In retrospect, this was (obviously) a mistake, and one I did not repeat. It led to deficits, an a decade of greed such as the country has never seen before or since (thankfully). Many good-hearted amercians, Democrats and Republicans alike voted for the man. He had a certain charisma, similar to Pres. Clinton's, and he appeared at a time when our national self esteem was at a low. Reagan promised that we as a country would never be embarrassed again, and that never again would America be so ineffective as to not be able to rescue hostages from any country, whether it was a rougue act or not. A lesser known fact: the Iranians released the hostages at 12:00 the day Reagan took office, so low was their esteem for Carter. I think Carter (who is from my own home state) made a few mistakes, but he also caught a bad rap from the media and many of the situations were simply out of his control. Little did I know that my vote would help contribute to a decade of right-wing victories. "Never again will America be embarrassed," was the battle cry, a lie it was. We were embarassed, by Reagan and by scrub's father (who threw up on a Japanese P.M. nonetheless). The Election 2000 was fraudulent, and we will make the repugs pay for their crimes in 2002, rest assured.

Hey Al or Crockett: as ministers of the Democratic Message, please forgive me, for I have sinned ;(