Gerry wrote:
<snip> I think it's commonly viewed that while he had a lingering disease,
> these past 14 years, was also a period during which a realistic
> assessment of his career was in poor taste.  I assume it will always
> be common decency to morph his career to suit Republican political
> purpose, and any facts will be considered reprehensible politics.
>
> Nevertheless my criticisms above and before were about Bush. How long
> after Reagan's season of honorment can we begin discussing Bush again?

Hmmm.... Doubtless I shouldn't say anything, but Google managed to pique my
interest in the thread, and peaking at a few posts at random, this one
managed to hook me.

On the first part above, I'll say that the "true" historical perspective is
very difficult to achieve, and that's one of the few things that Dubya
actually managed to say almost correctly, though he cast it from his
typically selfish perspective about why he shouldn't care. Historical
judgment does have to wait until the actors are all dead, and it takes a
long time. (The last wife of a Civil War veteran just died recently.)

What you [I didn't watch it] saw in the Reagan funeral is actually worship
of the dead emperor. Emperors are routinely projected as ideal "superheros"
and deified. That extends to the current believers in Bushal infallibility.
(For a sharply conflicting perspective on Reagan, I recommend Slansky's
_The_Clothes_Have_No_Emperor_, which seems to be back in print again.)

Now the real reason I was hooked into commenting: Y'all can blame Reagan for
my presence here. If that doesn't destroy the Reagan worship, I can't
imagine what would.

The short history according to Garp:

From youth I'd always dreamed of living abroad for a while, but when I "grew
up" I dropped the idea and just did my programming. When Reagan was elected,
I regarded it as a momentary sickness of the always peculiar American
political system, soon to be cured. When Reagan was re-elected, it was
difficult to regard the sickness as momentary, and I got my very first
passport, though I didn't actually use it until later. When Dan Quayle was
elected V-P on Reagan's coat tails, it contributed significantly to my
decision to come to Japan. After Dubya was selected, I applied for and
received my 永住ビザ. If Dubya is finally elected this year, even if by hook
and crook, it is actually conceivable I would start reconsidering my
citizenship. Unlike Colin Powell, I believe there are probably limits to how
much humiliation and embarrassment I will endure.

-- 
Do you agree that democracy is good and depends on serious discussion
of the issues? If so, don't reply to off topic, ad hominem garbage.