Cool story, Dave. And his death really does have the country in (semi-) mourning. But that still doesn't detract from the fact that he really wasn't that great of a president. Our countrys debt tripled to $3 trillion dollars while he was in office. He increased defense funding to the point of the ridiculous, and he ignored stuff like healthcare and education. Oh yeah during his 8 years in office (of which he was probably coherent in about 6 of them), the rich got MUCH richer, and the poor got WAY poorer.

Sorry for this political rant, but it makes me mad when all I've been hearing about Reagan was who great and wonderful he was. I'm not making any judgments about him as a person, but I think his actions speak for themselves.

Rubbish. Reagan inherited an economy in free fall--thanks to Jimmy Carter. He created an unprecedented economic expansion; tax revenues soared following his stimulative tax cuts. Congress went on a spending binge adding to the deficit. However, the deficit was a temporary phenomenon and Reagan won the cold war. Even Gorbachev acknowledges Reagan was instrumental in bringing about the end of totalitarian Communism. Just ask the people of Eastern Europe about Reagan. They'll be more gracious and grateful than Sabernar.

whatever you think of reagan's politics, it's nice to know that all celebrities don't have to act like jerks (that means you mark prior) when they don't have a red carpet to walk on.

My point was that most people in the world look at Reagan as this god-like figure. I admit that Reagan played a part in the downfall of the USSR, but the fact is also that the Soviets played a bigger role in their own downfall. Reagan, like Clinton was a great talker. They were both extremely charismatic. All that doesn't detract from the fact that the economic expansion in the US wasn't all smoke and mirrors. It came at a great cost, which you could see in Bush Sr.'s reign as President.

And I always find it funny how Republicans (and Democrats) are the first to declare that their president (i.e. Reagan, Clinton) helped stimulate the economy and bring untold wealth to its citizens, but when a president (like Bush Jr) is at the helm during an economic slump, it's NEVER their fault - it's always someone elses fault. That kind of thing always makes me (sadly) chuckle.

The Monsters of Rock Tour's appearance in the Soviet Union had more to do with its fall than Reagan did.

Reagan is way over-rated as a president. Lets see....Iran Contra, ignored AIDS, Poverty rose to 30%, savings and loans scandal, thousands upon thousands died in central america, reagan put Saddam in power and put Bin Laden on CIA's payroll, middle class was wiped out, deficits bigger than ever, etc...just like in baseball, when you analyze a situation you must do it objectively,and the facts tell me that Reagan was a failure as president. Also, it is my understanding that as the leader of SAG, he was a sellout and took the money and ran leaving his union members out in the cold.

Dennis, you invoke objective analysis but then you immediately throw it out the window. Let me refute just one of your statements: "ignored AIDS".

AIDS was discovered in 1981 while Reagan was in office. By the end of Reagan's presidency in 1988 the federal gov't had spent $5.8 billion on AIDS (mostly research); yearly AIDS budgets increased every single year.

I'm happy that you preach objective analysis, but you've got to practice it too!

-beam