The 2008 presidential candidates are obsessed with who's more like Ronald Reagan, who's a better hunter and who's more religious. Can't anyone be their own man (or woman)?
Comment: Gee, Nancy, that would be swell. Too bad your oh-so-private Daddy poisoned our national discourse by sucking up to Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson every time he got a chance. Really, honey: what the hell are you talking about?.
Comment: Just a comment about the reference to Romney going on television re: his religion. In a way he was forced into doing this because instead of looking at his stand on issues, people were focusing on the fact that he's a "Mormon" and in many cases personally attacking him and the Mormon religion because of this. Otherwise, I doubt very much that he would have said anything about his particular church affiliation any more than Reagan or any other church-going president has said. Romney has never used his religion as a campaign tool.
Comment: Oh yeah, Patti Davis is a loon.
Comment: You know the funny thing is how many think that as once President you would not have to do any underhanded dealings to promote the American way of life. Many have not seen other countries and then proceed to complain about how horrible it is due to our current government. We by no means have it rough. Maybe Reagan did do some under the table things in dealing with world issues but others do and no matter what party the next one is they will. Reagan was a great leader. His successes outweighed his failures and America won a cold war and many other hot ones. I laugh at many who complain. Partisan politics will lose this war not a government system. At least Reagan and Bush have one thing in common...you fight a war for a long haul, for final victory. I just hope whoever wins is more like Reagan in that aspect. And before you think I am a Bush supporter or a Democrat...I choose free thinking...I am in Independant.
Comment: Do you really believe Bush fights "a war for a long haul, for final victory"? Come on now. Why has he rolled our most valuable intelligence assets out of Afghanistan over to Iraq? He actually replaced Arab speaking CIA agents who were hunting for Bin Laden with Spanish speaking South American specialists. Why? If the goal is to fight terrorism, wouldn't you send your most effective assets where the terrorists are located? Where did he send them instead? Where the oil is located. To a country with an infrastructure that could be bombed and then rebuilt by Haliburton.
I agree that he is in it for the long haul, but make no mistake, he is not in it for victory. He's in it to enrich his puppeteers. He and Cheney are trading the blood of our soldiers for increases in Haliburton (and other corporations) stock prices. Before this "war on terror" is over we will have spent well over a trillion dollars. Where is the money going? Contractors and weapons manufacturers. Do you think it is an accident that the "war on terror" has actually created more terrorists? Let's face it terrorists = profits. Why would our government divert our resources from where the terrorists are located (Afghanistan and Pakistan) and send them where there were no terrorists (Iraq)? Answer: Profit for the industrial military complex.
Gee! Not only have we spent a trillion dollars and still not managed to catch Bin Laden. We've actually created more Bin Ladens! Is our government really so inept?! I don't think so. I think they are extremely intelligent and capable. They just have a different goal than what's stated publicly. They say one thing and do the exact opposite; and get applauded for it!!!
Baaaahhh!!! I'm a good little sheep.
Comment: Quote from Jim Hightower:
". . .hilarious is the scramble by this year's GOP presidential contenders to one-up one another in their claims to be the new Reagan. This is a hoot, because if Reagan were running today, the ideologically correct voters who control the Republican primary elections would savage him for his record on practically every hot-button issue.
Start with abortion. As governor of California in 1967, Reagan the Conservative Icon signed a law allowing abortions six years before the U.S. Supreme Court legalized them in the Roe v. Wade decision. How about taxes? Reagan signed a billion-dollar tax increase in California and later signed several tax hikes as president. And, ooooo, looky here: In 1986, Reagan signed a national law giving amnesty to illegal immigrants. With stands like these, the beloved Gipper would be running behind Duncan Hunter in today's Republican race!"
Just goes to show what a bunch of sheep the republicans are. . .why think for yourself about the issues when you can just be an "dittohead".?
Comment: The Repubs should invoke Reagan's cocaine deals with the central American Countries, the gun and hostage trading with the middle easterns, the illegal document destructions, the saving and loan scandals by the Bushes, the one breasted wife.....
Comment: Well said Patti, I couldn't agree with you more
Comment: Well said - I agree with you to the fullest - Louemmel@1/03/2008
Comment: Reagan and his administration were as corrupt as the current one.
Comment: Sorry, Ms. Davis, once your father becomes a public figure, people have rights to use him as references or refer to him. And this will continue in the future generations. Don't we often hear politicians referring historical figures, as ancient as Jefferson, Washington, as recent as JFK and Martin Luther King? You are your father's daughter, but that doesn't mean you own your father or his legacy. This is called democracy.
Comment: Yeah, I would just like to thank Patti Davis for stating what I've thought all along. I'm 36 years old and grew up during Ronald Reagan's presidency. The current state of political discourse is disgraceful, with everyone saying that the liberals are evil this, conservatives are evil that. Give me a break. This is just plain laziness. No one, Democrat or Republican alike, has the guts to be their own person anymore, because they're so busy invoking other people's names. I didn't agree with everything that Reagan believed or did, but I think he is a decent human being. These stupid contests are making a mockery of our political system, and I'm not going to take it anymore.
Comment: Patti's observances are absolutely correct, but pretty damn pedestrian. Candidates are pandering to the lowest common denominator by posing as good ole boy hunters? NO! They would never sink so low. Say it isn't so. They're pimping themselves as the next Reagan or Kennedy? I don't believe it!!! They have way to much integrity to do such things! Claiming to be the torchbearer for God himself? Come on now!! No way, no how!!
