This SMEAR of Ronald Reagan was originally written by William Rivers (Pied Piper) Pitt on June 7, 2004 just TWO DAYS after the President's death. Right in the middle of the Reagan Funeral, when crowds appeared in record numbers to show pay their respects to the recently departed President, Pied Piper Pitt felt impelled to toss this Smear Bomb on the Web. Like many other Leftists, Pitt just couldn't stand the fact that Reagan was and STILL IS overwhelming popular with the public. Therefore, Pitt dipped his pen in poison in a Pittiful attempt to bring down the memory of the beloved President. Of course, Pitt's Smear Job got lost at the time in the midst of the ENORMOUS outpouring of genuine love bestowed upon Ronaldus Magnus. However, now I see that Pitt has REPOSTED his SMEAR on Reagan today. But why today? I couldn't figure it out until I realized that today is the 25th anniversary of the failed assassination attempt on Reagan on March 30, 1981. Great timing, Pitt. Since few paid attention to your missive of Hate in 2004, you felt the need to regurgitate it again on this date. The timing is NOT coincidental. Pitt can't get over the fact that Reagan SURVIVED and LED the nation from the malaise of the Jimmy Carter years.
I apologize to anyone in advance if you are offended by Pitt's continuing smear campaign against Reagan but I will make amends by sending this piece (as well as other Pitt lunacies) to the media if I ever get the hint that Pitt is about to board a major political campaign in any capacity. Most likely his Democrat candidates that he hopes to leach off have the same opinion of Reagan as well but they can't afford to ALIENATE the voters when Pitt's shear hatred comes to light. This might surprise you, Pitt, but you ARE expendable. For publishing this smear on Reagan, you are consigned to spend the rest of your life desperately trying to leave the nocturnal confines of the Bukowski's barroom floor. So let us now watch the venom dripping from his pen as Pied Piper Pitt scribbles his HATRED of Ronald Reagan in Bolshevik Red while the commentary of your humble correspondent, "congratulating" Pitt on his sick timing of this piece, is in the [brackets]]:
Speaking of Ronald Reagan...
[Smearing of Ronald Reagan...]
Planet Reagan
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t Perspective
Monday 07 June 2004
["Great timing" there, Pitt. You originally publish this smear on Reagan right in the middle of his funeral just two days after he died and now on the 25th anniversary of the assassination attempt upon him you spew it out, covered with bile, once again.]
Ronald Reagan is dead now, and everyone is being nice to him. In every aspect, this is appropriate. He was a husband and a father, a beloved member of a family, and he will be missed by those he was close to. His death was long, slow and agonizing because of the Alzheimer's Disease which ruined him, one drop of lucidity at a time. My grandmother died ten years ago almost to the day because of this disease, and this disease took ten years to do its dirty, filthy, wretched work on her.
[This is where Pitt pulls out the phony sympathy before sinking in the dagger. Your "sympathy" would have been slightly more believable if you had not included a dopey ballad making fun of Reagan's Alzheimer's Disease along with this piece of venom.]
The dignity and candor of Reagan's farewell letter to the American people was as magnificent a departure from public life as any that has been seen in our history, but the ugly truth of his illness was that he lived on, and on, and on. His family and friends watched as he faded from the world of the real, as the simple dignity afforded to all life collapsed like loose sand behind his ever more vacant eyes. Only those who have seen Alzheimer's Disease invade a mind can know the truth of this. It is a cursed way to die.
[Somehow the fact that you included a "ballad" below in which every stanza mocks Reagan's Alzheimer's Disease with this line, "Ronald Reagan is alive but forgetting things," makes you more than a little bit credibility challenged when it comes to your "sympathy."]
In this mourning space, however, there must be room made for the truth. Writer Edward Abbey once said, "The sneakiest form of literary subtlety, in a corrupt society, is to speak the plain truth. The critics will not understand you; the public will not believe you; your fellow writers will shake their heads."
[I'm still waiting to hear the TRUTH of what happened in the dark corners of a certain school in Newton, MA. Now on to the heart of the Pitt smear...]
The truth is straightforward: Virtually every significant problem facing the American people today can be traced back to the policies and people that came from the Reagan administration. It is a laundry list of ills, woes and disasters that has all of us, once again, staring apocalypse in the eye.
[Carter Malaise? REAGAN'S FAULT!!! Carter inflation? REAGAN'S FAULT!!! Carter recession? REAGAN'S FAULT!!!]
How can this be? The television says Ronald Reagan was one of the most beloved Presidents of the 20th century. He won two national elections, the second by a margin so overwhelming that all future landslides will be judged by the high-water mark he achieved against Walter Mondale. How can a man so universally respected have played a hand in the evils which corrupt our days?
