History Quotes / RonaldReagan

->''"I only saw him once up close, which happened to be when he got a question he didn't like. Was it true that his staff in the 1980 debates had stolen President Carter's briefing book? (They had.) The famously genial grin turned into a rictus of senile fury: I was looking at a cruel and stupid lizard. His reply was that maybe his staff had, and maybe they hadn't, but what about the leak of [[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon the Pentagon Papers?]] Thus, a secret theft of presidential documents was equated with the public disclosure of needful information. This was a man never short of a cheap jibe or the sort of falsehood that would, however laughable, buy him some time."''\\

->''"I only saw him once up close, which happened to be when he got a question he didn't like. Was it true that his staff in the 1980 debates had stolen President Carter's briefing book? (They had.) The famously genial grin turned into a rictus of senile fury: I was looking at a cruel and stupid lizard. His reply was that maybe his staff had, and maybe they hadn't, but what about the leak of [[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon the Pentagon Papers?]] Thus, a secret theft of presidential documents was equated with the public disclosure of needful information. This was a man never short of a cheap jibe or the sort of falsehood that would, however laughable, buy him some time."''
->--'''ChristopherHitchens'''

->''"I am the most popular President the world has ever known! Even Reagan in his heydey couldn't have gotten away with ''this''." ''(pushes bodyguard out a window)''
-->--'''Tempus''', ''Series/LoisAndClark''

->If you are on the left, Reagan is Satan.''
-->-- '''UrbanDictionary'''

->''"A true leader is willing to go against his own kind. [[FranklinDRoosevelt F.D.R.]] was '''rich'''. He dumped on Wall Steet. [[DwightDEisenhower Ike]] was a '''General'''. He attacked the military-industrial complex. [[LyndonJohnson L.B.J.]] was '''southern'''. He spondered the Voting Rights Act... I'm the first '''old''' President. [[BoomerangBigot Social Security must go.]]"''
-->--'''Jules Fieffer''', 1982 [[http://www.adambaumgoldgallery.com/feiffer_jules/a_true_leaderWB.jpg political cartoon]]

->''"The common wisdom holds that [[FolkHero he single-footedly kicked down the Berlin Wall and went on to personally destroy the Soviet Union]], leaving it a rubble of squabbling statelets with ludicrous names, and without Reagan we'd be either a dismal Russian satellite eating turnips or a smoking nuclear wasteland at this very minute. He did this without firing a shot, simply by spending so much money on the military that the Evil Empire [[WeWinBecauseYouDont went broke trying to keep up with us.]] It was a master stroke. He tripled the budget deficit and quadrupled the trade deficit, [[WasItReallyWorthIt but it was worth every cent.]]"''\\

->''"The common wisdom holds that [[FolkHero he single-footedly kicked down the Berlin Wall and went on to personally destroy the Soviet Union]], leaving it a rubble of squabbling statelets with ludicrous names, and without Reagan we'd be either a dismal Russian satellite eating turnips or a smoking nuclear wasteland at this very minute. He did this without firing a shot, simply by spending so much money on the military that the Evil Empire went broke trying to keep up with us. It was a master stroke. He tripled the budget deficit and quadrupled the trade deficit, but it was worth every cent."''\\

-> ''[[IsThisThingStillOn My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever]]. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny We begin bombing in five minutes]].''\\

-> ''Honey, I forgot to duck.''\\

-> ''[[GallowsHumor I hope you're all Republicans.]]''\\

->''[[GoodIsNotDumb Trust, but verify]]''\\

->''You can tell a lot about a fella's character by whether he picks out all of one color or just grabs a handful."
-->-- on why he liked to have a jar of jellybeans on hand for meetings.''

->''Aw, shut up!''\\

->''General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!''\\

->''Where's the rest of me?''\\

->''"The common wisdom holds that he single-footedly kicked down the Berlin Wall and went on to personally destroy the Soviet Union, leaving it a rubble of squabbling statelets with ludicrous names, and without Reagan we'd be either a dismal Russian satellite eating turnips or a smoking nuclear wasteland at this very minute. He did this without firing a shot, simply by spending so much money on the military that the Evil Empire went broke trying to keep up with us. It was a master stroke. He tripled the budget deficit and quadrupled the trade deficit, but it was worth every cent."''\\

->''"And now the liberals want to stop President Reagan from selling chemical warfare agents and military equipment to SaddamHussein, and why? Because Saddam ''allegedly'' gassed a few Kurds in his own country. Mark my words. All of this talk of Saddam Hussein being a 'war criminal' or 'committing crimes against humanity' is the same old thing: Liberal hate speech. And speaking of poison gas... I say we [[KillThePoor round up all the drug addicts and gas THEM!]]"''\\
--'''Radio/RushLimbaugh''', Nov. 3, 1988