Duh. . .it's called politics. It's nothing new. Democrats do it. Repuclicans do it. Patti's daddy did it. It's hardly shocking or newsworthy.
They all do it and they do it for a reason. It works!! If you want to get elected, you MUST appeal to the lowest common denominator. It's unfortunate, but appealing to reason, intelligence and pragmatism puts people to sleep. Nobody worthwhile will ever make it in politics.
To misquote Men in Black: "A person is smart, but people are stupid. And you know it!"
Comment: Candidates to Patti: ...........SHUT UP
Comment: Candidates to Patti:........SHUT UP
Comment: Tina H: I don't believe that Mrs Davis is advocating or not for her father. Her argument is that the candidates (both Republicans and Democrats) need to be original and stop comparing themselves or trying to imitate men of the past. Secondly, she would like it to be more about the issues and less about "public perception," or trying to prove oneself in the eyes of interest groups (i.e. NRA and gun rights groups).
Comment: Yeah. I would like to respond to jojoc10's comment with regard to Patti Davis. I don't care whether you love her or hate her, the point is is that some of her most ardent detractors are so busying trying to crucify her Pontius Pilate-style, that they don't bother to read her entire column because of some petty animosity on their part because of whatever discretion she may have done in her youth. What is the point of this? This kind of pettiness and tired lecturing only holds America back and is done with people who have too much time on their hands and, to quote Jack Nicholson (pardon me for invoking Nicholson - ha ha), "Can't Handle The Truth". This kind of behavior and corruption doesn't serve anyone in the end.
Comment: Bravo, Miss Davis! It is really scary to think that voters in Iowa are going to fall for the candidate who best plays up the nostalgic homage to your dad.
Comment: If you live long enough, even Patti Davis grows up.
Comment: If we live long enough, even Patti Davis grows up.
Comment: Reagan wasn't all that swell. Looking back he started a lot of the wrong things that the republicans have done. By that I mean, thinking only of the richest, and screw the rest of the people. At least Reagan was a really friendly and popular man unlike GWB. Bush is unpopular and a snake is more friendly and caring.
Comment: Patti - This is interesting commentary coming from someone who couldn't find anything positive to say about Ronald Reagan when he was president. You didn't support him then. What gives you credibility now? Each of the Republican candidates running for president shares more of your father's convictions and ideas than you ever did. You are not the expert on his policies and ideas simply because you share the same blood. I have to take your new-found expertise with a massive grain of salt.
Comment: omg, for real seriously im 1/9 79- ,and if you are then its safe to say, we both know its been disbanded 4 times [i think] sense the mid 80s, and we were forced to stay in camp hansen on the rock, then you know where i went while at camp swab, with 1st recon? im tired of fighting our differences in military and its very apparent we agree to disagree on politics but are you serious 1/9 really you would be the first ive met in eons.seriously? the one reason i do just get a nod is our colors, the grim reeper in our colors is not very military looking is it ? cause the lightingbolt is hard to see.
Comment: when i talk of the grim reeper not looking military is due to the day .the grim reeper is worn mostly by the kids who are gothic so no one sees it as milirary. no disrespect at all.
Comment: no more politics, semper fi
Comment: with pride! Deal, and again thanks for you and yours for there service
Comment: could it be possible that we are both members of 'the walking dead'?
Comment: it has to be cause only The Walking Dead, fight as hard as we have here.
Comment: I just can't wait till it's over like Christmas. politics come earlier and earlier and last way to long [commercials]!! Wish for the best, Hope for what we can get, and pray it stops there!
Comment: AS A VET I WILL NOT EVEN RESPOND TO YOUR ILLMANNED RESPONCE ABOUT MY SERVICE AND JUST CAUSE I HAVE NOT A CLUE TO THE AIRFORCE FROM A JARHEAD PERSPECTIVE MEANS ZIP. MILITARLY CLINTON WAS A REAL PIECE OF WORK THIS IS NOT IN DISAGREEMENT SO STOP TRYING TO MAKE IT ONE. IS THIS THE SAME RESPECT YOU SHOW THOSE FROM IRAQ WHO WRITE IN HERE?
Comment: im finished with you, you were never in the service, i have prooved that. you are a fake, a phony, a fraud. a marine, never refers to himself as a jarhead, he refers to himself as a marine, always, never a former marine, never a ex-marine, never a jarhead. you are just like bill clinton, cant tell the truth about anything
Comment: DITTO, AND IT JUST SHOWS YOUR IGNORENCE TO THE CORP, AND I PREFERE, EX, AS IF WE EVER HAVE OUR BORDERS BREACHED BY SOMEONE TRYING TO CHANGE THE WAY WE LIVE! I DON'T HAVE TO LIVE BY ANY RULES OF ENGAGEMENT, ERGO, A TERRORIST. YOU HAVE PROVED NOTHING BUT JUST HOW INTOLERANT THE OLD GET TO THE NEW! I CAN WALK BESIDE MY SON IN AN ARMY UNIFORM AND HE IS THANKED BY ALL, AND WHEN HE STATES "IT'S HIS FAULT" AND POINTS AT ME, EVEN IF I WEAR MY UNIT ON MY SLEAVE, 1ST BAT, 9TH MARINES, 1ST MAR DIV, C, CO, 3RD HERD T.A.D. TO 1ST BAT RECON, I GET A NOD? VETERANS STILL DO NOT GET THE RESPECT THEY DESERVE TODAY CAUSE OF HINNIES LIKE YOU. PRIDE, HONOR, INTEGRETY! I LEARNED TWO THINGS IN BOOT ! HOW TO DIE WITH HONOR AND HOW TO KILL! KNOW DO AS I DO AND GO TAKE YOU PILLS FROM YOUR LOCAL VA AND CHILL! VETERANS SHOULD DISAGREE, BUT NEVER DISRESPECT, WHICH SHOWS YOUR TRUE COLORS-SIR-NOBODY OUT
Comment: YOUHERD
READ ALL OUR POST AND RESPONCES AND JUST AGREE TO DISAGREE IF YOU LOOK HARD ENOUGH YOU WILL SEE MY RESPECT FOR YOU. ALL I SEE FROM YOU IS I'M A DISFUNCTONAL DISHONERABLE VET.
