Ronald Reagan? The Actor!?

I have a confession...I am a Reaganite! That's right, the girl who considers herself to be a Democrat in every sense of the word is a fan of the Republican President Ronald Reagan. He is truly one of the most popular and well respected Presidents of all time despite hiccups such as the Oliver North scandal during his Presidency and the best part is, he was an Actor! Only in America!

My example of 'Reagan Hatred' is an article from a LGBT friendly magazine called 'The Advocate'. The article was published shortly after Reagan's death in 2004 and is entitled Adolf Reagan.

http://wglb-tv.blogspot.com/2011/02/adolf-reagan.html

Written by Playwright/Novelist/Screenwriter/Activist Larry Kramer, he refers to the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s as the 'second Holocaust' and Reagan as the Hitler of the 80s because he could have done something about the millions of people dying from the terminal disease and chose not to. He makes a point of saying that Reagan did not mention the word AIDS until his seventh year in office. His opinion is that if Reagan had done something, then millions of lives could have been saved, but he chose to ignore it because he is homophobic, despite wife Nancy supposedly having many gay friends at the time. He goes on to also blame former President Franklin D. Roosevelt for the holocaust in 1940s Germany as he refused to ask the 'Jewish question' and put a stop to the travesty. Referring to Reagan as a 'mass murderer', Kramer was asked by People Magazine to give them a quote on Reagan's death to which he replied “I wish he had died before he was elected”. Well, he gets 10 points for shock factor there. My own personal opinion about Kramer's piece is that he is bitter and taking pot-shots at a man who had the highest approval ratings since Franklin D. Roosevelt (albeit after he left office) and quite honestly, he uses it to plug his own material. He also suggests that Reagan should be ashamed of himself for being homophobic as his own son, Ron Reagan Jr. has had gay experiences and may in fact be gay. Personally, if I were Nancy Reagan and had read this, I would have sued for slander. I found this piece an interesting one since it has been mentioned in some of the previous post that Reagan was famed for making people aware of the AIDS epidemic and was praised for his charity work and his help to fight both AIDS and HIV.

Guess what? Palin still has nothing of value to say. But many others do in this tribute to Reagan who would have celebrated his 100th birthday last week.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Ronald-Reagans-100th-Birthday-6689
USA Today published a selection of testimonies about Reagan is honour of what would have been his birthday and as well as being a touching piece, it shows how well respected he is to this day. This website has printed some extracts of the testimonies which talk about the man, the kind of President he was and what he did for his country. I personally liked Obama's, Romney's and Donaldson's pieces, all contributing different kinds of opinions about the 40th President of the United States. His legacy will last a lifetime, despite not being as popular as he is today during his two terms, he is one of a few number of President's that people remember fondly.