary of defence, Caspar Weinberger, and his neoconservative underlings were summarily dismissed, the NSC purged. "Let Reagan be Reagan," had long been the cry of conservatives. Now they screamed that Reagan was either being held prisoner or had sold out.

In interviews with investigators, Reagan said he couldn't recall what had happened. But he retained his utopianism and idealism that had propelled him from leftwing liberal in Hollywood to rightwing man on horseback, switching ideologies but never his temperament.

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[burrowowl]

1. Damn those U-turns!

Anybody have a No U-turn symbol?
Aren't U-turns generally a No-No? Especially where there is heavy traffic, like CIA drug selling, etc.

[JoFerret]

2. aka flip-flops and waffles?

.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

3. Reagan was a Bait n' Switch man, just like Bush!

:)

[Tellurian]

4. I dunno...but their original plan was for Reagan to take the fall for Bush

and his motley crew..

Reagan wiggled out of that one, thanks to Nancy.

[burrowowl]

5. Steve Bell is GREEEAT!

Say Tony the Tiger:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/archive/stevebell/0,7371,337764,00.html

A good one with Mother Margret and RayGun:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,7371,1209878,00.html

There are a lot of Bu$hie Chimp cartoons. Worth the time

[burrowowl]

6. Really!

The tons are worth a 15 minute visit!

[Gman]

7. At this point I think Reagan already had Alzheimers

with all of his "I don't recall"'s.

Either that or he lied his ass off. But I really think the nutcases all took advantage of Reagan's diminished capacity.

[Tellurian]

8. Take advantage?

Reagan was surrounded by subversives led by GHWBush.

James Brady appeared on the Today show this morning stating the bill banning assault weapon expires in Sept of this year. He and his wife Sarah, are working very hard to get the word out to extend the assault weapons ban, rather than let it expire quietly without a wimper.

He and his wife stated unequivicolly, after Reagan pushed the Brady Bill through, the press began reporting Reagan was an active member of the NRA and that he and Brady didn't see eye to eye on the weapons ban.

Brady said, when Reagan heard this, he personally called Brady to say the report was not TRUE and added, the NRA had sent him a membership card, but he never joined.

So, please don't anyone tell me Bush has not been the driving force to subvert the Reagan presidency.

[Gin]

9. When was RR a democrat? I do not remember him being one.

gin

[htuttle]

10. It was probably before he ratted all his colleagues out to the HUAC

Or maybe that's why he became a Republican?

:shrug:

[JoFerret]

11. He was....many eons ago

....he switched round about the time he turned his back on his children

[Tellurian]

12. Reagan was always a democrat.

he turned republican when he was asked to run in the Gubernatorial race for California.

[Tellurian]

13. Ha! Google was almost wiped clean of the fact Reagan was a Democrat..

Again, the GOP takes credit for someone that is not their own!


"When his father got a New Deal WPA job, the future president became an ardent Roosevelt Democrat."

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0760624.html

AND...Reagan's change from Demo to Republican was supposed to be a strategic maneuver to allow him to run for the governorship of CA.

He never embraced their principles and most likely the reason why people are enamored of him..

He was one of US!