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February 13, 2008

The 'Facts,' not revision myth on Ronald Reagan

By Ed Tubbs

I've received two 'comments' attempting to support the proposition that indeed our 40th president was our "Most beloved president." Follows are the FACTS, those "stubborn things" Ronnie liked to never permit to get in his way of make believe. Please, also observe I've included attribution, with direct linkage. As Yogi said, "You can look it up."

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Someone once mused you couldn't go broke underestimating the Anmerican intellect. So many, such an incredible number, toss out anything to support a view or agenda. Scewing doesn't matter. Not even bald-faced lies matter. As Marshal McLuhan proposed, "The medium is the message."   

I've received two 'comments' attempting to support the proposition that indeed our 40th president was our "Most beloved president." Follows are the FACTS, those "stubborn things" Ronnie liked to never permit to get in his way of make believe. Please, also observe I've included attribution, with direct linkage. As Yogi said, "You can look it up."

--- Ed Tubbs   

  
Aug. 6, 2001— Two-thirds of Americans look back favorably on Ronald Reagan's presidency, a better rating than he received while serving in the White House.
 

Reagan's average approval rating during his two terms in office was 57 percent, in the mid-range for a postwar president and tied with Bill Clinton's rating. But looking back today, more Americans — 66 percent — say they approve of Reagan's work, according to an ABCNEWS/Washington Post poll.

That's a familiar phenomenon: Presidents tend to be rated better as they recede from the fray. Reagan scored a similarly strong retrospective job approval rating in February 2000. And Jimmy Carter's was 66 percent in a poll a couple of years ago — a full 20 points higher than his career average while in office. Reagan's approval rating while he served peaked at 73 percent in the spring of 1981, after he was shot and wounded in an assassination attempt, and hit 70 percent in 1986, after he ordered a bombing raid against Libya. It fell to a low of 42 percent in early 1983, following a surge in unemployment, and dropped to 44 percent in early 1987, during the Iran-Contra controversy.

Reagan's Job Performance
 Approve Disapprove 
7/30/01 66% 27 (Retrospective)
2/27/0064 26 (Retrospective)
'81-'88 57 39 (Career average)
2/26/87 44 51 Low — Iran-Contra
4/26/86 70 26 High — Libya bombing
1/22/8342 54 Low — unemployment
4/22/81 73 19 High — shot by Hinckley
Nearly seven in 10 Americans also report a favorable overall impression of Reagan, up 12 points since the last asking in 1994, and up from a low of 48 percent in August 1988. That may reflect public sympathy with the 90-year-old former president's struggle with Alzheimer's disease.
 

 



Authors Bio:
An "Old Army Vet" and liberal, qua liberal, with a passion for open inquiry in a neverending quest for truth unpoisoned by religious superstitions. Per Voltaire: "He who can lead you to believe an absurdity can lead you to commit an atrocity."

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