What would Reagan do?

[SpicyMcVoodoo]

I dunno why I thought of this, but remember during the first Republican Presidential debate how it was a Regan suck off session? Who could be more like Reagan? What would Reagan do?

Well, has anyone brought up what Reagan did when the Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up and 241 Marines were killed?

He swiftly pulled out of Lebanon.

BBC ON THIS DAY | 26 | 1984: US troops withdraw from Beirut

Despite the withdrawal, President Reagan insisted that the US was not turning its back on Lebanon.

"Once the terrorist attacks started there was no way that we could really contribute to the original mission by staying there as a target just bunkering down and waiting for further attacks," he said.

"I don't think we have lost as yet, although I know things don't look too bright. As long as there is a chance we are not bugging out.

"We are moving to deploy into a more defensive position."

This sort of pragmatic realism is not seen in any of the Republican candidates (save Ron Paul), and is certainly not seen in Bush.

What happened? They all seem to idolize Reagan, yet abhor doing anything like he did when confronted with an Iraq-esque situation. In fact, if a Democrat did exactly what Reagan did, they'd call him a defeatist weakling.

[ballz2wallz]

Isn't that considered Reagan's biggest mistake by the Republicans?

[DosEquis]

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz

Isn't that considered Reagan's biggest mistake by the Republicans?

I would think that the 4 trillion dollars in debt he ran up would be considered his biggest mistake to "conservatives".

Or the bill in the mid-1980s that was actually called amnesty for 3 million illegal immigrants could be a huge mistake to "conservatives".

Maybe trading weapons for hostages could be a mistake.

I just never understood the sack riding of this guy.

[6SpeedTA95]

Originally Posted by DosEquis

I would think that the 4 trillion dollars in debt he ran up would be considered his biggest mistake to "conservatives".

Or the bill in the mid-1980s that was actually called amnesty for 3 million illegal immigrants could be a huge mistake to "conservatives".

Maybe trading weapons for hostages could be a mistake.

I just never understood the sack riding of this guy.

4 trillion in debt? guess again

[6SpeedTA95]

When Reagan took office the debt was 918B, when he left it was 2.7T, how the hell did you get 4T from that? I got 1.8T. Big difference.

[thomez]

he tripled the national debt in 8 years

pretty impressive

[6SpeedTA95]

GDP
Jan 1981: 3,052B
Jan 1989: 5367.1B

[avsp]

sleep

[Thorgrim]

If it's a mistake...you certainly never hear conservatives talking about it, and I don't think he ever apologized

[thomez]

Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95

GDP
Jan 1981: 3,052B
Jan 1989: 5367.1B

so GDP went up less than double, national debt tripled

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95

GDP
Jan 1981: 3,052B
Jan 1989: 5367.1B

Why don't you do year by year GDP, because it should have gone up every year since 1981 considering what a great president he was

[6SpeedTA95]

Originally Posted by thomez

so GDP went up less than double, national debt tripled

Correct. But for the first time since 1972 the economy was growing well and inflation was under control, the economy was healthy.

[6SpeedTA95]

Originally Posted by Thorgrim

Why don't you do year by year GDP, because it should have gone up every year since 1981 considering what a great president he was

http://www.data360.org/dsg.aspx?Data_Set_Group_Id=230

there you go brother

[WickedLou9]

Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95

http://www.data360.org/dsg.aspx?Data_Set_Group_Id=230

there you go brother

Looks like it stays steady no matter who is in office.

[WickedLou9]

Hey let's not forget Iran-Contra, and his support of Afghani "Freedom Fighters"... So we armed Iran and Iraq and we trained Al-queda how to fight against a large superior conventional army. That turned out well for us.

[6SpeedTA95]

Originally Posted by WickedLou9

Looks like it stays steady no matter who is in office.

???

[WickedLou9]

Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95

???

The rate of growth looks fairly constant over the long period of time.

[6SpeedTA95]

Originally Posted by thomez

so GDP went up less than double, national debt tripled

Yeah, although I think the circumstances were quite a bit different under Reagan than they are today. While I think the debt was pretty ridiculous under Reagan there are reasons and compelling reasons at that.

Under this president there is only one real reason and that is the war on terror. The fact is that war is not that expensive compared with other wars and the whole Iraq debacle is ridiculous. Couple that with the absolutely insane amount of domestic spending increases with a republican congress and whitehouse and I personally find it unacceptable with this president.

[Thorgrim]

Originally Posted by WickedLou9

Looks like it stays steady no matter who is in office.

Not only that, but it looks like one of the very few slumps was under his watch from 1981-1982

[6SpeedTA95]

Originally Posted by WickedLou9

The rate of growth looks fairly constant over the long period of time.

Oh Yeah, I hear on that, I thought you meant it was flat, I was like


Yeah it remains fairly constant over the long haul, what the numbers dont depict are things like umployment, consumer confidence, living standards etc. Consumer confidence and living standards weren't so hot from 1971 on to about 1982. About 1982 some of the economic policies instituted by Reagan began ot have an affect and by 1984 things were pretty good, inflation was in check and interest rates were dropping.

But you're right things remain fairly constant.