“Reagan was much different than Obama. Reagan invited the bipartisan leadership to the White House – Lugar as SFRC Chair – and told them planes were on their way to Libya for the sole mission of taking out Gadhafi, because of the intelligence that he had personally ordered the murder on a US soldier at a Berlin bar. Reagan said if anyone objected, he would order the planes turned around. No one, including Byrd, objected. …”

Ben Smith: how Reagan (brilliantly) handled Congress (& why Sen. Dick Lugar supported Reagan’s plan to assassinate Gaddafi but is not supporting Obama’s more limited goals) From an e-mail to Politico by Mark Helmke, an advisor to Lugar. - RealityChex
[I]n 1982, the unemployment rate only rose to “well over 10 percent,” to use Jordan’s words, in October 1982, when it hit 10.4 percent. However, this number was released after Election Day, meaning that it could not have been a factor on voters’ minds. It peaked at 10.8 percent in November and December 1982. So while Jordan’s number is not far off, it does modestly exaggerate how high voters knew unemployment to be as they prepared to vote.Here’s another difference — the average unemployed worker this year has been jobless much longer than in 1982. In August 1982, the median length of unemployment was 8.7 weeks. In August 2010, it was 19.9 weeks — more than twice as long. And that’s not a blip. For nearly a year, the median duration of unemployment has ranged between 19 and 25.5 weeks. So Jordan is right that there are some similarities between the recessions of 1982 and 2010. But she glosses over the fact that unemployment didn’t go “well over 10 percent” in 1982 until after the election, and her use of the overall unemployment rate overlooks an important factor — that workers this year are likely to have been without jobs much longer. On balance, we rate Jordan’s comment Mostly True. Continue reading… Politifact

[I]n 1982, the unemployment rate only rose to “well over 10 percent,” to use Jordan’s words, in October 1982, when it hit 10.4 percent. However, this number was released after Election Day, meaning that it could not have been a factor on voters’ minds. It peaked at 10.8 percent in November and December 1982.

So while Jordan’s number is not far off, it does modestly exaggerate how high voters knew unemployment to be as they prepared to vote.

Here’s another difference — the average unemployed worker this year has been jobless much longer than in 1982.

In August 1982, the median length of unemployment was 8.7 weeks. In August 2010, it was 19.9 weeks — more than twice as long. And that’s not a blip. For nearly a year, the median duration of unemployment has ranged between 19 and 25.5 weeks.

So Jordan is right that there are some similarities between the recessions of 1982 and 2010. But she glosses over the fact that unemployment didn’t go “well over 10 percent” in 1982 until after the election, and her use of the overall unemployment rate overlooks an important factor — that workers this year are likely to have been without jobs much longer. On balance, we rate Jordan’s comment Mostly True.

Continue reading… Politifact

“The fox, as has been pointed out by more than one philosopher, knows many small things, whereas the hedgehog knows one big thing. Ronald Reagan was neither a fox nor a hedgehog. He was as dumb as a stump. He could have had anyone in the world to dinner, any night of the week, but took most of his meals on a White House TV tray. He had no friends, only cronies. His children didn’t like him all that much. He met his second wife—the one that you remember—because she needed to get off a Hollywood blacklist and he was the man to see. Year in and year out in Washington, I could not believe that such a man had even been a poor governor of California in a bad year, let alone that such a smart country would put up with such an obvious phony and loon.”

The stupidity of Ronald Reagan - Christopher Hitchens (via danielholter) (via apsies)

‘Heated’ Debate On Cheney vs. Obama

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews Heated Debate On Dick Cheney, Afghanistan, Iraq, Scooter Libby, vs. Obama’s strategy. - Air America’s Ron Reagan & Center For Security Policy’s Frank Gaffney  - 10/22/09