at least Reagan got Bush off the headlines for a day
But no one is remembering the RR I remember, except for a few
66 (Unflattering) Things About Ronald Reagan
By David Corn, The Nation
June 6, 2004
Editor's Note: This list of "66 Things to Think about When Flying
in to Reagan National Airport" appeared in the Nation on March 2,
1998 after the renaming of Washington National Airport after
Ronald Reagan. As Corn says, "the piece remains relevant today –
particularly as a cheat sheet for those who dare to point out the
Reagan presidency was not all that glorious and was more
nightmare in America than morning in America."
The firing of the air traffic controllers, winnable nuclear war, recallable
nuclear missiles, trees that cause pollution, Elliott Abrams lying to
Congress, ketchup as a vegetable, colluding with Guatemalan thugs,
pardons for F.B.I. lawbreakers, voodoo economics, budget deficits,
toasts to Ferdinand Marcos, public housing cutbacks, redbaiting the
nuclear freeze movement, James Watt.
Getting cozy with Argentine fascist generals, tax credits for segregated
schools, disinformation campaigns, "homeless by choice," Manuel
Noriega, falling wages, the HUD scandal, air raids on Libya,
"constructive engagement" with apartheid South Africa, United States
Information Agency blacklists of liberal speakers, attacks on OSHA
and workplace safety, the invasion of Grenada, assassination manuals,
Nancy's astrologer.
Drug tests, lie detector tests, Fawn Hall, female appointees (8 percent),
mining harbors, the S&L scandal, 239 dead U.S. troops in Beirut, Al
Haig "in control," silence on AIDS, food-stamp reductions, Debategate,
White House shredding, Jonas Savimbi, tax cuts for the rich, "mistakes
were made."
Michael Deaver's conviction for influence peddling, Lyn Nofziger's
conviction for influence peddling, Caspar Weinberger's five-count
indictment, Ed Meese ("You don't have many suspects who are
innocent of a crime"), Donald Regan (women don't "understand
throw-weights"), education cuts, massacres in El Salvador.
"The bombing begins in five minutes," $640 Pentagon toilet seats,
African-American judicial appointees (1.9 percent), Reader's Digest,
C.I.A.-sponsored car-bombing in Lebanon (more than eighty civilians
killed), 200 officials accused of wrongdoing, William Casey,
Iran/contra. "Facts are stupid things," three-by-five cards, the MX
missile, Bitburg, S.D.I., Robert Bork, naps, Teflon.
David Corn, Washington editor of the Nation, is author of 'The Lies
of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception.' |
