Reagan’s legacy

I haven’t seen CBS’s Reagan movie, of course, but neither have any of the conservatives who are so up in arms about it. Conservatives usually view anything less than utter obsequiousness as evidence of media bias, and I suspect that’s what’s going on here. At any rate, John Dingell also hopes that the movie will be “fair and balanced.”

“As someone who served with President Reagan, and in the interest of historical accuracy, please allow me to share with you some of my recollections of the Reagan years that I hope will make it into the final cut of the mini-series: $640 Pentagon toilets seats; ketchup as a vegetable; union busting; firing striking air traffic controllers; Iran-Contra; selling arms to terrorist nations; trading arms for hostages; retreating from terrorists in Beirut; lying to Congress; financing an illegal war in Nicaragua; visiting Bitburg cemetery; a cozy relationship with Saddam Hussein; shredding documents; Ed Meese; Fawn Hall; Oliver North; James Watt; apartheid apologia; the savings and loan scandal; voodoo economics; record budget deficits; double digit unemployment; farm bankruptcies; trade deficits; astrologers in the White House; Star Wars; and influence peddling.”

Rep. Dingell concluded, “I hope you find these facts useful in accurately depicting President Reagan’s time in office.”

Try to keep some of that in mind when the old man finally shuffles off this mortal coil and we are innundated with gauzy remembrances — especially those of you who are too young to remember those miserable years firsthand.