Indeed they did, though most would prefer that we forget that fact.
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1980 was the first Presidential Election in which I was eligible to vote (I had missed the primaries due to my late summer birthday). The issue most on my mind was Iran. The South Bay (San Jose, CA) had not yet morphed into it's current deep blue political morass, and the trees were festooned with yellow ribbons. The water tower at Naval Air Station Moffett Field sported (briefly) a mushroom cloud and the legend "First Japan, Now Iran." A satiric remake of a Beach Boys song was oft heard on the radio.
Supporters of James Earl "Jimmy" Carter were thin on the ground as the "Misery Index" climbed. After the Desert One fiasco, even fewer would admit to being Carter supporters.
Things appear to have been different in Manhattan.
We Hated Reagan
A memoir of ignorance.
by Jeremiah Duboff
...As a youngster in Manhattan in the 1980s, I myself was formed in an intensely Democratic milieu where distrust, resentment, and repulsion underwrote our attitudes toward Reagan. Any honest attempt by any of us to reckon with him must begin by admitting that, at heart, we hated Reagan.We hated Reagan because he hailed from another country, or another version of this country, a strangely idyllic ranch outside Santa Barbara, California. That place had no place in our parents' iconic 1970s New Yorker poster -- of a commanding but caricatured worldview, looking west from 9th Avenue. Hence it had no place for us. From our cultured, concrete canyons, the Reagan Ranch was and would remain terra incognita.
We hated Reagan because the grown-ups around us snickered at his old-time movie roles in Bedtime for Bonzo and Knute Rockne, All American. That we, at tender ages, were perfectly enamored of The Muppet Movie and E.T. and Rocky and Chariots of Fire bothered no one. We hated Reagan because MAD magazine mocked his interior secretary with the caption "Watt...We Worry!" Because New York Times editorials tended to sublimate MAD's bias, at age twelve we gladly took out our first Gray Lady subscriptions -- to the nodding approval of the grown-ups around us.
I didn't hate "Jimmy" Carter in 1980 (that came later, as he embraced dictators and murderous monsters world wide, and earned himself the more apt nickname of "Dhimmy", but I digress), and I remember vividly just how viscous and petty the attacks on Reagan seemed to me at the time.
It only got worse.
The sudden and convenient amnesia of the left as regards their new found respect for Reagan must not be allowed to pass unmentioned, and my hat is off to Mr. Duboff for reminding folks that Reagan was the left's favorite punching bag for decades.
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Filed under:
Leftist Tolerance, Meme Watch, Ronald Reagan, Todays Lessons
Tags: hate, Ronald Reagan, The Left
Comments (12)
Pretending that he is so mu... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Fin | June 18, 2011 2:52 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Pretending that he is so much smarter than the rest of America, the artist put Utah south of Las Vegas. Dude.
1. Posted by Fin | June 18, 2011 2:52 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on June 18, 2011 14:52
2. Posted by LiberalNItemare | June 18, 2011 3:55 PM | Score: 9 (9 votes cast)
The only thing the left wont tolerate is a different point of view.
2. Posted by LiberalNItemare | June 18, 2011 3:55 PM |
Score: 9 (9 votes cast)
Posted on June 18, 2011 15:55
3. Posted by GarandFan | June 18, 2011 6:04 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Yeah, they's soooo edumacated there in New Yawk City. They knows everything. Just like the One-Term Wonder currently in the White House.
After all, there aren't that many stupid people in this country that would vote for Barry twice.
3. Posted by GarandFan | June 18, 2011 6:04 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on June 18, 2011 18:04
4. Posted by Rodney Graves
| June 18, 2011 6:16 PM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
GarandFan,
You overlook the essential truth imparted to us by a self educated lawyer and politician from Illinois:
Let us hope the overeducated lawyer and politician from Illinois remains deaf to this wisdom.
4. Posted by Rodney Graves
| June 18, 2011 6:16 PM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on June 18, 2011 18:16
5. Posted by Stan | June 18, 2011 6:52 PM | Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
Hell some people in New York think we still fight the Indians out here in the West. They also think that we still also use outdoor privies. Well I have news for those folks. We have all of the modern conveniences that the people of New York enjoy too. In some cases, we are more forward than the idiots in the Northeast. Sure glad they have decided to stay there instead of moving out here where they would just clutter things up with their bullshit.
5. Posted by Stan | June 18, 2011 6:52 PM |
Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
Posted on June 18, 2011 18:52
6. Posted by GarandFan | June 18, 2011 8:06 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Don't forget, New York City also gave us that paragon of virtue, honesty and hard work, Anthony Weiner.
6. Posted by GarandFan | June 18, 2011 8:06 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on June 18, 2011 20:06
7. Posted by Tsar Nicholas II | June 18, 2011 8:16 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
NYC voted for John Kerry only 3 years after 9/11. Case closed.
7. Posted by Tsar Nicholas II | June 18, 2011 8:16 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on June 18, 2011 20:16
8. Posted by Sep14 | June 19, 2011 11:59 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
It's not like the left did not know what they voted for with Barry, It is just that all they know amounts to so very little.
8. Posted by Sep14 | June 19, 2011 11:59 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on June 19, 2011 11:59
9. Posted by Rodney Graves
| June 19, 2011 12:17 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Sep14,
Oh no, it's worse than that.
9. Posted by Rodney Graves
| June 19, 2011 12:17 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on June 19, 2011 12:17
10. Posted by Sep14 | June 19, 2011 12:59 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Thanks Rodney. I was trying to tweak it a little for our semi PUKI trolls.
Its just that all of what they know, just aint so.
Posting
Under
Kool-aid
Infuence
10. Posted by Sep14 | June 19, 2011 12:59 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on June 19, 2011 12:59
11. Posted by James H | June 19, 2011 11:56 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Odd. In my household growing up, Reagan was ... president, and as my sibling and I became old enough to be aware of politics, we were encouraged to think critically about his policies. My parents had their opinions about him, and we were encouraged to form our own.
11. Posted by James H | June 19, 2011 11:56 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on June 19, 2011 23:56
12. Posted by Rodney Graves
| June 20, 2011 1:02 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Odd.
In my household growing up, Nixon, then Ford, then Carter were president. As my sibling and I became aware of politics, we were influenced by our peer group in school, and by discussions with out parents. By 1979 it was clear to me that Carter was an utter incompetent (though I persisted in believing him to be a "nice guy" until quite a few years later, I was slow on that one) and that change was desperately needed.
12. Posted by Rodney Graves
| June 20, 2011 1:02 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on June 20, 2011 01:02