[Stand by! Here comes the typical liberal mantra about how Reagan hypnotized a stupid American public into feeling good.]
The answer lies in the reality of the corrupt society Abbey spoke of. Our corruption is the absolute triumph of image over reality, of flash over substance, of the pervasive need within most Americans to believe in a happy-face version of the nation they call home, and to spurn the reality of our estate as unpatriotic. Ronald Reagan was, and will always be, the undisputed heavyweight champion of salesmen in this regard.
[Pitt and his fellow liberals just can't accept the overwhelming popularity of Ronald Reagan. So how to explain it? Simple. The American public are a bunch of idiots who were easily swayed by a slick sales pitch. To show just what absolute contempt Pitt has for the American public allow me to QUOTE Pitt himself in one of his many TEDIOUS essays in which he not so subtly compares the Third Reich to the "Third American Empire.":
It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the third American empire came into being, but a hockey game will suffice as a marker. On February 2, 1980, the American Olympic hockey team came from nowhere to defeat the unbeatable Soviet squad in Lake Placid. The subsequent eruption of nationalistic fervor, augmented by the American squad’s victory over Finland in the final round to capture the gold medal, led to an outpouring of public emotion that no sporting event had ever created. ]
Reagan was able, by virtue of his towering talents in this arena, to sell to the American people a flood of poisonous policies. He made Americans feel good about acting against their own best interests. He sold the American people a lemon, and they drive it to this day as if it was a Cadillac. It isn't the lies that kill us, but the myths, and Ronald Reagan was the greatest myth-maker we are ever likely to see.
[Yeah. The American people are so STUPID in the Pitt/Liberal theology that they fell for his "sales pitch" despite harming themselves like a bunch of complete idiots. Oh, and here is more of what IDIOTS Pitt thought the American people are in the same tedious essay as above:
It was at Lake Placid that the now-familiar chant of “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” was born. The American people had been well-trained during the second empire to expect being on top, and the years prior to Lake Placid had been hard. Something so simple as a win on that ice was enough to strike sparks again, to ignite the long fuse that has been this third American empire. The American people were mesmerized by the vision of their flag rising next to but just a little higher than the red Soviet banner. It was their first taste of what would become a long and uninterrupted stretch of total global dominance.]
Mainstream media journalism today is a shameful joke because of Reagan's deregulation policies. Once upon a time, the Fairness Doctrine ensured that the information we receive - information vital to the ability of the people to govern in the manner intended - came from a wide variety of sources and perspectives. Reagan's policies annihilated the Fairness Doctrine, opening the door for a few mega-corporations to gather journalism unto themselves. Today, Reagan's old bosses at General Electric own three of the most-watched news channels. This company profits from every war we fight, but somehow is trusted to tell the truths of war. Thus, the myths are sold to us.
[What Alternate Reality is Pied Piper Pitt living in? Today we have MORE news outlets that ever thanks to the Internet. Methinks Pitt is blaming Reagan for the fact that conservatives, like Rush Limbaugh, can now be widely heard. Nobody is stopping liberals from competing but when they do, like with Err America, they BOMB bigtime. And this is somehow Reagan's fault?]
The deregulation policies of Ronald Reagan did not just deliver journalism to these massive corporations, but handed virtually every facet of our lives into the hands of this privileged few. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat are all tainted because Reagan battered down every environmental regulation he came across so corporations could improve their bottom line. Our leaders are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the corporations that were made all-powerful by Reagan's deregulation craze. The Savings and Loan scandal of Reagan's time, which cost the American people hundreds of billions of dollars, is but one example of Reagan's decision that the foxes would be fine guards in the henhouse.
[But...but I thought this is all Bush's fault? Better get your silly Blame Game straight, Pitt. Oh, and my leaky faucet? Reagan's fault!]
Ronald Reagan believed in small government, despite the fact that he grew government massively during his time. Social programs which protected the weakest of our citizens were gutted by Reagan's policies, delivering millions into despair. Reagan was able to do this by caricaturing the "welfare queen," who punched out babies by the barnload, who drove the flashy car bought with your tax dollars, who refused to work because she didn't have to. This was a vicious, racist lie, one result of which was the decimation of a generation by crack cocaine. The urban poor were left to rot because Ronald Reagan believed in 'self-sufficiency.'
[Crack cocaine epidemic? Reagan's fault! And what crack pipe are YOU smoking, Pitt, to come up with that dopey analysis?]
