[Leica] Remembering the Reagan years

[brianhome at linkus.net (Brian sledz)]

But the best line was in the 84 debates when asked by Sam Donaldson, " 
Mr. President you blame the House and the Senate for these issues with 
the economy, don't you take any responbililty?".  Reagan answers, "why 
yes Sam I do, I was a liberal for many years."

At least none of these quotes below are like one of the Clinton lines, 
"depends what the definition of is is."  Classic.



On Jun 9, 2004, at 9:51 PM, Tim Atherton wrote:

> One of our esteemed members posted this over on his own list
>
> (My main memory of RR is the outrage caused when Maggie Thatcher let 
> him use
> Britain as an aircraft carrier for bombing the Middle East)
>
> Uncommon  Wisdom from "The Gipper"
>
> "A tree's a tree.  How many more  do you need to look at?"
> --Ronald Reagan (Governor of California), quoted in the Sacramento Bee,
> opposing expansion of Redwood National Park,  March 3, 1966
>
> "I don't  believe a tree is a tree and if you've seen one you've seen
> them all."
> --Governor Ronald Reagan, in the Sacramento Bee, September  14, 1966
>
> "All the waste in a year from a  nuclear power plant can be stored
> under a desk."
> --Ronald Reagan (Republican candidate for president), quoted in the
> Burlington  (Vermont) Free Press, February 15, 1980.  (In reality, the
> average  nuclear reactor generates 30 tons of radioactive waste per
> year.)
>
> "I have flown  twice over Mount St.  Helens.  I'm not a scientist and I
> don't know  the figures, but I have a suspicion that one little
> mountain out there,  in these last several months, has  probably
> released more sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere than has been released
> in the last ten years of automobile driving or  things of that kind."
> --Ronald Reagan, quoted in Time magazine, October 20, 1980.
> (According to  scientists, Mount St. Helens emitted about 2,000 tons of
> sulfur dioxide  per day at its peak activity, compared with 81,000 tons
> per day produced  by cars.)
>
> "Growing and decaying vegetation in this land are responsible for  93
> percent of the oxides of nitrogen."
> --Ronald Reagan, quoted in the Los  Angeles Times, October 9, 1980.
> (According to Dr. Michael Oppenheimer of the Environmental Defense
> Fund, industrial sources are  responsible for at least 65 percent and
> possibly as much as 90 percent  of the oxides of nitrogen in the U.S.)
>
> "Approximately 80 percent of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons
> released by vegetation.  So let's not go overboard in setting and
> enforcing tough emission standards for man-made sources."
> --Ronald Reagan, quoted in  Sierra, September 10, 1980
>
> "I've said it before and I'll say  it again.  The U.S. Geological
> Survey has told me that the proven potential for oil in Alaska alone is
> greater than the proven reserves in  Saudi Arabia."
> --Ronald Reagan, quoted in the Detroit Free Press, March 23,  1980.
> (According to the USGS, the Saudi reserves of 165.5 billion  barrels
> are 17 times the proven reserves--9.2 billion barrels--in  Alaska.)
>
> "Why should we subsidize  intellectual curiosity?"
> --Ronald Reagan, campaign speech, 1980
>
> "Trains are not any more energy  efficient than the average automobile,
> with both getting about 48  passenger miles to the gallon."
> --Ronald Reagan, quoted in the Chicago Tribune, May 10,  1980.  (The
> U.S. Department of Transportation calculates that a  14-car train
> traveling at 80 miles per hour gets 400 passenger miles to the gallon.
> A 1980 auto carrying an average of 2.2 people gets  42.6 passenger
> miles to the gallon.)
>
> "It's silly talking about how  many years we will have to spend in the
> jungles of Vietnam when we could pave the whole country and put parking
> stripes on it and still  be home by Christmas."
> --Ronald Reagan (candidate for Governor of California), interviewed  in
> the Fresno Bee, October 10, 1965
>
> "I have a feeling that we are  doing better in the war [in Vietnam]
> than the people have been told."
> --Ronald Reagan, in the Los Angeles Times, October 16, 1967
>
> "...the moral equal of our  Founding Fathers."
> --President Reagan, describing the Nicaraguan contras, March 1, 1985
>
> "Fascism was really the basis for the New Deal."
