First, I'm not sure what you mean by conservative. You may be surprised that you probably don't meet a lot of "conservatives" definition of conservative. Regan is the first president that I was old enough to fully understand when he was running against Carter. It's hard for some of alive then to forget the hostage situation in Iran. That was 9-11 before 9-11 to a country and Regan was hailed as a hero. Regan promised to go kick mid east ass, take names, and free hostages on day one of taking office. The fucker traded arms for hostages--illegally. Then funded the contras --illegally. A lot of people should have gone to jail for that. Regan also spent tons on stupid projects like Star Wars and the super collider. Regan fucked up on a regular basis. But it's Regan's policy this or that getting romanticized these days. Regan was good at giving sound bites and feel good parables. A lot of people liked that following Vietnam, watergate, and Carter. But I'm honestly puzzled why those who want to put him on mount rushmoor, probably wouldn't vote for him today.
Anyway, in my case, I think a lot of regan worship is revisionist. A lot of fucked up shut happened because of him. But these aren't talked about today. His policies are. Not his acts. I seriously doubt regan could win the republican nomination today. Somebody would dig up one of his pro union or pro labor speeches on YouTube. Doesnt hate his gay kid enough, doesn't love guns enough, his calling Nancy "mommy" jibberish, etc.
I remember Regan, specially the second term when he was showing altzheimers/dementia. I didn't read about him or learn from other sources. That's why I say he wasn't that great. But, next to Carter and W., he looks fantastic to me.
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