Jim Austin

His previous columns are archived HERE.

JIM AUSTIN

Saint Ronald of Tampico

Every day my e-mail contains a question from MSNBC. I am invited to give my yes or no response and then find out how others have voted. Yesterday they asked me "Would Ronald Reagan make your list of the two greatest Presidents of the 20th Century?"

Of almost 100,000 responses 73 percent said Yes.

I wonder how many of those think he was the greatest President bar none?

The media, for years accused of having a liberal bias, has reported on Reagan as if his Presidency was a flawless eight years of sound judgment and inspired leadership. Compared to Reagan, FDR was mildly retarded.

This hero worship combined with a shameless distortion of facts is chilling. If the media can turn a second-rate President into a legendary figure of compelling wisdom in a week, what else can they do?

Reagan, by all accounts, was a nice guy. He enjoyed making quips during speeches and even had a drink with the opposition from time to time. Almost everyone liked Reagan (with the possible exception of John Hinckley).

He was not, however, a great President.

Reagan's support of right-wing governments in Central America was one of the legacies of his administration. The families of the tens of thousands of people murdered by death squads in these countries wouldn't recognize the Reagan that our media is recalling today.

His friendly policy toward Saddam Hussein is also missing in all accounts. The US supported Iraq with weapons, intelligence, and even some ingredients for manufacturing anthrax (Newsweek, 9.23.02).

• At best, Ronald Reagan was an affable man who filled the post in Washington, read what they told him to read off the teleprompter, and looked good for photo ops.

• At worst he was a man who lied about the Iran-Contra affair, didn't really understand the functions of government, oversaw the doubling of the deficit, and put far too much faith in astrology.

This is beginning to read like a politically motivated bashing of a dead man. Conservatives will surely read it that way. The point is that our media has been able to convince people that Reagan was a great man. They have lost the most basic of journalistic principles: unbiased reporting of the news of the day.

If they can canonize Reagan in a week what more can they do?

Ownership of our media is more and more in the hands of mega-corporations. The American public is putty in their hands.

Bush has already compared the war in Iraq to D-day. By the time the election rolls around Iraq will look like the American Revolution, complete with founding fathers and a snazzy constitution.

The deficit that our great grandchildren will be paying off will look like a financing coup that benefits all of us. Bush may well be a war hero by November. Kerry has already been associated with "Hanoi Jane" and may well be charged with war crimes before we get a chance to vote.

The greatest myth of all is that the media is liberal. It is not in the interests of the media conglomerates to have anyone but a Republican elected.

As you know, the President gets to pardon anyone he wants before leaving office. One name stands out among the Reagan pardons: George Steinbrenner. Yes, folks, Steinbrenner had been charged with illegal campaign contributions to Richard Nixon and Reagan let him off the hook. Talk about your evil empire.