Comment: Dear Ms. Davis. Thank you for sharing your opinion regarding the invocation of your father's name among candidates in the 2008 presidential campaign. I live in Ventura, CA, and had the good fortune of growing up during your father's presidency. I remember what it was like to be proud of America and to believe in the power of the individual. I stood on the rubble of the wall your father helped to tear down, and I understand the impact of ideas. While, at first, I was also put off by the references of all the candidates to your father during campaigns, I now understand that they are simply trying to remind us of his spirit and to encourage us to reconnect to the Reagan principles of strong defense, a strong economy and strong families. I hope we can all look beyond the silly campaign stunts that candidates in both parties find themselves compelled to participate in and really listen to what they say during more serious moments. Times are different. Candidates are called out in ways that were previously not required. They must explain all aspects of their lives, even, unfortunately their religious beliefs. These campaigns can be brutal and can we really blame any of the candidates for looking to your father???s example in order to find strength for their journeys.
Comment: Dear Ms. Davis. Thank you for sharing your opinion regarding the invocation of your father's name among candidates in the 2008 presidential campaign. I live in Ventura, CA, and had the good fortune of growing up during your father's presidency. I remember what it was like to be proud of America and to believe in the power of the individual. I stood on the rubble of the wall your father helped to tear down, and I understand the impact of ideas. While, at first, I was also put off by the references of all the candidates to your father during campaigns, I now understand that they are simply trying to remind us of his spirit and to encourage us to reconnect to the Reagan principles of strong defense, a strong economy and strong families. I hope we can all look beyond the silly campaign stunts that candidates in both parties find themselves compelled to participate in and really listen to what they say during more serious moments. Times are different. Candidates are called out in ways that were previously not required. They must explain all aspects of their lives, even, unfortunately their religious beliefs. These campaigns can be brutal and can we really blame any of the candidates for looking to your father???s example in order to find strength for their journeys.
Comment: Amen! No pun intended. The phoniness of these candidates does ring true.
Comment: Amen! No pun intended. The phoniness bleeds through these candidates.
Comment: I totally disagree with this article! Religious beliefs have not been used as political tool but are realyl part of Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. Americans wanted to know what his beliefs were and when he made the statement and declared what they were, the media and others did nothing but slander and depreciate his name. I am disappointed also that someone can not also want to reflect in their presidency, past presidents such as Ronald Reagan because he was a magnificent leader. I also don't believe that any person just because they were related so someone famous should be able to write so inaccuracies.
Comment: TRUST ME SHAME IS THE LEAST OF MY MENTAL HISTORY. YOUR RIGHT ABOUT RESPECT. I SHOULD RESPECT BUT AS IT WAS TOLD, HIS M.O.S. WAS PILOT, BUT WAS RUNNING HIS FATHERS POLITICAL DOINGS. THIS IS DIRECTLY IN DISRESPECT OF THOSE WHO DID AS THEY WERE M.O.S,ED TO DO. A COOK DOES NOT FLY, AND A GRUNT DOES NOT GIVE MERCY [UNLESS IT FOR THE RIGHT REASON FOR YOUR OWN]. HE HAD A JOB, AND HE DID NOT DO IT, AS HE WAS DOING NON-MILITARY DUTIES! WHICH IS WHY THE LACK OF RESPECT. I WOULD THANK HIM BUT HE HAS NO TOLERANCE TO LISTEN BECAUSE I'M BENEATH HIM, AS SOME OFFICERS FELT, AND STILL FEEL TODAY, MAKES RESPECT HARD TO GIVE! YOU SAID YOU HONOR MY SERVICE BUT NO THANKS FOR IT,? I SERVED FROM 79-TILL IN COMBAT! THEY DENY EVER HAPPENED? ASHAMED IS AN EASY FELLING, WHEN YOUR CLASSIFIED AND TREATED BY ALL AS NOBODY!
Comment: the air force does not have MOS, its an AFSC. once again you start off wrong and keep on going. what was clintons MOS or AFSC. i do not believe you served at all, as you have been wrong on so many small details that anyone who did serve would know.i believe , like your draft dodging idol bill clinton, that you would faint at the sight of a drill instrctor, let alone a dead body
Comment: KEEP DREAMING AND DISRESPECT SOMEONE YOU KNOW PERSONALY IT LENDS TO KNOWLAGE THAT YOU LACK!