->''"The common wisdom holds that he single-footedly kicked down the Berlin Wall and went on to personally destroy the Soviet Union, leaving it a rubble of squabbling statelets with ludicrous names, and without Reagan we'd be either a dismal Russian satellite eating turnips or a smoking nuclear wasteland at this very minute. He did this without firing a shot, simply by spending so much money on the military that the Evil Empire went broke trying to keep up with us. It was a master stroke. He tripled the budget deficit and quadrupled the trade deficit, but it was worth every cent."''
-->-- '''Barbara Holland'''

->''"And now the liberals want to stop President Reagan from selling chemical warfare agents and military equipment to SaddamHussein, and why? Because Saddam ''allegedly'' gassed a few Kurds in his own country. Mark my words. All of this talk of Saddam Hussein being a 'war criminal' or 'committing crimes against humanity' is the same old thing: Liberal hate speech. And speaking of poison gas... I say we [[KillThePoor round up all the drug addicts and gas them!]]"''
-->--'''Radio/RushLimbaugh''', Nov. 3, 1988

->''"Ah, [[TheEighties the 80s]]: a fearful, turbulent decade that tested our national resolve as never before! ...Democracy was never more threatened than when Reagan was in office, pissing off the Communists and (even worse!) [[EspeciallyZoidberg the air traffic controllers]] while Nancy was busy formulating national policy with [[BrainlessBeauty astrological charts.]]"''
-->--'''[[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Noah Antwiler]]''' [[http://spoonyexperiment.com/invasion-usa/ on]] ''InvasionUSA''

->''"While Mrs. Reagan darted angry looks about the hall (displeased at the press?) the star of ''Death Valley Days'' was staring intently at [[Creator/DwightDEisenhower the speaker on the platform]]. Thus an actor prepares, I thought, and I suspected even then that Reagan would some day find himself up there on the platform. In any case, as the age of television progresses, the Reagans will be the rule, not the exception."''
-->-- '''Creator/GoreVidal'''

->''"I only saw him once up close, which happened to be when he got a question he didn't like. Was it true that his staff in the 1980 debates had stolen President Carter's briefing book? (They had.) The famously genial grin turned into a rictus of senile fury: I was looking at a cruel and stupid lizard. His reply was that maybe his staff had, and maybe they hadn't, but what about the leak of the Pentagon Papers? Thus, a secret theft of presidential documents was equated with the public disclosure of needful information. This was a man never short of a cheap jibe or the sort of falsehood that would, however laughable, buy him some time."''

->''"The common wisdom holds that he single-footedly kicked down the Berlin Wall and went on to personally destroy the Soviet Union, leaving it a rubble of squabbling statelets with ludicrous names, and without Reagan we'd be either a dismal Russian satellite eating turnips or a smoking nuclear wasteland at this very minute. He did this without firing a shot, simply by spending so much money on the military that the Evil Empire went broke trying to keep up with us. It was a master stroke. He tripled the budget deficit and quadrupled the trade deficit, but it was worth every cent.''

->''"Ah, [[TheEighties the 80s]]: a fearful, turbulent decade that tested our national resolve as never before! ...Democracy was never more threatened than when Reagan was in office, pissing off the Communists and (even worse!) [[EspeciallyZoidberg the air traffic controllers]] while Nancy was busy formulating national policy with [[{{Astrologer}} astrological charts.]]"''
-->--'''[[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Noah Antwiler]]''' [[http://spoonyexperiment.com/invasion-usa/ on]] ''InvasionUSA'''

->''While Mrs. Reagan darted angry looks about the hall (displeased at the press?) the star of ''Death Valley Days'' was staring intently at [[Creator/DwightDEisenhower the speaker on the platform]]. Thus an actor prepares, I thought, and I suspected even then that Reagan would some day find himself up there on the platform. In any case, as the age of television progresses, the Reagans will be the rule, not the exception.''

->''General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!''

->-'''ChristopherHitchens'''

->''While Mrs. Reagan darted angry looks about the hall (displeased at the press?) the star of ''Death Valley Days'' was staring intently at [[Creator/DwightDEisenhower the speaker on the platform]]. Thus an actor prepares, I thought, and I suspected even then that Reagan would some day find himself up there on the platform. In any case, as the age of television progresses, the Reagans will be the rule, not the exception. “''

->'''Dr. Brown:''' Then tell me, future boy, who's President of the United States in 1985?
->'''Marty:''' Ronald Reagan.
->'''Dr. Brown:''' Ronald Reagan? The actor? Then who's vice president? JerryLewis?
-->--'''''Film/BackToTheFuture'''''

-> ''I hope you're all Republicans.''\\

-> ''My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny We begin bombing in five minutes]].''\\

-> ''My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. [[IsThisThingStillOn We begin bombing]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny in five minutes]].''\\

->''[[GoodIsNotDumb Trust, but verify]]''

-->--RonaldReagan, on foreign policy

-> ''[[GoodIsNotDumb Trust, but verify]]''
--RonaldReagan, on foreign policy

--RonaldReagan, to a likely very unamused Nancy, after being shot in 1981