What's with all the sick sentimentality emanating toward Ronald Reagan from so many of the lefty blogs? Practically speaking, he's been lifeless for more than a decade, during which the left had no trouble coming up with things to hate about him. However, it seems that now that everybody and their mother is doing some sort of tribute to what a "good guy" he was, or how he "wasn't as bad as Bush" (who "isn't the most evil person in the world, so there!").

All I can say to this most unusual phenomenon is, "What the fuck?!"

At least Robert at My Blahg had the right idea yesterday, and Greg Palast (as I was informed just as I was getting ready to post this) has written something worthy of your undivided attention.

I hope that the left has merely had a "momentary lapse of reason" and is starting to wake up again. Perhaps Reagan's corpse is beginning to emit a rather noticeable odor, with no way to be "gracious" about pointing it out -- and it is necessary to do so.

Kos poster Meteor Blades is one of those who has rung the alarm to get us to wake the fuck up. S/He says:

How far are we as people of the left willing to go while the avalanche of Reagan mythology spews forth from every cranny of television, radio, the press and Blogworld?

[...]

[I'm not] talking about those who have suggested that out of human decency or, at the very least, smart politics, we liberals and people who are further to the left stay out of attack dog mode for a few moments.

What troubles me, irks me, makes me want to scream is the incomprehensible willingness of so many people on the left who should know better not only to stand silent while others sanitize the Great Salesman’s two terms in the presidency but also to parrot many of the untruths that have put the halo on him ever since he left the White House.

It is one thing to bite our tongues for a few respectful moments while Reagan’s fans sign the Icon’s commemorative guestbook, tell us what a fabulous leader he was and try to persuade us that we are all better for his having passed this way. It is quite another to repeat the bullshit ourselves.

Someone else pointed out a great piece written by David Corn in 1998 which was good enough to be republished in 2003: "66 Things to Think About When Flying Into Reagan National Airport." I think it's good enough to be repixelated here, but I'll add links for each of the 66 items as I come across them:

The firing of the air traffic controllers, winnable nuclear war, recallable nuclear missiles, trees that cause pollution, Elliott Abrams lying to Congress, ketchup as a vegetable, colluding with Guatemalan thugs, pardons for F.B.I. lawbreakers, voodoo economics, budget deficits, toasts to Ferdinand Marcos, public housing cutbacks, redbaiting the nuclear freeze movement, James Watt.

Getting cozy with Argentine fascist generals, tax credits for segregated schools, disinformation campaigns, "homeless by choice," Manuel Noriega, falling wages, the HUD scandal, air raids on Libya, "constructive engagement" with apartheid South Africa, United States Information Agency blacklists of liberal speakers, attacks on OSHA and workplace safety, the invasion of Grenada, assassination manuals, Nancy's astrologer.

Drug tests, lie detector tests, Fawn Hall, female appointees (8 percent), mining harbors, the S&L scandal, 239 dead U.S. troops in Beirut, Al Haig "in control," silence on AIDS, food-stamp reductions, Debategate, White House shredding, Jonas Savimbi, tax cuts for the rich, "mistakes were made."

Michael Deaver's conviction for influence peddling, Lyn Nofziger's conviction for influence peddling, Caspar Weinberger's five-count indictment, Ed Meese ("You don't have many suspects who are innocent of a crime"), Donald Regan (women don't "understand throw-weights"), education cuts, massacres in El Salvador.

"The bombing begins [sic] in five minutes," $640 Pentagon toilet seats, African- American judicial appointees (1.9 percent), Reader's Digest, C.I.A.-sponsored car-bombing in Lebanon (more than eighty civilians killed), 200 officials accused of wrongdoing, William Casey, Iran/contra.

"Facts are stupid things," three-by-five cards, the MX missile, Bitburg, S.D.I., Robert Bork, naps, Teflon.

Don't tell me that you "don't recall" any of that. If you can forget that stuff, you deserve whatever the Republi-Nazis dump on you. Unfortunately, it's being dumped on me, too.

Isn't it about time to wake the fuck up?!

UPDATE -- RELATED LINKS:
* Ted Rall: Reagan's Shameful Legacy
- cleaning the Vaseline off the lens
* William Rivers Pitt: Planet Reagan
- see how Reagan made today's "media" what it is
* David Ignoramus (The Assassinated Press): Reagan: Protean Template For Media Bullshit
- pulls no punches
* The Ronald Reagan Myth vs. the Google Reality
- lets you dig up much more info for yourself