Greg Pavlov wrote in
:

"Collective Amnesia or Collective Alzheimer's: America 'Remembers'
Ronald Reagan"
by Paul Douglas Newman

To remember Ronald Reagan as one of the greatest Presidents of the
twentieth century, to replace FDR on the dime with Reagan's profile as
Republicans wish to do, we are being asked to forget too much.

Greg

I think we're collectively remembering Reagan fondly now for a number of
reasons.

A- It's an election year, and the Republicans are cramming it down our
throats. I have a feeling that this might prove disadvantageous to them,
as GW's leadership doesn't compare very well to Reagan's

B- Our international goings-on are looking fairly dismal these days. The
people need a hero, and a dead one is preferable to none. People look
upon the Reagan years as a time when we recovered from stagflation, our
hostages were freed, and communism fell (whether or not you can attribute
those to Reagan, or how directly, I won't bother arguing), so he's as
good a hero as any.

C- Some bad stuff happened during the Reagan years, but at least the buck
stopped at his desk. I remember him accepting responsibility for those
dead marines (BTW, I also remember one of the family members refusing to
shake Reagan's hand at the services). GW accepts responsibility for
nada,and Reagan looks like a block of solid concrete next to Dub. The
exception is Iran-Contra. Tragically, when Reagan said he didn't
remember selling weapons to people who hated us to fund an illegal war,
he might have been telling the truth.

Scott