It's been a fun couple of weeks in history. In the last few lectures, we've covered 1980 to 1993. Good times.
Check out a few "facts" my professor has decided to enlighten us with:
- People voted for Ronald Reagan because he sounded good, not because they agreed with him.
- Reagan's economic policies were responsible for the recession in the early 80s.
- Iran-Contra was the most important event of Reagan's presidency, while his role in winning the Cold War is worth two Powerpoint slides at the end of class.
- The "Willie Horton" ad in the 1988 presidential election was racist, and Dukakis had nothing to do with the policies it was criticizing.
- The ad mentioned above demonstrated "some of the tactics used by Fox News."
- "Liberal" became an insult during the '88 election.
- George H.W. Bush didn't know about supermarket scanners.
- Bill Clinton exaggerated an answer in the 1992 town hall debate, but it was okay because he "meant well."
Incidentally, the professor revealed today that she's a card-carrying member of the ACLU. Ain't academia grand?
Posted by CD on April 26, 2005 11:18 AMSometimes I'm happy I never made it to college.
Posted by: Army NCO Guy at April 26, 2005 11:50 AM"Reagan's economic policies were responsible for the recession in the early 80s."
Tell your economics-challenged prof that there's an 18-month lag between an administration's implementation of a new economic policy and the time the change becomes fully propagated throughout a nation's economy.
Posted by: Harvey at April 26, 2005 03:48 PM18 months at least. Just like Clinton inherited a good economy from Reaganomics & Bush the First, so Clinton somehow became an economic genius. And then he left a coming recession for Bush the Second, who had to take the blame 'cuz it all came crashing down after Clinton left (and of course, that little "9-11" thing kinda hurt the economy... duh).
It's amazing how the self-styled "economists" of the Left say that tax cuts hurt the economy. Hello? Capitalism? If the consumer has more money to spend, it helps business? If businesses do well, your economy is strong? Hello?
Posted by: Army NCO Guy at April 27, 2005 12:49 PMI'm not surprised at all, Higher Education seems to allways attract the more "liberal" minded of individuals. Which is often why, I have always taken their words with pinch of salt! On the other hand, it could be indicative of their inabilty function in the "real world!"
Posted by: Oppenheimer at April 28, 2005 03:56 PM