The Republican Reagan Fetish

-               Robert Hillard Patillo II, Esq.

With Former President Ronald Reagan’s 100^th birthday fast approaching there has been much fervor on the American political Right to rewrite history and place the “Gipper” into the Pantheon of great American statesmen.   Scant a day passes where a member of the Republican Party or Tea Party does not wax poetically of the utopia which existed in the 1980’s under Reagan’s watch.  In this articulation of history taxes were low, the military was strong and the American Dream was in reach for all as freedom and equality rained down in a mighty torrent washing away the excesses of the liberal oppression of the past.

At the forefront of this effort to revise history, for obvious reasons, is Ronald Reagan’s son Michael Reagan who recently penned an article “Ronald Reagan — More of a Friend to Blacks Than Obama?”  He is not alone.  Many on the political Right now run all decisions through a pseudo “Reagan Rubric” to determine if the policy fits into the Dream of Gipper.  To the Right, Reagan is a figure on par with the most towering figures of American history and deserves nothing less than enshrinement upon Mount Rushmore and a National Monument.  This Reagan Fetish has resulted in the twisting and bastardization of Reagan’s true legacy.

There is a reason that Reagan is held as such a shining beacon of conservative values.  That is because he is the only decent conservative President in U.S. History.  Think about it, both Presidents Bush were national embarrassments, Ford was shunned by his own party, Nixon was forced to resign and Eisenhower was so liberal that Martin Luther King, Jr. and many other Civil Rights activist supported him because of his social policies.  Hoover, Coolidge and Harding sank the World into the Great Depression. Taft was incompetent. Teddy Roosevelt was a social and economic Liberal.  McKinley died from being stubborn.  And the rest, stretching back to Lincoln were incompetent, ineffective, corrupt or simply lost to history.  Even Lincoln himself would not be a member of the modern political Right (do you really think the Confederate flag waving, anti-government factions of the Tea Party would embrace the “Great Emancipator?”).

So Reagan is all that the Right has in the entirety of American history.  Thus you cannot really blame them for attempting to turn lemons into lemonade, or in this case lemon jelly beans, with Reagan.  In truth, Reagan was the first in a now long line of intellectually dank politicians on the Right.  Similar to the “Know Nothing” Party of the Mid-19^th century, the modern Right prides itself on nativism, conservative core-values, a lack of compromise and pedantic political machinations with no foresight as to any long term impact.  The Right lauds Reagan’s record of cutting taxes and “winning” the Cold War and criticizes the current President for the massive deficits that the country currently faces.  However, they do not seem able to make the casual connection that decreasing revenue while massively increasing spending will leave you in debt.  And further that if you continue this policy for several decades you will be in a lot of debt.  And that the guy that shows up at the end to clean up after your 30 year spending rager cannot really be blamed for excesses of the past.

These conservative Know Nothings have fundamentally distorted Reagan’s record.  In truth, Reagan ran massive Federal deficits, almost bankrupted American with the “Star Wars” program, propped up brutal dictators, ran one of the most corrupt administrations since Ulysses S. Grant, failed to address AIDS, failed to address Crack and the American drug problem, locked up and entire generation to appear tough on crime, his laissez faire economic policy caused massive future debt and he was more than likely fully senile during the latter stages of his term in office.

That is all to say that this current Reagan fetish is not unlike other fetishes.  It is based upon living out a fantasy.  In this case, the fantasy that things were somehow better way back when.

Robert Patillo is an Attorney and commentator at The Patillo Law Group, LLC in Atlanta, Ga.  He can be reached at 706-464-9839 or via email: rpatillo@robertpatillo.com. www.robertpatillo.com

#blackinamerica
by Amani Channel

I was invited to to hang out with the bloggers at CNN headquarters for the third installment of Black In America. This was a town hall meeting that was taped as part the program. The topic: Almighty Debt.

Host Soledad O’Brien, Bishop T.D. Jakes, clinical social worker and public relations executive Terrie Williams, syndicated columnist Michelle Singletary, FBCLG senior pastor Rev. Dr. DeForest Soaries, pollster Cornell Belcher and others were part of the discussion.

CNN just shared a preview copy of the special with me, so I’ll have more once I digest the content.

6:50p.m. Soledad O’Brien enters the bloggers lounge and answers a few questions (on crutches).

6:55p.m. Soledad enters studio.

7:00p.m. Soledad introduces the town hall meeting. She explains the taping format. Conversation will start soon. She says it’s okay use cell phones during the discussion.

7:01p.m. Twitter hashtag is #blackinamerica

7:05p.m. Soledad tapes show intro. She does it in one take.

7:10p.m. After taping a series of show breaks, O’Brien interviews Bishop T.D. Jakes and Rev. Dr. DeForest Soaries about debt, the church, and Black America.

7:28p.m Taping continues. Hurry up and pause. Start recording.

7:36p.m. Conversation continues. You’ll have to watch the finished product on Oct. 21 at 9p.m.

by Amani Channel

If you haven’t heard, CNN’s Rick Sanchez was fired from the network on Friday.

It happened after Sanchez made comments about comedian Jon Stewart, his employer CNN, and Jews during a satellite radio interview last Thursday.

The issue was debated on CNN’s Reliable Sources on Sunday.

by Amani Channel

I read this morning that Sarah Palin wants Dr. Laura to fight back, but kill that! I hope she gets of the mic and never breathes on one again.

It sounded like she had waited her whole life to use the n-word on air, and she provided no help to Nita “Jade” Hanson.

I’ve been waiting to hear the other side, and I’m glad that American Morning scored this interview.

…But you’re worried about bloggers.

by Amani Channel

I have to confess, it’s weird watching all of the Atlanta flood coverage on TV. Especially since my neighborhood is high and dry. Part of me misses being in the middle of the action, the other half is thankful that I’m not having to slosh around in the disaster areas to share the misery.

Last summer I spent many days on the road covering the tropical storms and hurricanes throughout the gulf coast for the now defunct HDNews. I was talking to Mario Page who was the freelance cameraman I worked with, and if HDNews was still around, I’m sure we would have been covering this disaster together.

Storms aren’t any fun when it comes down to it.

This is how a reporter prepares:

The HDNews version:

by A.man.I

This best of segment features CNN anchor/correspondent T.J. Holmes. So this is the story about how I landed the interview: Shortly after I relocated to Atlanta and started my blog, my brother who happened to work with T.J. at his former station (KNTV – San Jose, CA) told me that T.J. had moved to Atlanta to work for CNN and I should try to get in touch with him.

It just so happened that around that time, one of my blog posts was about an upcoming CNN special. Shortly after, I received a press release from the network.

“Hmmmmm, why is CNN sending me a press release”? I asked myself. So I called the PR rep and had a pleasant conversation with her about my blog. I told her that my brother used to work with Holmes, and asked if I could arrange a sit down interview with him.

A few days later we set it up. I was invited inside of CNN headquarters. I was allowed to tape some footage of Holmes on the anchor desk, and had a pleasant conversation with him after.

T.J. is true professional, and has a very cool news presentation style. By the way if you ladies are wondering, word is: Holmes in engaged (but you didn’t hear it from me).

The interview is below.

by A.man.I

The word is that DL Hughley’s “Breaking the News” is going off the air.

According to the blogosphere, the show was canceled, but that apparently isn’t the case. A CNN insider tells My Urban Report:

“D.L. approached CNN about being permanently based in Los Angeles, where his family lives. To accommodate this, we agreed upon a new role where he will be a contributor for the network based in Los Angeles. We are eager to continue our relationship with D.L., who is a tremendous talent and a valued colleague.”

Any thoughts?