Because Ronald Reagan could not be bothered to fund research into 'gay cancer,' the AIDS virus was allowed to carve out a comfortable home in America. The aftershocks from this callous disregard for people whose homosexuality was deemed evil by religious conservatives cannot be overstated. Beyond the graves of those who died from a disease which was allowed to burn unchecked, there are generations of Americans today living with the subconscious idea that sex equals death.
[Sigh! Another Pitt/Liberal Mantra: A cruel Ronald Reagan didn't fund research into AIDS. Too bad Pitt was too LAZY to do a quick 3 second web search or he could have found THIS:
Despite the criticism, under Reagan $5.7 billion was spent on AIDS and HIV, with large amounts going to the National Institutes of Health. ]
The veneer of honor and respect painted across the legacy of Ronald Reagan is itself a myth of biblical proportions. The coverage proffered today of the Reagan legacy seldom mentions impropriety until the Iran/Contra scandal appears on the administration timeline. This sin of omission is vast. By the end of his term in office, some 138 Reagan administration officials had been convicted, indicted or investigated for misconduct and/or criminal activities.
[Oh how we yearn for the "propriety" of the Clinton years when FBI files on opponents were gathered at will. By the end of his term of office, Clinton issued record PARDONS to buddies and contributors alike.]
Some of the names on this disgraceful roll-call: Oliver North, John Poindexter, Richard Secord, Casper Weinberger, Elliott Abrams, Robert C. McFarlane, Michael Deaver, E. Bob Wallach, James Watt, Alan D. Fiers, Clair George, Duane R. Clarridge, Anne Gorscuh Burford, Rita Lavelle, Richard Allen, Richard Beggs, Guy Flake, Louis Glutfrida, Edwin Gray, Max Hugel, Carlos Campbell, John Fedders, Arthur Hayes, J. Lynn Helms, Marjory Mecklenburg, Robert Nimmo, J. William Petro, Thomas C. Reed, Emanuel Savas, Charles Wick. Many of these names are lost to history, but more than a few of them are still with us today, 'rehabilitated' by the administration of George W. Bush.
[I'm waiting to see a roll-call of Newton schoolgirls who will be providing testimony against a certain subsitute teacher.]
Ronald Reagan actively supported the regimes of the worst people ever to walk the earth. Names like Marcos, Duarte, Rios Mont and Duvalier reek of blood and corruption, yet were embraced by the Reagan administration with passionate intensity. The ground of many nations is salted with the bones of those murdered by brutal rulers who called Reagan a friend. Who can forget his support of those in South Africa who believed apartheid was the proper way to run a civilized society?
[In Pitt's world, Jose Napoleon Duarte and Ferdinand Marcos (who came to power BEFORE Reagan was President and was forced from power WHILE Reagan was President) rank right up there with Li'l Kim of North Korea. Oops! My fault. Pitt would NEVER criticize the "Progressive" Li'l Kim.]
One dictator in particular looms large across our landscape. Saddam Hussein was a creation of Ronald Reagan. The Reagan administration supported the Hussein regime despite his incredible record of atrocity. The Reagan administration gave Hussein intelligence information which helped the Iraqi military use their chemical weapons on the battlefield against Iran to great effect. The deadly bacterial agents sent to Iraq during the Reagan administration are a laundry list of horrors.
[And the SOURCES for this slur about giving Hussein deadly bacterial agents is none other than the usual Looney Left websites such as the SOCIALIST REVIEW. BTW, quite of few of these websites use Pitt himself as the source for this particular smear.]
The Reagan administration sent an emissary named Donald Rumsfeld to Iraq to shake Saddam Hussein's hand and assure him that, despite public American condemnation of the use of those chemical weapons, the Reagan administration still considered him a welcome friend and ally. This happened while the Reagan administration was selling weapons to Iran, a nation notorious for its support of international terrorism, in secret and in violation of scores of laws.
[FUnnie how Pitt and his fellow DUmmies go into fits at the mere suggestion that we DO something to take out Iran's nuclear capability. Continue with your 25th assassination attempt anniversary SMEAR, Pitt...]
Another name on Ronald Reagan's roll call is that of Osama bin Laden. The Reagan administration believed it a bully idea to organize an army of Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan to fight the Soviet Union. bin Laden became the spiritual leader of this action. Throughout the entirety of Reagan's term, bin Laden and his people were armed, funded and trained by the United States. Reagan helped teach Osama bin Laden the lesson he lives by today, that it is possible to bring a superpower to its knees. bin Laden believes this because he has done it once before, thanks to the dedicated help of Ronald Reagan.
