One dimension of that exaggerated reputation as popular was his socalled teflon immunity to any negatives sticking to his "image". At the time, one had to hypothesize that the monopoly media refused to dwell on incidents and issues that would be bad for Reagan. In other words, it wasn't that the masses of Americans refused to dislike Reagan despite bad press, but rather that the press refused to paint him in a bad light, to put it simply. The whole creation of Reagan's reputation as popular was very 1984ish. People's isolation from each other makes room for propaganda mischieviousness in the spaces between them. It is easy to see how, as Jon says, many critics kept their criticism to themselves.
I am all for promoting a revisionist , pop history that debates and contests the Reagan -popularity ,urban legend. We still ReaganISM to send to the grave.
C
>On Friday, June 11, 2004, at 09:13 AM, Doug Henwood wrote:
>
>>But, as Rick Perlstein pointed out on my radio show yesterday, the myth
>>of Reagan's popularity is a successful creation of that vast right-wing
>>conspiracy. His approval ratings were virtually identical to Clinton's.
>>Lots of people hated him. Don't concede his vast popularity - it's a lie.
>
>Statistically, Rick and you are quite correct. But the atmosphere of those
>years was rather different. The whole atmosphere, as I remember it, was
>chilling -- almost "1984"ish. The little viewscreens on the walls of
>everyone's dwellings, in my recollection, at least, were constantly filled
>with that map-of-Ireland face, the twinkle in the eye, the comforting
>smile. Whatever misgivings anyone had about him, they felt compelled to
>keep to themselves.
>
>Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org
Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> "
I just posted a graph of presidential approval ratings (from Gallup), 1949-2004: <http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/PresApproval.gif>. Just a graphic with no html frame or anything.
Note that Ronnie's approval rating is *below* the historical average (54 vs. 56).
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