Where's The Rest Of Him?

(A takeoff on our hero’s line uttered in “King’s Row,” considered by some as his best performance, though I will admit that that doesn't also consider his presidency as a whole…)

My oh my, does J.D. Mullane have the nostalgia meter working overtime today!

You see, today would have been the 96th birthday of his hero Ronnie Reagan, so this gives J.D. an excuse to wax nostalgic all over the place concerning Regan’s “optimism” and his vision of “a shining city on a hill.”

Of course, it was easy for Ronnie to be “optimistic” since he played his role as an actor and conservative mouthpiece for the likes of G.E. and ratted out his friends in the ‘50s, as well as turning his back on someone like Gregory Peck, who had more compassion and intellect in his little finger than Reagan did in his whole body.

But before we get to the accolades, we have Mullane recounting how he was teased by his college roommates for having a Reagan photo in a dorm room (it always starts out with a festering grudge of some type, doesn’t it?). And of course, as a lead-in to his recall of Reagan’s presidency, he sums up those supposedly-nothing-but-awful years of Jimmy Carter in this manner…

Double-digit inflation. The Fairless Works slowly closing. Unemployment. Gas rationing. Hostages in Iran.

You see, we never had unemployment or a hostage ordeal (see Ronnie and George H.W.B.) for any other president besides Carter, as we know, to say nothing of jobs disappearing; Carter was hardly perfect as a president, but it’s hard to get a true picture of his administration when the freepers never give you one. How about credit for the Camp David accords and the Panama Canal treaty while you’re at it, J.D. (yes, I know I should chastise myself for such a foolish notion as fairness from this hack).

Another thing: I should point out that Mullane somehow doesn’t manage to work in a slur against “hippies” in this column, which is shocking. No tear-gassing jokes today? Dag, you’re slipping, J.D.!

Of course, if J.D. wanted to be “fair and balanced” concerning his hero, he would have noted that al Qaeda formed as a result of our intervention in the Soviet-Afghan war under Ronnie’s watch, as well as the bombing of our Marine barracks and our liberation of Grenada, which was such a threat to this country being that it is a tiny Caribbean island (riiiight). And don’t even get me started on Iran-Contra, OK?

I’ll tell you what: as long as we’re on the subject of birthdays, here is someone who I think deserves credit also who actually served, and here is a remembrance of a musical force and spiritual leader also born on this day courtesy of Shaun at Kiko’s House.

And as long as I’m mentioning the Courier Times, I should note that they published another hit piece from Don Mihalek today; this is the guy who once said that anyone who voted for Patrick Murphy for Congress was guilty of inflicting “collateral damage” on the 8th district. It seems that Mihalek is mad at Murphy because Patrick didn’t attend a Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House for a Marine who gave his life in duty, as well as the fact that Patrick has only one office in the district.

I’m sure that if Patrick had had any chance whatsoever to attend the ceremony for Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham, he would have done so, but I would guess that it’s kind of difficult to break away from the job of representing this district on the floor of Congress when the new session has just started, especially when you’re new on the job as Patrick is. And Mihalek also has some partisan gripes in his Guest Opinion that is nothing but the typical nonsense.

I wish the Courier Times had acknowledged the fact that Mihalek used to work for the Mike Fitzpatrick campaign, but it’s possible that they may not know that (I found that out at the local party gathering a few weeks ago).

(And by the way, concerning Patrick, this tells you part of what he's been up to; we should all check this out, and that means you too, Mihalek.)