burrrton wrote:That's emphatically *not* what people said about Reagan when elected. You just made RD's point for him.
Boy, do I remember what was being said about Reagan. I can remember one occasion when during a radio broadcast, he didn't realize that he was being recorded and joking around, said something to the effect that "I've just signed legislation that will outlaw the Soviet Union. We begin bombing in 10 minutes." The libs just went berserk, claiming it as evidence that he was trigger happy. They personally attacked him and the First Lady. The rhetoric from the opposition is very similar then to what it is today, with the big difference being that Reagan didn't let it bother him whereas Trump goes ballistic at even the slightest criticism.
There were a lot of really bad things said about Reagan during the 80's, and IMO the times he presided over marked the beginning of this very caustic, mean spirited competitiveness between the two parties that has lasted to this day. Even during the Watergate era, there wasn't the amount of mud slinging that's being done nowadays.