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Why Ronald Reagan beats John F. Kennedy as a better presdient
Irish Voice ^ | Thursday, January 27, 2011 | Tom Deignan

Posted on 01/27/2011 1:14:16 PM PST by presidio9

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To: dainbramaged
JFK's assassination plummeted him to immortality. He was otherwise not much of a president. Media hyped Camelot.
21 posted on 01/27/2011 1:42:07 PM PST by onyx (If you truly support Sarah Palin and want to be on her busy ping list, let me know!)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

“When Kennedy had the opportunity to overthrow Castro at the Bay of Pigs, he chickened out.”

Moreover, his youthful inexperience led the Soviet leadership to think they could get away with placing missiles in Cuba, bringing us closer to nuclear war than at any other time in history. JFK had the luck of the Irish to dodge a catastrophe during that crisis. By the time Reagan took office, the Soviets had reached parity or possibly attained slight strategic superiority in nuclear weaponry with the U.S. Yet I would argue that the U.S. was far safer under Reagan’s watch than JFK’s.


22 posted on 01/27/2011 1:52:55 PM PST by DrC
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To: MayflowerMadam

“Maybe because Reagan was from humble beginiings and worked for a living. OTOH, JFK lived off the ill-gotten gains of his bootlegging, criminal, womanizing, mafia-loving, daughter-lobotomizing father. Good character in the genes vs bad character.” Ya forgot NAZI-Loving too!


23 posted on 01/27/2011 1:54:33 PM PST by US Navy Vet
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To: altura

Assassin’s bullets have a habit of over-hyping their recipient’s historical reputations. JFK was a mediocre president, MLK was a quasi-communist and serial adulter, which you won’t hear much about these days.

I bet if that assassination attempt against Hitler had succeeded in 1944, he would have enjoyed a much higher reputation than he has today after committing a squalid act of suicide in his bunker...


24 posted on 01/27/2011 1:57:17 PM PST by sinsofsolarempirefan
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To: Paisan
This assumes that we exist to serve the State. Few have caught on to the Marxism inherent in this line."

Actually, I think the Marxism is inherent in your interpretation. You are equating the government with the country. I see them as two very different, if not competing entities. The way our founders envisioned America, if you are living up to your full potential as an individual, you are in fact serving the ideals America was founded on. One needn't serve the "state" i.e. government to serve one's country.

25 posted on 01/27/2011 2:02:13 PM PST by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: onyx

Reagan’s brain was functioning at a higher level when he left office?


26 posted on 01/27/2011 2:05:40 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: sinsofsolarempirefan

MLK= Martin Luther King?

News to me that a card-carrying Republican in the mid 1960’s was a communist. Can you document that?


27 posted on 01/27/2011 2:13:37 PM PST by Don W
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To: Joe 6-pack

This may, in fact, have been JFK’s intent. Still, if you look at the Liberal intepretation of his statement, many people took his remarks to mean “Government Service”. You perhaps remember young people especially who saw this as a left-wing rallying cry to “get into” politics on behalf of misguided liberal causes.
As I see it, the primary purpose of government, is to Provide for the common defense. If I participate in this, I have indeed ‘served my country’. Beyond that, I think that most of us here, at Free Republic, would prefer to be left alone...


28 posted on 01/27/2011 2:18:59 PM PST by Paisan
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To: sinsofsolarempirefan

BTW, I did a Dogpile search using “Martin Luther King communist sympathiser” as the search term, and every link I clicked on was a refutation of the claim.

Even Snopes says NOT true.


29 posted on 01/27/2011 2:25:49 PM PST by Don W (Only a Biker knows why a dog sticks his head out of a car window.)
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To: Paisan
In his book Liberal Fascism, Jonah Goldberg made an assessment of that line that essentialy mirrors yours, and I think, especially given the whole peace corps and public service things, that certainly may have been part of Kennedy's intent, but I also think he was alluding to every person in every vocation as well.

IMHO, we let the left control too much of the vocabulary in our national dialogue, and they have long worked to forge equivalence between "government" and "country". Remember after OKC, Clinton's line, "You can't say you love your country, and hate your government"? I would beg to differ with him, and I suspect our founders would too.

In any case, IMHO, my "country" and its ideals were established by, and codified in the Declaration of Independence. The American nation is an idea, which I try to serve every day, and expect nothing from. As a veteran, I'm certainly not saying that government service is irreconcilable with serving one's country, and in fact should be perfectly compatible with it, but historically speaking, it does not always work out that way, and when some in government are their to serve themselves rather than the public, the interests of the government can be directly at odds with the interest of the nation.

