Chris Mathews- Worshiping at the Feet of Reagan


In a news climate that is soooooo desperate not to use vulgar words, like "Haliburton" and "Human Rights", the death of former president Reagan is like a blessing from heaven. For the record, I'm glad the poor guy isn't suffering anymore. I do have some compassion for him and his dreadful family, but, as a liberal- I don't generally hate anyone past the point of de-humanizing them;
my point is that we're all gonna die- and that simple thing is most likely the ONLY thing I'll ever have in common with the man. But it's enough.

So Chris "the screamer" Mathews on MSNBC this morning, while covering the massive funeral for Ronnie, dared to quietly explain the "some people" didn't like the guy because he was so suave and self-assured! Listen you asshole, you know better than that! The ONLY FUCKIN THING SOME OF US LIBERALS LIKED ABOUT THE MAN WAS THAT HE WAS SO PRESENTABLE LOOKING AS PRESIDENT!!
Never mind the facts that he was a liar (or was he, like his vice president "out of the loop?"), or that he preached a smaller government while growing it ever larger, or that he broke unions and screwed the once "safe" AIRLINE INDUSTRY.
No, Chris Mathews wants everyone to know it was because of his looks. That's why we hated him.

Once- when explaining to a friend why I disagreed with Reagan, I was accused of having a "personal problem" with the man. No, I explained, if you were on the "glory end" of Reagan- like if you were a minister, cop, politician, or right wing pundit- of course you'd love Reagan. He was like, everything you dreamed about; a person who validated your every desire and dream, and he made it look good. (It was OK to be white and powerfull during Reagan, in fact, why would you have wanted to be anything else?)
BUT- if you were on the end that got cut, slashed or totally eliminated from the Reagan budget, then your were called "small minded" or "a focus group". I called it getting fucked.

My father had worked all his life, with the belief that he'd have certain retirement benefits. When the time came to retire, Reagan decided that ANYONE getting more than a peasants wage from the government was a "DOUBLE DIPPER" and should be cut to subsistence level benefits.
NEVER MIND THAT THESE MEN AND WOMEN WORKED ALL THEIR LIVES AND PAID THOSE TAXES TO HAVE THOSE BENEFITS! The point is, social security is not a hand out. You pay for that shit. I pay for that shit. Then some actor/politician who probably NEVER worked a day in his miserable life dares to label these working men and women "the problem" and "we gotta cut this pork!".
That pork paid your wages Mr. Reagan. That pork raised good American kids who died in places like Vietnam. That pork was promised a certain amount of safety when they became old, and a lot of them believed you when you promised to look out for them. Instead, you cut their benefits.

But- due to the "free ride" that most media gave the old guy, Reagan got away with blaming the worker. And now- we're accused of not liking the man, because of his looks and charm.
Listen, only a knee-jerk neocon in-training would buy Reagans act anyway. But, it was a better act that Nixon, and for sure better that Ford. So, even back then, I understood that it was Reagans "image" people preferred to worship, not his deeds.

So jump ahead to Chris Mathews, still wanting to have it both ways. When we point out specific, credible evidence of why we don't care for Reagan- we're just being petty. When we point out that 99% percent of his appeal was visual and emotional, we hate him for his looks. No Chris, he was so much more bearable because of his looks. ANYWAY- we all know you neocons hated Clinton because of his looks, now see how ridiculous that sounds?