Ronald Reagan’s Greatest Hits, Part 1
-
Even stranger was selling drugs to buy weapons for the Nicaraguan Contras
As we celebrate Ronald Reagan’s centennial, let’s not forget the leadership he provided to America, setting a standard for every sad-ass president since.
Pundits accused Bill Clinton of flip-flopping. Well, Slick Willie was only following in the footsteps of the Great Equivocator, Ronald Reagan.
Remember the Iran-contra scandal? Observe with wonder how Ronald Reagan answered questions and issued statements which clarified his administration’s involvement in negotiating with terrorists, the one thing Reagan said the United States never, ever did.
- “We did not–repeat, did not–trade weapons or anything else for hostages, nor will we.” 11/13/86
- “To eliminate the widespread but mistaken perception that we have been exchanging arms for hostages, I have directed that no further sales of arms of any kind be sent to Iran.” 11/19/86
- “Let me just say it was not my intent to do business with Khomeini, to trade weapons for hostages, nor to undercut our policy of anti-terrorism.” 12/6/86
- “A few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that’s true, the facts and evidence tell me it is not.” 3/4/87
- “It sort of settled down to just trading arms for hostages, and that’s a little like paying ransom to a kidnapper.” 3/26/87
Was he confused or lying through his teeth? Either possibility remains depressing.
Bloghead 
Good observations. But is there a third possibility for the 41st president: Ronald Reagan had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, had no idea what the facts were, and merely recited the lines that he was given to read. His son, Ron Reagan, Jr. has recently written that his father was in the early stages of senility while he was in office, a fact that many suspected but Reagan’s handlers denied vehemently. I believe that the phrase “plausible deniability” was coined by the Reagan Administration, (I think by his closest confidante, Michael Deaver)to refer to willful ignorance – the practice of intentionally remaining unread and uninformed so that you can say things that aren’t true without being charged with saying something that you actually know is false.
Our nation needs a president like Ronald Reagan in the White House today.
Well that’s rather self-aggrandizing…