30 posted on 01/27/2011 2:31:37 PM PST by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: presidio9

JFK accomplished little. Most of his legacy is the result of Lee Harvey Oswald being a better marksman than John Warnock Hinckley, Jr.


31 posted on 01/27/2011 2:31:37 PM PST by MIchaelTArchangel (Obama makes me miss Jimmah Cahtah!)
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To: altura

The author is flawed. JFK delivered his inaugural speech on a cold day in 1961! NOT 1960. He was still running for POTUS in 1960.


32 posted on 01/27/2011 2:32:48 PM PST by boop ("Let's just say they'll be satisfied with LESS"... Ming the Merciless)
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To: presidio9
I love to ask liberals of a certain age to tell me what exactly, besides cut taxes, JFK actually did. Sometimes they mention his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I respond that it never would have happened if he hadn't wussed out at the Bay of Pigs.

Really, what did he accomplish? The Peace Corp? a great front for the CIA. Alliance for Progress? Ditto and a great tool for imperialism.

JFK did nothing and accomplished nothing but in that sense, he's the perfect leftist hero.

33 posted on 01/27/2011 2:38:49 PM PST by muir_redwoods (Obama. Chauncey Gardiner without the homburg.)
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To: Don W

Well, lets just say the communist sympathiser label is not proven. He was certainly an adulter though.
Also bear in mind that back in the 60s, black people were still generally republican in their sympathies because Democrats were still associated with the old dixiecrats that had held sway in the South since the Civil War. MLK would probably have transferred his allegience like many of his friends such as Jesse Jackson did to the Democrat Party had he lived...


34 posted on 01/27/2011 2:56:57 PM PST by sinsofsolarempirefan
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To: Jolla; Paisan; EyeGuy
What hoopla, the guy had one good line in all of his presidency they have replayed a million times, is that the hoopla?

This assumes that we exist to serve the State. Few have caught on to the Marxism inherent in this line.

Actually, it was Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman Consul, philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, constitutionalist and Republican who said “Ask not what your country can do for you, but rather what you can do for your country,” some time in the first century BC. A thousand years from now, historians will remember Cicero long after JFK has become a footnote in our American story.

Incidently, Cicero was peaking to the Senate, not the citizens, when he said it.

35 posted on 01/27/2011 7:39:48 PM PST by presidio9 (Islam is as Islam does)
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To: All

Cicero

36 posted on 01/27/2011 7:48:19 PM PST by presidio9 (Islam is as Islam does)
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To: Paisan
In any case, say what you will about the guy - and I’ve said plenty of negative things about him in my time - I would vote for the likes of him in a heartbeat.

Let's see: He ran against Nixon and would have run against Goldwater. Are you sure you're on the right website here?

37 posted on 01/27/2011 7:55:28 PM PST by presidio9 (Islam is as Islam does)
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To: Seruzawa

Ron’s tax cuts, defeating the Cold War opponents, giving America confidence after Nam, and for valuing Const. as well as Biblical values makes Reagan easily the best Prez since Teddy Roosevelt. FDR, IKE JFK all have some cred because of military experience in war and love for the nation even if two of the 3 seemed to love Federal Expansion but at least they all loved America. I cannot say that about the present WH resident. I wish I could because of my age and patriotism but I cannot.


38 posted on 01/27/2011 8:38:02 PM PST by phillyfanatic
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To: presidio9
JFK did set a tone and agenda remarkable for its ambition, from civil rights and the cold war to space exploration. But how did it get done?

Reagan, though, was a game-changer.

Any adult back then with an ounce of political sense knew John F. Kennedy was one thing: he was telegenic. Period.

Without TV JFK would never have gotten enough authentic votes to enable the Mob and Democrat party fraudulent votes to steal the election.

Anyone remember Vaughn Meader comedy albums? The Kennedys were show business.. ruthless though when it came to getting what they wanted. Especially RFK.

Reagan was the real deal. JFK was fluff by comparison; superficial, a Senate super rich playboy -- and a playboy president. Surprise.

39 posted on 01/27/2011 8:44:28 PM PST by WilliamofCarmichael (If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!)
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To: presidio9

Where are the likes of Nixon & Goldwater today?


40 posted on 01/28/2011 2:54:28 AM PST by Paisan
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