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From: lazarus@brahms.BERKELEY.EDU (Andrew J &)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Reagan evil?: re to jj
Message-ID: <12238@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Fri, 7-Mar-86 14:37:02 EST
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.12238
Posted: Fri Mar  7 14:37:02 1986
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Reply-To: lazarus@brahms.UUCP (Andrew J Lazarus)
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In article <550@kontron.UUCP> cramer@kontron.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) writes:
>
>>    "The US unilaterally disarmed during the 70's"
>
>Giggle, giggle.  At best, I would call this hyperbole.
>
No, although this is hyperbole, Reagan (and his employee Pat Buchanan)
insist on suggesting that the Democrats did (and still wish to) make
America weak.  You would think that RR would have better arguments
for the $400 hammers -- not to mention entire weapons systems that
screw up like the Sgt York, the Aegis, the Bradley -- than accusing
his opponents of lack of patriotism, but he doesn't.

>>    "The SS troops at Bitburg were victims "
>
>Depends whether they were draftees or not.
>
I don't believe there were any draftees in the elite SS.  

>>    "A Jewish girl just bat mitzvahed suggested I lay a
>>     wreath at Bitburg"
No rebuttal offered here to RR's willingnes to stand complaints
on their heads.
>>    "There is no segregation in South Africa"
No rebuttal here (of course!)
>>    "Sending Margaret Heckler to Ireland is a promotion"
Well, it was the courteous thing to say....
>>    "There was violence and fraud from both sides in the Phillipines"
>>        etc, etc, etc ad nauseum
>
>Probably true.  News coverage I saw indicated that there were problems
>on both sides.  (Marcos' side, much more than Aquino's side.)
>
Hmmm.  Notice how the State Dept quickly moved the Administration away
from this position.  I haven't heard of *any* fraud on the Aquino
side, and incredibly massive fraud from Marcos's.  Any contrary
evidence would be appreciated.
>> My explanation is a combination of all three causes.  Reagan is
>> very ill-informed on very many issues but not necessarily
>> stupid.  However he is also a pathological liar, i.e. somebody
>> who not only incessantly lies, but somebody who *believes* his
>> own lies and made-up stories.  The pathological liar can never
>> be uncovered on a lie detector test (or by the shifty eye test)
>> because he comes to believe his own lies.  Reagan used to simply
>> make-up play by play announcements on radio when the ticker-tape
>> broke.  He does the same with  making up stories about teenage
>> welfare mothers living high on the hog, or students on
>> student aid living in luxury, or the "communist dictatorship"
>> in Nicaragua.  He makes up convenient fictions which accord with
>> his narrowminded view of the world.  Does this mean he is "evil"?
>> Not necessarily.  Certainly his *intentions* are good given
>> his narrowminded view of the world - everything would be a
>> paradise if one could really perform such miracles as 
>> quadrupling the military budget, cutting taxes and still balance
>> the budget.  Or if one could have a magic technological wand
>> to make nuclear weapons obsolete.  But this is the type of
>> fantastic thinking that pathological liars and the deranged
>> engage in.  But should a nation be so deranged?
>> These types of fantasy may be comforting but they are *dangerous*.
>
>I hate to disappoint you, but the ideas President Reagan expresses
>have substantial support in America.  I support some of the ideas
>above (and retch).  I guess democracy just isn't a very reliable
>system for making decisions. :-)  Don't worry, I'm sure your buddies
>in the Kremlin will run America much better.
>
I can't say this clearly enough:
IDEAS are not substitutes for facts.  A vote that the earth is flat
does not make it so.  When the ideas are less tangibly false (e.g.
Aquino's side in the elections perpetrated fraud) they serve to
distort and confuse.

Suggestions that I support the Kremlin can be sent to /dev/null.
 
 andy