Subject: The Greatest President In My Lifetime The BONZO YEARS 1982
Crush This......
From: curmudg@eon (Curmudgeon)
Date: 6/5/2004 9:17 PM Central Daylight Time
Message-id:

1/4/82
Despite being exonerated of any lawbreaking, Richard Allen is forced to
resign. President Reagan hails his integrity, then appoints William Clark to
succeed him.

1/8/82
The White House announces President Reagan has signed off on Ed Meese's plan
to grant tax-exempt status to South Carolina's Bob Jones University and
other schools that, like it, practice racial discrimination. (see 1/15/82)

1/15/82
President Reagan phones The Washington Post to explain that when his new
policy toward segregated schools was announced, he "didn't know at the time
that there was a legal case pending." CBS quickly obtains a memo in which
intervention in the Bob Jones University case was specifically requested,
and on which Reagan had written, "I think we should." (see 2/24/82 and
5/10/82)
Press Secretary Sheila Tate says that Nancy Reagan "has derived no personal
benefit" from her acceptance of thousands of dollars worth of free
clothing from American designers, explaining that the First Lady's sole
motive is to help the national fashion industry. It seems getting fabulous
clothes for free isn't considered a personal benefit.

1/19/82
At his seventh press conference, President Reagan:
· Claims there are "a million more working than there were in 1980," though
statistics show that 100,000 fewer people are employed. (see 2/24/82)
· Contends his attempt to grant tax-exempt status to segregated schools was
to correct "a procedure that we thought had no basis in law," though the
Supreme Court had clearly upheld a ruling barring such exemptions a decade
earlier.
· Claims he has received a letter from Pope John Paul II in which he
"approves what we've done so far" regarding U.S. Sanctions against the USSR,
though the sanctions were not mentioned in the papal message.
· Responds to a question about the 17% black unemployment rate by pointing
out that "in this time of great unemployment," Sunday's paper had "24 full
pages of ... employers looking for employees," though most of the jobs
available - computer operator, or cellular immunologist - require special
training, for which his administration has cut funds by over 30%.
· Misstates facts about California's abortion law and an Arizona program to
aid the elderly (see 2/24/82)
· Responds to a question about private charity by observing, "I also happen
to be someone who believes in tithing - the giving of a tenth," though his
latest tax returns show charitable contributions amounting to 1.4%. (see
2/24/82)

2/9/82
George Bush denies that he ever used the phrase "voodoo economics" and
challenges "anybody to find it." NBC's Ken Bode promptly broadcasts the 1980
tape.

2/16/82
"She really just got tired of people misinterpreting what she was doing." -
Aide telling the public that Nancy Reagan will no longer accept free
clothing "on loan" from top designers.

2/24/82
Addressing the Voice of America's 40th Birthday celebration, President Reagan
reminisces about making up exciting details while announcing baseball
games from wire copy. "Now, I submit to you that I told the truth," he says
of his enhanced version of a routine shortstop-to-first ground out. "i
don't know whether he really ran over toward second base and made a one-hand
stab or whether he just squatted down and took the ball when it came to
him. But the truth got there and, in other words, it can be attractively
packages." No one questions his apparent premise that embellishing the truth
does not compromise it. (see 3/24/82)

2/27/82
The Congressional Budget Office finds that taxpayers earning under $10,000
lost an average of $240 from last year's tax cuts, while those earning over
$80,000 gained an average of $15,130.

3/1/82
Sen Bob Packwood (R-OR) claims President Reagan frequently offers up
transparent fictional anecdotes as if they were real. "We've got a $120
billion
deficit coming," says Packwood, "and the President says, 'You know, a young
man went into a grocery store and he had an orange in one hand and a
bottle of vodka in the other, and he paid for the orange with food stamps and
he took the change and paid for the vodka. That's what's wrong.' And we
just shake our heads." (see 3/24/82)

3/16/82
"Is it news that some fellow out in South Succotash someplace has just been
laid off, that he should be interviewed nationwide?" - President Reagan,
complaining about coverage of the nation's economic suffering. (see 9/4/82)

3/24/82
Agriculture official Mary C. Jarratt tells Congress her department has been
unable to document President Reagan's stories of food stamp abuse,
pointing out that the change from a food stamp purchase is limited to 99
cents. "It's not possible to buy a bottle of vodka with 99 cents" she says.
Deputy White House press secretary Peter Roussel says Reagan wouldn't tell
those stories "unless he thought they were accurate." (see 4/15/92)

4/4/82
2nd Year Slump - Reagan's Popularity Nosedives in a Familiar Presidential
Pattern - The Washington Post

4/15/82
"The statisticians in Washington have funny ways of counting" - President
Reagan's explanation to Illinois high school students as to why he thinks
unemployment has declined in the face of Bureau of Labor statistics.

