Today we reflected on the upcoming 100th birthday of Ronald Reagan, sparking much debate. So who was Ronald Reagan: shining politics god from the planet Perfectonia or unholy hell geezer from Satantowne? Here are two differing perspectives.

From geistkoenig:

Actually, a tribute at the Super Bowl is just the appropriate kind of hype-over-substance feel-good cult-of-personality song and dance that Reagan perpetrated on the country during his terms, and which his legions have taken as religion. Eliminate serious thought and understanding, spew some vapid platitudes about how great he was and we are, let everyone feel nice and comfy while the country decays.

Like I said, too appropriate.

From SaintPatricksYear:

Seems like a lot of people have as much of a cartoonish view of Ronald Reagan as teabaggers do in regard to Barack Obama.

The Reagan administration accomplished a great deal and did a lot of good things during the 1980's. Unless you were there you cannot understand how bad things were in this country in 1980. Reagan did restore American pride, recovered the economy (after a terrible recession), and helped end the Soviet empire.

I have great respect for Jimmy Carter as a person, but he was a terrible president. I have little respect for Ronald Reagan as a person, but he was an effective president.

Regean certainly did not defeat Communism on his own, but he rode a wave of historical forces (Pope John Paul II, Lech Valesa, superior American technology that blew the doors off the Soviet military, invasion of Afghanistan, etc) and helped to bring all that evil to an end by 1989. He was on the right side of history.

And if you don't think the Soviet Union was an Evil Empire, you have never talked to anyone who lived through it.

That entire thread is actually a pretty good read.

One thing we can all agree on, I'd think, is that Nancy Reagan solved drugs forever. So there's that.