[Oh, and don't forget to blame Reagan for the existence of Satan, Pitt. I'm sure Pitt will get around to blaming Reagan for 9/11.]
In 1998, two American embassies in Africa were blasted into rubble by Osama bin Laden, who used the Semtex sent to Afghanistan by the Reagan administration to do the job. In 2001, Osama bin Laden thrust a dagger into the heart of the United States, using men who became skilled at the art of terrorism with the help of Ronald Reagan. Today, there are 827 American soldiers and over 10,000 civilians who have died in the invasion and occupation of Iraq, a war that came to be because Reagan helped manufacture both Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.
[BINGO! Pitt did not fail. He now blames 9/11 on Reagan. Of course, he conveniently neglects to mention that Sudan offered to turn over Osama bin Laden to the USA in 1996 but the Clinton administration declined the offer.]
How much of this can be truthfully laid at the feet of Ronald Reagan? It depends on who you ask. Those who worship Reagan see him as the man in charge, the man who defeated Soviet communism, the man whose vision and charisma made Americans feel good about themselves after Vietnam and the malaise of the 1970s. Those who despise Reagan see him as nothing more than a pitch-man for corporate raiders, the man who allowed greed to become a virtue, the man who smiled vapidly while allowing his officials to run the government for him.
[By your own definition, Pitt, you number among the ranks of the Reagan despisers.]
In the final analysis, however, the legacy of Ronald Reagan - whether he had an active hand in its formulation, or was merely along for the ride - is beyond dispute. His famous question, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" is easy to answer. We are not better off than we were four years ago, or eight years ago, or twelve, or twenty. We are a badly damaged state, ruled today by a man who subsists off Reagan's most corrosive final gift to us all: It is the image that matters, and be damned to the truth.
[You better hope the truth from Newton NEVER reaches a courtroom, Pitt. And for all your phony piety, you couldn't resist following your Hate Reagan tirade with a SICKO ballad making fun of his Alzheimer's disease. I won't reprint it here but ANYBODY can view that sick "ballad" titled, "Lest We Forget" that you placed below your Hate Reagan RANT. The author of that sick slam is one Dean Blehert who happens to be a Scientology KOOK.
And now we let us read the rantings of your rabid Hate Reagan acolytes, Pitt.]
Fantastic Will. It's time to start dissassembling the legend
in favor of the truth. Enough time has passed. Many of us know that we are in this place today because of his policies, not only as President, but as Governor of California. Now it's time for the rest of those, who think Ronnie was a saint, to stop imbibing the soma and look at the hard facts.
[Yeah, look for those "Hard Facts" in one of Pied Piper Pitt's many pompous treatises including the one about how we are a Third America Empire like the Third Reich.]
"Morning in America" was built with the blood of people who fought for freedom in places like Nicaragua, El Salvador, Angola, Chile, and numerous other countries. It was built on the backs of the exploited workers and peasants of the world. It was the golden era of anecdotal, and thinly veiled, racism. It was a time when a populist demagogue made hatred, greed, and inhumanity acceptable. His appeal was to the very worst inclinations of a public bamboozled by his "plain speaking" written by an army of PR men. He made simplistic sloganeering a replacement for debate and diplomacy.
[Simplistic sloganeering like LIHOP, MIHOP, or BFEE? Go ahead and EMBARRASS yourselves by saying aloud what those initials mean.]
That rat bastard got into heaven because truly, he didn't remember. Sometimes it really pisses me off when God is merciful.
[Don't worry. He won't be merciful when your time is up.]
Ray-gun is the worst president of my lifetime.
[Except for Bush, of course. Don't veer too far from the DUmmieland Party Line.]
Is this Dean Blehert? His poem captured the whole end of the Reagan years perfectly. Powerful piece!
[Yeah. Scientology KOOK, Dean Blehert, used his "poem" to make fun of Reagan's Alzheimer's disease. Pitt couldn't resist posting it as part of his own anti-Reagan tirade.]
I never got why people looked up to him so much
people must be so desperate for an old fashioned marlboro man, even if he is made out of plastic.
[According to Pitt, it's because the American people are STUPID.]
Truth, Will? The day Reagan died, I laughed out loud and danced. My friends and co-workers thought I was nuts. How hard-hearted I must be, I'm sure they thought. Not nearly as hard-hearted and cruel as Ronald Wilson Reagan, when he occupied the White House, reducing government sponsored school lunch programs, using isolated examples of welfare fraud to throw millions of need off of life supporting programs, subverting the constitution and our democracy, spreading illegal covert programs to undermine autonomous nations around the world.
[Sick and PROUD OF IT! Those are YOUR people, Pitt.]