Comment: You know what the good part is about all this? Everyone is debating conservativism and Ronald Reagan and the 2008 Republican candidates. It means the liberals are defeated permanently. No one is claiming to be Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton. The debate is who can fill Reagan's shoes. It means America has turned the corner, finally, and conservatism has been successful. Liberalism is dead.
Comment: KEEP DREAMING
Comment: MSNBC should be ashamed that it reprinted this drivel. She even evokes the word imitate and says her father never imitated. What an obtuse person? Doesn't she know he was an actor before he was a politician. Heck, just what is it that actors do? Let me see. Could it be imitation????
What schtick? She's got brass. But, Newsweek should know better than to print this garbage.
Comment: Well, that's interesting in a very short sighted sort of way. In fact, this peice is just plain insulting. Ronald Reagan was an actor before he was a politician and it trained him well to act as a politician. All actor's really do is portray, or well uh.... I think the author evoked the word imitate, others qualities.
This peice is insulting and MSNBC would do well to not publish such blather.
Comment: I HALF HEARTEDLY AGREE BUT ARNIE WAS AN ACTOR TO, BUT IM NOT GOING TO SAY HE WOULD DO A ROTTEN JOB. AS HE HAS GOTTEN ALOT DONE IN CALIF. SO IM TORN ARNNI IS GOOD PEOPLE AND AN ACTOR, AND HAS BRAINS, AS SOME DO. SO ITS A THROW UP TO SAY ACTING HAD A DISADVANTAGE OR AN ADVANTAGE. IT DOES HELP WITH PUBLIC SPEAKING THOUGH, THIS IS TRUE!
Comment: you sleeping with clinton?
Comment: OOOY YUK NOT NOW WOO WHAT A NITEMARE FOR TONIGHT
Comment: How many of Reagan's people went to jail? What was the Arms for Hostages scandal. How many times did Reagan take credit for events that he had little to do with? As to Patti Davis, I guess that she has forgiven or forgotten what her father did and didn't do. How many redwoods......What Reagan did nationally was not much different from Bush. Both have demonstrated that Business comes before anything and everything, and so much for a balanced budget. Why do conservatives hate Clinton when he balanced the budget? The hypocrisy of these Republican supporters is so glaring that they must wear blinders.
Comment: the last budget that was balanced was forced on clinton by a republican congress, as for the surplus, the only way a government cant get a surplus is by raising taxes, you see, government produces nothing. so when you see any government saying it has a surplus, be it city ,state, or country, it means you paid too much of your money to the government. the opposite is true for a deficet. idealy, all government should 'break even'
Comment: I have no idea what you are talking about, and I suspect that no one else does either. It doesn't surprise me however, that you completely ignored my other comments, which is so typical of neo-fascists.
Comment: Clinton was the best bi-partisan president we had nothing was forced by either side -THEY ALL WORKED TOGETHER-YA A TERM WE HAVE NOT SEEN OR HERD IN 7 YEARS!
Comment: you are revising history, or you are dreaming. there has been no bipartisanship since the 50's, and by the way, your darling bill clinton never got more then 49.5% of the vote. must i educate every one??? just so much revisionism going on.
Comment: You really are screwed up. I have no "darlings" in politics, but I'm sure that you pray every morning to George W. Bush and Rupert Murdoch and all the other leaders of Neo-Fascism. Congratulations for being so anti-Democratic and so Anti-American.
Comment: WITH AN OPEN MIND TRY AGAIN!
Comment: look it up
Comment: WHATS THE POINT AS YOU STATED IM NO BETTER THAN ALPHONSO PUSSNUTS!! YOU ARE?
Comment: my apologies, all those question marks were quotations and the author is surely Patti Davis (not a he)
Comment: I agree with the article. It is a pity the Republican party is now defined as the conservative religious evangelical (read holy roller) party. However, this is the brand recognition the candidates chose embrace. Once I was a Rockefeller-Reagan republican. I can no longer relate or associate with a party that is marketing politics and religion in a very hypocritical way. During the sex scandals we saw starting with Foley and Reverend Haggard, I personally began refering to the GOP as the Gay Old Party.
Comment: I always think it is strange that Patti Davis seems to know so much about her father. Wasn't she the one who stood against everything he believed in and was embarrassed by her father and was an embarrassment to her father. The only time I saw her standing up for her father when she did her New Age speech at his funeral (my impression was that she was on something). Let me remind her, her father used the word God more than any recent President I can think of and appearred at every possible religious meeting while he was campaigning.
Comment: I agree with author but I think he is totally wrong.
Twice our great country elected a ???good man, good christian, and good ???merican??? over arguably better Americans, better Christians, and better men. (If that doesn???t prove the failure of democracy I don???t know what possibly could.) Now cometh Mike Huckabee another ???good man, good Christian and good ???merican??? God help us.
The truth about Ronald Reagan is that he dismantled crucial civil programs while allowing outrageous pork-barrel spending by his congressional allies. He claimed he was making the federal government smaller while he increased federal spending and created a federal deficit we now take for granted. He allowed his wealthy base to become even wealthier so all that wealth could ???trickle down??? to the middle class. (Unfortunately, it trickled down and right and out of our country.) Ronald Reagan may be the most contradictory figure in our history. But the truth is that, he won the presidency by misleading and lying to the American people; just like our next president surely will.
Comment: I agree with you but I think you are totally wrong.
Twice our great country elected a ???good man, good christian, and good ???merican??? over arguably better Americans, better Christians, and better men. (If that doesn???t prove the failure of democracy I don???t know what possibly could.) Now cometh Mike Huckabee another ???good man, good Christian and good ???merican??? God help us.