"In England, if a criminal carried a gun, even though he didn't use it, he
was not tried for burglary or theft or whatever he was doing. He was tried
for first degree murder and hung if he was found guilty" - President Reagan
citing a favorite example of British law. (see 4/16/82)

4/16/82
"Well, it's a good story, though. It made the point, didn't it?" - White
House spokesman Larry Speakes on being informed that President Reagan's story
about British gun law is "just not true."

5/10/82
President Reagan explains to a Chicago high school why his revised tax
exemption policy could not have been intended to benefit segregated schools:
"I
didn't know there were any. Maybe I should have, but I didn't."

5/13/82
At his 10th press conference, President Reagan states, that while "there is
no recall" for missiles fired from silos, "those that are carried in
bombers, those that are carried in ships of one kind or another, or
submersibles...can be recalled if there has been a miscalculation."

6/8/82
Secretary of State Al Haig: "Do I think US foreign policy is inept?...At
times it is. At times it's not. At times it's even brilliant. At times it's
rather stupid. It would be very hard for me to label it." (see 6/25/82)

6/12/82
Regarding the 750,000 supporters who showed up for the largest disarmament
demonstration in US history in Central Park, President Reagan opines that
"the Commies are behind it."

6/25/82
"With great regret, I have accepted the resignation of Secretary of State Al
Haig. I am nominating as his successor - and he has accepted - George
Shultz to replace him." - President Reagan surprising Al Haig, who had not
actually submitted a letter of resignation, but had threatened to quit
numerous times.

8/11/82
President Reagan tells The Time's Hugh Sidey that he sometimes feels trapped
in the White House. "You glance out the window and the people are walking
around Pennsylvania Avenue and you say, 'I could never say I am going to run
down to the drugstore and get some magazines,'" he says. "I can't do that
anymore." (see 12/9/82)

9/4/82
"South Succotash, with its population of nearly 11 million, must be a
considerable place." - AFL-CIO president Lane Kirkland on the unemployment
figures.

9/30/82
David L. Reagan (no relation to the President) becomes the first Marine
killed in Lebanon, where President Reagan had committed troops for an
indefinite stay two days before.

10/9/82
Jobless Rate Is Up To 10.1% In Month. Worst In 42 Years. 11 Million Are Idle
- The New York Times

10/19/82
During a White House meeting with Arab leaders, President Reagan turns to the
Lebanese foreign minister. "You know", he says, "your nose looks just
like Danny Thomas's." The Arabs exchange nervous glances.

11/03/82
The GOP loses a net total of 26 House seats, seven governorships, and six
state legislative houses in the mid-term election. "We feel very good about
what has happened," says President Reagan incongruously. Observes Ed Meese,
"There was nothing to suggest a need to change the basic course.'

11/11/82
"It would be a user fee" - President Reagan explaining why his proposed
five-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax would not be a tax at all.

11/25/82
The White House announces it is considering a proposal (conceived by Ed
Meese) to tax unemployment benefits. This, says Larry Speakes, would "make
unemployment less attractive."

12/04/82
U.S. Jobless Rate Climbs To 10.8%, A Postwar Record. 11.9 Million Out Of Work
- The New York Times

12/09/82
"Sometimes I look out there at Pennsylvania Avenue and see people bustling
along, and it suddenly dawns on me that probably never again can I just say
"Hey, I'm going down to the drugstore to look at the magazines,'" - President
Reagan discussing his feelings of confinement with a People reporter
(see 12/16/82)

12/16/82
"Sometimes I look out the window at Pennsylvania Avenue and wonder what it
would be like to be able to just walk down the street to the corner
drugstore and look at the magazines. I can't do that anymore." - President
Reagan conveying one of his regrets to The Washington Post (see 12/18/82)

12/18/82
"Sometimes I look out the window at Pennsylvania Avenue and wonder what it
would be like to be able to just walk down the street to the corner
drugstore and look at the magazines. I can't do that anymore." - President
Reagan sharing a sudden thought with a radio interviewer

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Keep up the good work!!

Les