tom_thinks

So, Ronald Reagan is dead. I guess we should name an airport after him, or a turnpike, or a high school. No wait, we already did that a million times. Maybe I could write some mindless praise of the former president, and forget all about what a horrible president he was. I mean he did have Alzheimer's Disease, it wouldn't be very nice to point out his flaws, mistakes and the general harms he has perpetrated upon the world, would it? Too bad. Reagan's death at 93 only adds proof to the saying "only the good die young," as Greg Palast said in his recent editorial. So now that he's dead, the media is going on and on about how great he was, further establishing the great Reagan myth. As William Rivers Pitt points out;

Reagan was able, by virtue of his towering talents in this arena, to sell to the American people a flood of poisonous policies. He made Americans feel good about acting against their own best interests. He sold the American people a lemon, and they drive it to this day as if it was a Cadillac. It isn't the lies that kill us, but the myths, and Ronald Reagan was the greatest myth-maker we are ever likely to see.

William Rivers Pitt's editorial is definitely worth reading. It includes a 'dirty' laundry list of Reagan's presidency including such accomplishments as: 138 officials convicted, indicted or investigated for misconduct and/or criminal activities; the elimination of the Fairness Doctrine, paving the way for the corporate media takeover; environmental deregulation and degradation; allowing AIDS to fester; Iran-Contra; embracing dictators such as Marcos, Duarte, Rios Mont and Duvalier; propping up Saddam Hussein; giving Saddam biological weapons; funding and creating bin Laden.
This is the type of resume it takes to get highways and airports named after you? Maybe when you consider the presidency of George W. Bush, this doesn't seem all that bad. How will Reagan's death influence the presidential race? Will Bush ride Reagan's legacy to another 4 years? Hell if I know, but it does seem to be that people are buying into the idea Reagan's legacy is all roses. The NYtimes writes,

WASHINGTON, June 6 — From the shores of Normandy to President Bush's campaign offices outside Washington, Mr. Bush and his political advisers embraced the legacy of Ronald Reagan on Sunday, suggesting that even in death, Mr. Reagan had one more campaign in him — this one at the side of Mr. Bush.
In France, Mr. Bush heralded the late president as a "gallant leader in the cause of freedom," and lionized him in an interview with Tom Brokaw. In Washington, Mr. Bush's aides said that it was Ronald Reagan as much as another president named Bush who was the role model for this president, and they talked of a campaign in which Mr. Reagan would be at least an inspirational presence.
Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, Mr. Bush's likely Democratic challenger, was no less warm in praising Mr. Reagan, with a speech and a tribute on his Web site. Mr. Kerry's campaign canceled five days of events, in what aides described as both a gesture of respect to Mr. Reagan and a bow to the reality that the world would not be paying much attention to Mr. Kerry this week.
Mr. Bush's advisers said Sunday that the intense focus on Mr. Reagan's career that began upon the news of his death on Saturday would remind Americans of what Mr. Bush's supporters have long described as the similarities between the two men as straight-talking, ideologically driven leaders with swagger and a fixed idea of what they wanted to do with their office.
"Americans are going to be focused on President Reagan for the next week," said Ed Gillespie, the Republican national chairman. "The parallels are there. I don't know how you miss them."

They also point out that some Republicans are worried about the comparison,

Some Republicans said the images of a forceful Mr. Reagan giving dramatic speeches on television provided a less-than-welcome contrast with Mr. Bush's own appearances these days, and that it was not in Mr. Bush's interest to encourage such comparisons. That concern was illustrated on Sunday, one Republican said, by televised images of Mr. Reagan's riveting speech in Normandy commemorating D-Day in 1984, followed by Mr. Bush's address at a similar ceremony on Sunday.
"Reagan showed what high stature that a president can have — and my fear is that Bush will look diminished by comparison," said one Republican sympathetic to Mr. Bush, who did not want to be quoted by name criticizing the president.
Another senior Republican expressed concern that by identifying too closely with Mr. Reagan, Mr. Bush risked running a campaign that looked to the past, which this adviser described as a recipe for a loss.

Alzheimer's Disease is a horrible way to die, and I'm sure has inflicted great pain upon the Reagan family, but we cannot allow the pain & suffering caused by this disease to allow the truth of Reagan's legacy to be forgotten.

:Two More Reagan Articles:
Reagan Redux, Alternet.
Reagan's Politics of Passion, The Nation