Ronald Reagan dismantled crucial civil programs while allowing outrageous pork-barrel spending by his congressional allies. He claimed he was making the federal government smaller while he increased federal spending and created a federal deficit we now take for granted. He allowed his wealthy base to become even wealthier so all that wealth could ???trickle down??? to the middle class. (Unfortunately, it trickled down and right and out of our country.) Ronald Reagan may be the most contradictory figure in our history. But the truth is, that he won the presidency by misleading and lying to the American people, just like our next president surely will.
Comment: Spoken like a true liberalwithout a clue. Clearly you gain your knowledge through the liberal media.
Get your facts straight.
Comment: i think your father is rolling over in his grave. Knowing that you are a Commyfornia Democrate.
Comment: i think your father would roll over if he knew what a Deomcrate you are.
Comment: 2007 "Bloodiest year ever in Iraq" so much for less, is more!
Comment: Each and every republican candidate is unqualified, and a disgrace to America. In 2008 this nation will choose a democrat as our next President, and that candidate will win by a landslide. Can you imagine Obama debating these republican candidates? It's practically unfair, his intellect and character will triumph and even embarass any one of these Republican candidates. The day of reckoning is drawing closer.
Comment: Do you really think that the American public vote based on the ability of the candidates to debate? If that were so, how did Bush win? First or second election? How did Bush Sr. win? We don't vote based on the ability of the candidate to debate. A Republican will likely win, not in a landslide, due to the Democrat majority congress failing to make good on its promises. That is what the American public remembers.
Comment: "... Democrat majority congress failing to make good on its promises" ??? What world are you living in? Republican stonewalling, by sorry George Bush, his enablers in Congress and his ???administration???, and his few remaining die-hard supporters, is what repeatedly stopped Democratic initiatives from moving forward since Democrats assumed congressional majorities. Only Republicans would block every effort by Democrats to improve American society, and stop the insanity of this administration's foreign policy, and then point a finger at Democrats and cry, "you failed!" My friend, what the electorate ought to remember in Nov 2008 is the spectacular failure and disaster of George Bush???s presidency, and that the Republican political machine is what brought this all to us.
Comment: ABOUT FRINKKIN TIME THE TRUTH BE TOLD
Comment: I am amazed at how people can act so surprised when conservatives invoke the past "saints" of the parties (we won't discuss whether the policies and tactics in fact were racist, sexist, and sought to oppress the working class to make the rich richer qualifies a person for sainthood, since in the world of conservatives, religious and political, it seems to do so). The very nature of conversativism is to look backward. Those who subscribe to the philosopy of conservatism (religious and political--and these days they are one and the same) look back to the good old days when men were men, women were chattel, minorities were little more than labor devices, and the Christianity was pure and we did not have to acknowledge other people in the world, let alone live try to respect them as human beings. So, Ms. Davis, accept the 'legacy' of your father, and recognize what his (and your) religious and political beliefs were all about and quit whining--unless this is just a cynical attempt to keep your name in the public sphere.
Comment: Religious and political philosophies as well as cynicism are all things protected under the constitution of these united states. Fought for and believed in by Republicans and Democrats alike. Reagan was a leader that continued to press for these freedoms. Your posting here is simply leveraging a right given to you by many who have gone on before. So, go ahead and foster and facilitate your cynicism. It's your right. It is also my right to reflect on the past and pray for the future.
Comment: i remind you that had it not been for the republicans the civil rights act would not have passed[ 1964-1965 ]there were no republicans in the south and the democratic southern senators including al gore's father and robert byrd of west virginia, who is still in the senate, all voted against it. so did senator fulbright, bill clintons idol. so you can not generalize. not all dopes are liberals, but all liberals are dopes, how about that generalization?????
Comment: hey supercameron, just to set the record straight, nixon served in ww2, johnson did also, and was awarded a silver star, truman was an artillery captain in ww1, with hard service, FDR had polio so he couldnt serve, ford and reagan were also ww2 vets, even jimmy carter was a naval officer.gore was in viet nam, bush in the guard, where he spent enough time that he learned how to fly a jet, his dad, ww2 pilot, shot down in the pacific. ojly the darling of the left, bill clinton, dodged the draft. now, from now on dont post if you dont know what the facts are.you making up stuff doent make it so !!!! notoce that there are both rapublicans and democrats on my list that served, so i am not biased, you heard it here 1st
Comment: compared to those you mentioned, Bush Jr. of all the moronic remarks! the others know, saw, and were in combat including KERRY! Bush Jr. dodged the combat, and to a Veteran all were heros, but GW BUSH JR. Sir
Comment: strange, im a vet, and dont resent bush jr. service. i resent his presidency, but not his service. in the military you do what your told and go where you are sent. some in the military, did less then others, but all did more then most. if you were truly in the military you would know this. does a cook do less then a pilot? that pilot aint flying unless he eats. now, some have less 'glamourous' jobs, but their service is honorable.unlike you, i honor all who served, past and present.its not a question of who did the most, the question is who did anything. bush did somsthing, not as much as kerry, but more then most. you should be ashamed of yourself.
Comment: for instance, bush jr. did more then your beloved bill clinton, and more then you
Comment: WHAT PART OF OPERATION CYCLONE DO YOU MISUNDERSTAND?