> --Ronald Reagan, quoted in Time, May 17, 1976
>
> "I know all the bad things that  happened in that war.  I was in
> uniform four years myself."
> --President Reagan, in an interview with foreign journalists, April
> 19, 1985.  ("In costume" is more like it.  Reagan  spent World War II
> making Army training films at Hal Roach Studios in  Hollywood.)
>
> "They've done away with those  committees.  That shows the success of
> what the Soviets were able  to do in this country."
> --Ronald Reagan, quoted in the Washington Times, September  30, 1987.
> (Reagan longs for the days of Sen. Joseph  McCarthy and the HCUA witch
> hunts.)
>
> "We think there is a parallel between federal involvement in  education
> and the decline in profit over recent years."
> --President Reagan, quoted in USA Today, April 26, 1983
>
> "What we have found in this  country, and maybe we're more aware of it
> now, is one  problem that we've had, even in the best of times, and
> that is the people who are  sleeping on the grates, the homeless who
> are homeless, you might say, by  choice."
> --President Reagan, defending himself against charges of callousness
> on Good Morning America, January 31, 1984
>
> "I favor the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and it must be enforced at  the
> point of a bayonet,  if necessary."
> --Ronald Reagan, Los Angeles Times, October 20, 1965
>
> "I would have voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964."
> --Ronald Reagan, Los Angeles Times, June 17, 1966
>
> "If there has to be a bloodbath  then let's get it over with."
> --Ronald Reagan (Governor of California), quoted in the San  Francisco
> Chronicle, May 15, 1969.  (Reagan reveals how he intends to deal with
> student protesters at the University of California, Berkeley.)
>
> "Today a newcomer to the state is  automatically eligible for our many
> aid programs the moment he crosses  the border."
> --Ronald Reagan, in a speech announcing his candidacy for Governor,
> January 3, 1966.  (In fact, immigrants to California had to wait  five
> years before becoming eligible for benefits.  Reagan acknowledged his
> error, but nine months later said exactly the same  thing.)
>
> "...a faceless mass, waiting for  handouts."
> --Ronald Reagan, 1965.  (Description of Medicaid recipients.)
>
> "Unemployment insurance is a pre-paid vacation for freeloaders."
> --California Governor Ronald Reagan, in the Sacramento Bee,  April 28,
> 1966
>
> "We were told four years ago that  17 million people went to bed hungry
> every night.  Well, that was  probably true.  They were all on a diet."
> --Ronald Reagan, TV speech, October 27, 1964
>
> "But I also happen to be someone  who believes in tithing--the giving
> of a tenth [to charity]."
> --Ronald Reagan, from The Weekly Compilation of Presidential
> Documents, February 8, 1982.  (He may believe in tithing, but  he
> doesn't practice it.  Reagan's total charitable giving of $5,965  did
> not approach 10% of total income.  It was more like 1.4%.)
>
> "[Not] until now has there ever  been a time in which so many of the
> prophecies are coming together.  There have been times in the past when
> people thought  the end of the world was coming, and so forth, but
> never anything like  this."
> --President Reagan revealing a disturbing view about the  "coming of
> Armageddon," December 6, 1983
>
> "History shows that when the taxes of a nation approach about  20
> percent of the people's income, there begins to be a lack of respect
> for  government....  When it reaches 25 percent, there comes an
> increase in  lawlessness."
> --Ronald Reagan, in Time, April 14, 1980.  (History  shows no such
> thing.  Income tax rates in Europe have traditionally  been far higher
> than U.S. rates, while European crime rates have been  much lower.)
>
> "Because Vietnam was not a declared war, the veterans are not even
> eligible for the G. I. Bill of Rights with respect to education or
> anything."
> --Ronald Reagan, in Newsweek, April 21, 1980.  (Wrong  again.)
>
> "Politics is just like show  business.  You have a hell of an  opening,
> coast for a while, and then have a hell of a close."
> --Ronald Reagan to aide Stuart Spencer, 1966
>
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