Reagan's Reign Error

by Mark Green and Gail MacColl

Book Overview

After over 30 years when he was first elected, Reagan has been mythologized to the point where his own son does not recognize him. This book recounts many of his profound and twisted misunderstandings... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394756444
• ISBN13: 9780394756448
• Release Date: October 1987
• Publisher: Pantheon Books
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

scathing indictment

I tend to have more conservative values. In fact, I don't support government intervention of any kind. But I always was dismayed by how the President could say the most contradictory statements to the press and get away with it. As one author said, Reagan's public image had a "godlike" status. Now I believe it should be made clear that some of the quotes cited in the book do not incriminate Reagan's policies. Tax cuts and trickle-down economics did stimulate the economy into economic prosperity; dismantling of the Soviet Union did remove "an evil empire"; social programs are only possible when the taxpayer is forced, not asked, to give up a percentage of their income, etc. But that shouldn't deter from the fact that the President was intentionally misleading people. Some loyalists might say that Reagan was simply "misspeaking" again, but with some 300 examples cited, it becomes difficult to see them as anything but lies. At times the President blames Carter for things he didn't do, or takes credit for things Carter accomplished. I use to just assume Reagan accomplished all the goods. He even contradicts some of his own conservative policies and statements with socialist policies that he instigated. In the end, using deception to make a wrong policy right, still creates a wrong. Reagan may go down as one of the greatest ever for his economic boom of the '80s and the dethroning of the Soviet Union, but it was his unchallenged press statements, and the man, as an individual, that leaves his legacy in the dark. It would appear the actor was acting afterall. ("You'd be suprised how much [being] a good actor pays off." -Wash. Post, 5/7/84) Gaffe Curve- Reagan: "If you'll remember, there were two million who lost their jobs in the last six months of 1980, during the election..." (1/8/82) Reply: The number of people employed increased in the last six months of 1980, ending the year with 283,000 more people working than in July. Reagan: "I've had a lengthy communication from the Pope. He approves what we've done so far." (1/19/82) Reply: Reagan's communication from the Pope may have been lengthy, but as the Vatican hastened to point out, it did not involve approving Washington's sanctions against Moscow after the crackdown in Poland. What A Difference A Day Makes- 1/7/80: "I just don't believe the farmer should be made to pay a special price for our diplomacy, and I'm opposed to [the Soviet grain embargo]." (Wash. Post, 1/8/80) 1/8/80: "If we are going to do such a thing to the Soviet Union as a full grain embargo, which I support, first we have to be sure our own allies would join us on this." (Claremont [NH] Eagle Times, 1/9/80) "We're in greater danger today than we were the day after Pearl Harbor. Our military is absolutely incapable of defending this country." (New York Times, 4/12/80) Reagan: "[The Department of Education] is planning all manner of things to limit and restrict limitations of this kind [St. Joseph's Colle

A Must Read

Contrary to what our Canadian reviewer below says, this book is not "made up" information about Reagan. These are actual remarks Reagan made; Mark Green explains in fantastic-yet-brief detail just what makes a remark yet another Reagan whopper.As for greatest President of the 20th century, sorry, but Reagan was one of the worst--he stood by while AIDS became a plague that would take 25,000 American lives during his tenure alone; illegally funded the Contras by selling arms to Iran (and lied about it until the facts wouldn't let him); supported death squads in Central America that committed such noble acts as raping nuns (to which Reagan claimed the rapists were acting in self-defense); poisoning America's political discourse by making it okay to slime and smear opponents at will; making it cool to be a racist again with his "welfare queens" mantra; raping the environment so the rich could get richer; shifting the tax burden mostly to the middle class, who, like idiots, all but thanked him for it; expanding the government into a bigger entity than it had ever been; running up record deficits; removing the Fairness Doctrine from our airwaves and thereby opening them for rabidly partisan hate speech; and--oh yeah--selling biological and chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein.If you want to know what went wrong with political discourse in America, look no further than Reagan's reign of error.All of this and more is in Mr. Green's fine collection of quotes-over 160 largish pages of them! I highly recommend this one.

Lies Revealed

This is a well-documented book on the lies and contridictions of Ronald Reagan. People who love Reagan beware, the truth hurts. Like Reagan says, facts are funny things. This would be a great gift to those people who believe that Reagan could be considered anything more than a terrible President.

The truth about Ronnie Raygun

This booklet is a classic. It's essentially a long, well-organized list of contradictory Reagan quotes - some from the same day. For example, "I love trees and think they are unique" versus "I think that if you've seen one tree, you've seen them all." If you have had a sneaking suspicion that there is/was something flaky about old Ronnie, confirm that suspicion with this booklet.