Comment: BUSH MORE THAN ME -NOT IN HIS LIFE TIME, NOW YOUR JUST BEING RUDE AND CLUELESS AS TO MY SERVICE, AND YA I KNOW CLINTONS PAST IT WAS NEVER IN CONTENTION AND A RESPONCE FOR THIS IS UP TOP SORRY I DID NOT KNOW WHERE YOUR POST WAS POSTED TO RESPOND PROPER!
Comment: "Can't we go back to respecting the privacy of religious faith and stop using God as a campaign tool?" Thank you! At last, someone has the sense to step up and state the obvious. Faith IS a private matter, and it belongs in a private, NOT a public, setting. It has no place in public life. It belongs in churches and homes, NOT in public schools, government discourse, or political debate. A person's worthiness to be President has nothing to do with their religious belief system (see current occupant of the White House), and everything to do with their intellect, judgment, temperament, humility, openness to ideas, knowledge of history, respect for societies and cultures other than our own, and political skill in advancing America???s interests in the world. America, and the world, will be better off when religion resumes its rightful place in church, mosque, synagogue, and private homes, and recedes from domestic and international politics, public schools, governments, and fueling of international terrorism.
Comment: Why would anyone care to envoke Ronald Reagan's name. We are still suffering from the ill effects of his "Trickle Down" economics. For that matter, How did he get elected in the first place, when he couldn't even get star billing next to a Chimpanze in Bedtime for Bonzo. Just shows you how really stupid the American public is!
From an American that desires a stateman for President, not the bumbling oafs that are currently running.
Comment: Patti,
Your father would be proud of you. You have stated the case so clearly. Don't preach to me Mike, I know my religion. As for Mitt, which answer to you want today? The entire choice this year is so sad. No one on the republican side is worthy on the position, and the democrats can't get past Hillary's past. We need a real leader and there are none out there. Abortion and gay rights are personal choices, not to be legislated by a government that gets into wars over trumped up reasons and lies. Bill Clintin might have been a womanizer, but so were many other president's. At least he didn't lead us into a war over lies and he left office with a sizable surplus in the treasury, something the current moron from Texas can't lay claim to.
Comment: You are your father's daughter .... written well with great feeling and a some humor. I love it will be reading everthing that I can that you write. O'by the way run for the office and give the Clintons some fear of Reagan again. Just joking who want such a poor paying job for all the suffering one has to experience at the hands of the press looking for headlines. That job only ages one fast and you never can be right for half of the people do not agree with you some of the time. And the interview process for the position cost a lot of money. WOW!
Comment: You are your father's daughter, greatly written I plan on reading more on what you say. When are you going on the campaign trail it would be a good added item to the times now. Thanks for your opinion.
Comment: Amen, Brother Ben who shot a goose and killed a hen, let me win!!!!
Comment: Amen Brother Ben who shot a goose and killed an hen let me win!!!!
Comment: Oh the irony??? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! What a hilariously unintentionally sardonic "commentary" on the subject of a daughter professing distaste of the current Republican primary candidates "using" her father's name.
This from a woman who has pretty much made her lifelong living and livelihood almost exclusively from using her father's name, influence and political stature to sell negative "tell-all" books - not to mention posing for a Playboy magazine spread in '94 (as if Hugh Hefner would have picked her had daddy not been a former president!)
Ms. Davis's autobiography, "The Way I See It," contained tawdry revelations that her father was cold, distant, and aloof to everyone except his wife. The book also contained accusations of child abuse by her mother. Davis additionally revealed that she had undergone sterilization so that she could not bear children, reasoning that this would stop the cycle of abuse.
Comment: jeez, let me see, according to some reagan had nothing to do with winning the cold war, was in the pocket of the oil companies[ gas was 60 cents] had nothing to do with restored pride of america after the dreadful years of jimmy carter,one of you even compares america to the ussr!!! i remind all of you that if you revise history doesn't make it so. i lived during the reagan years, they were good years. he was the ONLY president to look the russians in the eye and tell those thugs what they were, now you may not like me saying it, but thats the truth. ask eastern europeans about him, he gave them a hope they never had, like him or not he was a great man, you saying hes not doesnt change that. who would you rather be in a foxhole with, reagan or clinton????????? hahahaha, not even close, is it????and as for patti, i might have listened to you had you not showed up at your fathers funeral looking like a hooker. and while we are on the subject your brother ron is no better.
Comment: FROM THE USMC I WOULD PREFERE KERRY
Comment: I SERVED DURING REAGAN AND BUSH SR. NO SAINTS IN EITHER ONE NO CONCEPT FROM EITHER ONE AND BOTH LISTEN TO NO ONE
Comment: Operation Cyclone was the code name for the United States Central Intelligence Agency program to arm Islamic mujahideen during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, 1979 to 1989. The Program relied heavily on using the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) as an intermediary for funds distribution. Along with funding from similar programs from Britain's MI6 and SAS, Saudi Arabia and the People's Republic of China, the ISI armed and trained over 100,000 insurgents between 1978 and 1992. Somewhere between $3???$20 billion in US funds were funneled into the country to train and equip troops with weapons, including Stinger man-portable air-defense systems.
