According to some people here, to be a real democrat you must drink

some purist koolaid and never mention the historic reality that Reagan changed the trajectory of the country and issued in sweeping change. It was change that sucked, the trajectory was overwhelmingly a bad one, but it did indeed happen and it was a big fucking deal.

How was he able to do it? It was a fusion of zeitgueist and the man himself. Impervious as I always was to the gipper's storied charm, I had enough sense to know that. Anyone who understands what a meme is should be able to understand, at a basic level, what Reagan accomplished. Reagan didn't only change the political scene, he changed the American cultural scene.

What Barack Obama believes is that we stand at a similar point in time; people are open to change in a way they haven't been for quite a while: that's the zeitgueist, and he believes he's the man who can fuse with the zeitgueist. Is that monumentally egotistical? Perhaps, but who the fuck runs for president without a very considerable ego. What kind of change is he talking about? He's talking about moving in a more progressive direction in health care, the environment, foreign relations, etc.

Can he do it? I think he can. Make that:

Yes, we can.

He's dead.

Enough about Hitler. He's dead. Enough about anyone who isn't currently living. Silly argument.

I'm still with Hillary for now, but it's possible Obama could do that and it would be wonderful.

Merlot!

for whatever that's worth.

I'm always a step behind on the trendy drink for libs to drink!

up and own it. To create the nation they want to live in, not the one in which they are told to exist. Obama is proposing that we all join in building on the scaffolding he is putting in place with a coalition that is not narrowly defined by existing political categories. To get beyond more of the same. It is bold and requires a suspension of fear and a willingness to step into uncharted territory. I'm willing to join him. Yes, we can. And we must.

among other things they're such a bore. Taylor Marsh can't even write well. She's a paid Clinton supporter and her ax is obvious. So thanks, but no thanks.

I know Barack brought Reagan up but Reagan royally screwed the democrats. The Republicans absolutely love him. I must say, even though Barack brought up Reagan, I doubt it will get him any votes from the R wing republicans. They are too die hard. Just my opinion.

A few stiff belts for medicinal purposes would be helpful just now....

Interest rates were at 14% +

Stagflation choked the economy.

The failed attempt to rescue the American hostages in Iran.

For the first time, the media measured the "misery index".

It's shitty now, but it was a lot shittier then.

made sure that Iran bought surplus military arms via the Shah, and encouraged the Shah to pay for those purchases by raising oil prices. Then we had 'shock doctrinaire's' like Alan Greenspan and Milton Friedman spreading their 'gospel' of totally unregulated free markets that Naomi Klein so accurately describes in her book.

The Soviet Union couldn't even feed itself without US grain purchases during the '70s:

Behind the Current Russian Grain Woes
Monday, Sep. 01, 1975
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,947184,00.html

Yet the neocons managed to continue spreading the fear factor beyond reason.

Remember Paul Voelker?

He was before Greenspan.

Those listening posts, trained on the USSR, were part of our Air Force's "light up" Soviet radars by probing their airspace, intentionally violating their airspace in order to check what gets turned on if we fly too deeply into their airspace.

Voelker was a big fan of deflation too, who had us sooo constricted that we ended up in the closest thing to a depression since 1929-1940, and by 1982 August he finally let up. By then the steel belt was gone. Listen to Billy Joel's "Allentown" or Dire Strait's "Industrial Disease" from the time. Things were really bleak.

is right on target. Thank you, cali.

I was there for the "Reagan Revolution" and even voted for the prick in 1980. It was my first vote for president. Just goes to show you how youth and inexperience can lead to a colossal fuck-up.

I dreaded that vote in 1981 when Jaime Roldos Aguilera and Gen. Omar Torrijos were murdered. The CIA barely and unconvincingly denied their responsibility for the two "accidents" and it was plainly obvious why they were eliminated. From that moment on, I knew what we were in for as a nation. I've never supported a Republican for president ever since.

With Obama, we are getting an unknown quantity. He has voted carefully in his political career, always with an eye to not appearing too liberal. I have a problem with that. He courts conservatives in the way Bill Clinton did and, while Clinton was ultimately very successful as president, he also did some things that were flagrantly anti-liberal.

I would prefer John Edwards to become the Democratic nominee, but I'll get behind Obama if necessary. I just hope I can devote the same amount of energy to him in the future as I give to Edwards now.

Who are not afraid to stand up in order to change the direction were in.

I found that thought narrow minded and wont get us anywhere. When I was at BO's rally in NJ I was online with a woman who is a Repub. She felt so inspired by BO and thought that he was the best choice this year for president, that she started to campaign for him all across America. She's now a registered democrat just to vote for Obama.

All repubs aren't old, white, racists, or church going people. My cousin and his family are repubs and they don't fit into any of those categories. He's black, wife is white, children are bi-racial. Most of them don't even go to church. What I'm saying is that the Dems nned to start to reach out to Repubs because they are Americans too.

The word is irony.

W would most definitely NOT be in office today if it weren't for Reagan. Iraq and Iran would not be the problems they are today, 9/11 would not have happened if Reagan did not fuck up royally in Afghanistan. The conservative political movement would not be as powerful as they are now. The neocons (started with Democrats who switched over to Reagan's side) would not have taken control of the Republican party.

disgusting, but effective.