Who was the most over rated president? (Poll)

John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order No. 11110 that returned to the U.S. government the power to issue currency, without going through the Federal Reserve. That is praise worthy and indicates he was not run by the bankers. Very few people/presidents have done so.

Ronald Regan was way over rated... People remember him for stuff he didn't actually do.. sort of like Sarah Palin saying she could see Russia from her house... She never said it.

Five Myths About Ronald Regan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03104.html

"His real contributions to the end of the Cold War were his willingness to negotiate arms reductions with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his encouragement of Gorbachev as a domestic reformer. Indeed, a USA Today poll taken four days after the fall of the Berlin Wall found that 43 percent of Americans credited Gorbachev, while only 14 percent cited Reagan."

kresspin wrote: Ronald Regan was way over rated... People remember him for stuff he didn't actually do.. sort of like Sarah Palin saying she could see Russia from her house... She never said it.

Five Myths About Ronald Regan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03104.html

"His real contributions to the end of the Cold War were his willingness to negotiate arms reductions with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his encouragement of Gorbachev as a domestic reformer. Indeed, a USA Today poll taken four days after the fall of the Berlin Wall found that 43 percent of Americans credited Gorbachev, while only 14 percent cited Reagan."

I trust the people in Eastern Europe on this one. Monuments to Reagan, not Gorbachev in the Czech Republic and Poland. Western Europe? They were scared of the future. Both France and Thatcher feared a re-unified Germany.

If you base your assumptions on who got a monument in two foreign countries, then your belief is right on the mark. The poll mentioned was of U.S. citizens.

kresspin wrote: If you base your assumptions on who got a monument in two foreign countries, then your belief is right on the mark. The poll mentioned was of U.S. citizens.

But your argument was that people don't believe he was responsible for the end of the Cold War. The subject peoples who should know treasure Ronald Reagan.

If you want to discredit Reagan, there are easier aspects of his presidency to target.

And the poll is just a starting point for discussion.

I will leave the legacy to the judgement of history, not the common views held at that time. Many people in this nation at the time felt that Reagan's rhetoric was increasing, not decreasing, the chances for a nuclear exchange and thus it is no surprise, to me at least, that Gorby would be credited by them for the agreement to get rid of an entire class of nuclear weapons. Reagan spoke for many years on the evils of those weapons and that from his standpoint the world would be better off without them. Coupled with that belief, however, was a recognition that a communist government was also an evil that the world would be better off without. He had the liberality to know that it wasn't the people of Russia that were evil, it was their form of government, just as Jefferson had the liberality to know that a federal government here that held a consolidated power of governance would be bad for the nation while holding most who held that particular view in high esteem as individuals.

SS109 wrote:

kresspin wrote: If you base your assumptions on who got a monument in two foreign countries, then your belief is right on the mark. The poll mentioned was of U.S. citizens.

But your argument was that people don't believe he was responsible for the end of the Cold War.

No, I merely quoted from the article which stated a fact about polls results regarding Reagan. It wasn't "my argument."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/in ... /oct86.htm

How much did he waste on his "Star Wars" defense system again?

Reagan was a great communicator who rallied the country with his great speeches (he was, after all an actor. But he was very good at saying one thing and doing another (as in shrinking government and cutting taxes). That's what made him a great politician.

kresspin wrote: How much did he waste on his "Star Wars" defense system again?

Not a penny IMNTBHO. He started an investment aimed at providing for the common defense of the nation that has thus far yielded the Patriot Missile Defense, and a functional airborne laser system. Common defense of the nation is one of the functions that the federal government was actually constructed to provide, and while the vision of Reagan remains unrealized currently, that lack is more properly the lack of the technology that it requires than it is a lack of need for the defensive system.

Ronnie R. - The original RINO

I voted for FDR - no real good choices there. FDR did more damage to America and he deserves to be over-rated for that.

Reagan did the most good by far in my opinion. I think many on the left hated him because he accomplished so much- pulling a country out of a horrible economy left behind by a two bit peanut farmer - re-establishing respect around the world for America.

He did all he could to limit government and spoke about the very dangers of a government run amok that we face today. He spoke about the dangers of encroaching government to our freedom and liberties.

He did spend a little money on star wars - and we now have a airborne laser system that is capable of protecting American lives - somthing that the left thinks is a waste of money but when it saves your kids life you may be chirpin a different tune.

No doubt in my mind that if Reagan had not fought so hard - the iron curtain and the soviet threat he dismantled would look very different today - the world would look very different today. How many countries and millions of people would still be living under communism?

He was a great man - and not at all over rated in my opinion. You can't over-rate greatness.

We could sure use someone like him now - as America sinks. Reagan will always be someone we can look up to as an example of a great American.

Every time I hear him criticized - It's assuring to me knowing it comes from much lesser human beings than he.

God bless Ronald Reagan.