26 Aug 1988 SA-7On July 3, 1979, U.S. President Carter signed a presidential finding authorizing funding for anticommunist guerrillas in Afghanistan.[1] Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and installation of a more pro-Soviet president, Hafizullah Amin, Carter announced "The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan is the greatest threat to peace since the Second World War".[2] American funding started with 20-30 million dollars per year in 1980 and rose to $630 million a year in 1987.[3]
The US government has been criticized for allowing Pakistan to channel a disproportionate amount of its funding to controversial Afghan resistance leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar,[4] who Pakistani officials believed was "their man".[5] Hekmatyar has been criticized for killing other mujahideen and attacking civilian populations, including shelling Kabul with American-supplied weapons, causing 2,000 casualties. Hekmatyar was said to be friendly with Osama bin Laden, founder of al-Qaeda, who was running an operation for assisting "Afghan Arab" volunteers fighting in Afghanistan, called Maktab al-Khadamat (MAK). Alarmed by his behavior Pakistan leader General Zia warned Hekmatyar that "It was Pakistan that made him an Afghan leader and it is Pakistan who can equally destroy him if he continues to misbehave".[6] According to a Newsweek article, in the late 1980s, Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, concerned of the growing strength of the Islamist movement, told President George H. W. Bush, "You are creating a Frankenstein". Author Gilles Kepel reports that American funding of Hekmatyar and his Hezbi Islami party was cut off immediately following the withdrawal of the Soviets.[7]
The U.S. says all of its funds went to native Afghan rebels and denies that any of its funds were used to supply Osama bin Laden or foreign Arab mujahideen. It is estimated that 35,000 foreign Muslims from 43 Islamic countries participated in the war.[8][9][10][11]
Sale of non-US arms to Pakistan for destination to Afghanistan was facilitated by Israel
SO MUCH FOR YOUR OPINION OF CARTER AS IT WAS HE NOT REAGAN WHO GOT RUSSIA FROM OUT THE MIDDLE-EAST EVEN IF WE DID CREATE A FRANKENSTEIN JUST MEANS BUSH DON'T LISTEN LIKE HIS SON
Comment: Would I rather be in a foxhole with Reagan or Clinton? Please. Those guys gained the Presidency by avoiding foxholes all together. There is a tremendous difference between a person qualified to be President and a person qualified to die in a foxhole, and that's why I've made it a point to avoid foxholes entirely. As the current President, Clinton, Reagan, Ford, Nixon, LBJ, Truman, FDR, Coolidge, Harding, and so on mangaged to do.
Comment: I agree with you that candidates should stand on their own and be judged by results. However, as I've said in numerous forums (with all due respect) your father was over rated. Your father did not end the cold war. Hard working low and middle income tax payers broke the Soviet Union with alot of help from the Afghanistan people fighting the Soviet military. The lesson here is that candidates should be educating our people on what happenrd to the super power known as the USSR - THEY WENT BANKRUPT. We will to if we continue down the road the Republicans have put us on. (Dems aren't a whole lot better). We need a president with a fresh approach (and not tied to corporate friends) like Ron Paul and/or Dennis Kucinich, neither of whom emulate a previous president!
Comment: 3 Cheers for Patti Davis! I'm absolutely sick of all these stupid political campaigns. And I think Romney is the worst. What a phoney!
Axistogrind: You're really missing the point bud.
Comment: You're a complete idiot, sorry about being rude but you are. Who gives a d%@# if its a rifle or a shotgun? It's not the point. He father would be proud of her politcs because they're HER politics. Her complaint is that these polticians are trying to be Regan instead of being themselves. Sorry for you if thats too complex a point....
Comment: She is a lousy writer...a good writer would have researched just a little and determined it was a shotgun, not a rifle, that Huckabee was holding. Why not call it a missile launcher or pershing missile, it would be as accurate. He is actually a hunter, as anybody that has done a little bit of research on the man or even southern culture might realize that southerners do hunt, and duck hunting in Arkansas is revered by many hundreds of thousands, including by Mike Huckabee. If I was in Iowa or South Dakota I would be out hunting pheasants too, because there is no better tasting meat on this planet than pheasant. Sorry she doesn't like the practice, but she should tolerate others culture- tolerant like the hunters who don't comment on the Patti Davises of the world smoking pot in a circle and singing Kumbiyah...I also don't think that because she was the daughter of Reagan, we should give her opinion on his politics any credence at all-she was estranged from him for much of her adult life, and her politics are not something The Gipper would be proud of. Her defending his memory in a national forum smacks more of giving dems an advantage by taking away the cherished icon of a generation of americans. Talk about politicizing Reagan...what a hypocrite. He might very well be very proud that many americans think of Reagan's time in office an idyllic time in American History.
Comment: Actually, Regan did a lot of damage to the United States as far as energy conversation, supporting the oil companies almost as much as Bush potentially destroying any possibility of becoming a leader in the world finding new energy sources. Of course, the Oil Companies had Regan in their back pocket like most Republicans.
Comment: Actually, Regan did a lot of damage to the United States as far as energy conversation, supporting the oil companies almost as much as Bush potentially destroying any possibility of becoming a leader in the world finding new energy sources. Of course, the Oil Companies had Regan in their back pocket like most Republicans.
Comment: really? and the $300,000 the saudi government gave to bill clinton for his library?
Comment: ??? What does one have to do with the other. When faced with different opinions or facts, why are you conservatives so quick to yell "Clinton"? It's kinds of psychotically obsessive, ya know. But...since you brought it up, some facts are in order (as usual, when you people bring up Clinton).
The Saudi Royal family gave about $10M to the George H. W. Bush Library. That is the same amount they gave the William J. Clinton Library. Since private donors and Goverments have always given to these presidential libraries, I fail to see the point of your uninformed comment.
Comment: Patti - you wouldn't have a job writing for Newsweek if you're father were not as successful as he was as President and you should be honored that so many want to be like him, not run away from him. I don't see anyone saying, "I'm just like Jimmy Carter" or "I'm exactly like Bill Clinton".
Comment: In 1974, I ventured behind the Iron Curtain, visiting Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. In Bulgaria, I was constantly bombarded by portraits and statues of Lenin. The people of Bulgaria seemed totally indifferent to the propaganda - in fact I found them the friendliest people I encountered any where. But even then, long before Ronald Reagan???s famous challenge at the Berlin Wall, I could readily recognize that the days of the Evil Empire were numbered.
Ronald Reagan has become the Lenin of the Republican Party. As an enraptured Soviet citizen told a reporter in National Geographic, ???Lenin is our Jesus Christ.??? So, Reagan has achieved the same status. The Evil Empire did not fall because of Ronald Reagan???s vote-getting posturing. It fell because of the efforts of Lec Walensa, the founder of the first independent labor union, which set off demands for reform everywhere. Ironically, Reagan and his followers are constantly trying to stamp out labor usions. The Evil Empire also fell because of a network of lies, myths and institutional stupidities that compounded themselves over and over again.
As I write this comment, I am struck by the similarities between the old Evil Empire and ourselves. In both the Evil Empire and America, economic and political power is in the hands of a political elite. In both countries, dissent and whistle-blowing are persecuted. The media of the Soviet Union was controlled by the state. The media in America is controlled by a handful of mega-corporations. In either case, what passes as news is only what the owners of the media want the people to know. The constitutions of the USSR was even more democratic than our Constitution. The problem with the USSR is that the rights guaranteed by the constitution were paper promises. Thanks to Bush, our guaranteed constitutional rights are becoming more and more meaningless.. A French demographer Emmanuel Todd predicted the downfall of the USSR in 1979, when we were scared ***less. In 2003, he made a similar prediction about the downfall of the United States, which appeared in an article in the German magazine, Der Spiegel. If you read the article, you will discover that we are proceeding right along schedule.
Invoking Ronald Reagan will not change that timetable.
Comment: a bunch of revisionist bull.
Comment: fi!!mor3, less fortunate then me? i am totally disabled viet vet that proudly served when a democratic president sent me there. the medals i recieved were in recognition of service to my country. by the way, i made about 200 dollars per month , lousy money even back then.of what service have been to your country? or anyone for that matter??? the medals are noy worth anything monetarily, but they show others that you served and sacrificed a part of your life for others. its good to know that you appreciate our service. in my case i did less then some, more then most. hoe about you??? by the way , i salute kerrey for his service, i just didn't like him calling me and others barberians, and of course didn't like him discarding his medals, and then bragging about them when he thought it would get him some votes.
Comment: YOU SERVED THEN I SERVED WITHIN MONTHS SO ON MY BEHALF EVEN IF WE DO COMPLETLY DISAGREE IN THE POLITICAL ARENA AND I KNOW FOR A FACT WHAT KERRY SAID WAS FACT AS FROM 67-73 ALL COURT JUDGES WERE OFFERING RAPEST,PEDIFILES,ARMED ROBBERS, DRUGGIES AND THERE DEALERS EITHER 4 YEARS IN NAM OR 15-20 IN PRISION OF COURSE THEY TOOK NAM AND TO SAY THEY BECAME UPRIGHT AMERICAN PEOPLE IS LUDICRIS BUT THIS IS NOT THE POINT OF THIS POST-THANK YOU AND ALL YOURS FOR YOUR SERVICE I SAID IT THEN AND I SAY IT NOW TO ALL THANK YOU MUCH!!!
Comment: Please tell me there are some reasonable democrats.. I have a problem and wish some one could explain ,, if we put all the canidates in the front running i suppose they would all fall out if it got wet other wise doubt they could find their way out..
Comment: Who is Ron Paul? The only Republican worth voting for....
Comment: Who is Ron Paul? The only Republican worth voting for....
Comment: Oh... and the Swift Boat jockeys aren't a joke... of course not... they just made an A$$ out of themselves on behalf of all Viet Nam Vets and veterans alike,,,
Comment: Take your damned medals and melt them down.... donate them to the less fortunate
Comment: Good article.... I thought Reagan was... at best... incompetent... and a well-timed recognized name... Republicans just can't let go....
Comment: just like you liberals can't let go of jfk, watergate, and hippies? it always amazes me that those who accuse of incompetence themselves could never run a hot dog stand, let alone lead a nation.
Comment: Um....that would be conservatives who keep bringing that stuff up. I'm positive you'll invoke Jane Fonda's name even though people born after '72 only think of her as Barbarella. Hippies? Didn't they all become Yuppie Reaganites in the '80s? What a joke.
And yes Reagan was an incredibly clueless president who did a lot more harm to this country than good, who was given credit for things that were already happening or happened because of other people. Let's not forget his utter neglect of the AIDS crisis going on around him, his cutting of services that increased the number of homeless on the streets and the wasteful spending on false security measures.
Comment: john kerrey was a joke, i can tell you as a veteran you do not get to discard your medals and then brag about getting them. the democrats in 2004 found the one democrat i would never vote for.
