Comments on: Ronald Reagan Returns from Grave to Slam Republicans

By: Steve.

Steve. — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:16:47 +0000

Markor, Reagan did not increase spending at all. It was the Congress that increased the spending.

By: pudge

pudge — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:24:30 +0000

Ulysses: shrug. The way I enjoy humor like this, such as in The Onion, is to take the fantastic rules set up at the beginning — e.g., Reagan comes back to life and gives Republicans a lecture about conservatism — and then be consistent within those parameters. It is not just what I *think* Reagan would have sounded like, there’s simply no way he would sound like that. It makes it terribly unfunny.

Because then instead of the fantastic rules being “Reagan comes back to life and gives Republicans a lecture about conservatism,” which could be funny, they are “Reagan comes back to life and gives Republicans a lecture about conservatism and talks like he never did, or would have, talked.” And that’s not funny.

The Onion has this problem too, on occasion, FWIW.

It might have been far funnier if instead of saying, “How is it possible that so many of you can be claiming my legacy and yet continue to so dramatically screw things up?,” he took a more “grandfatherly” tone, rather than an antagonistic one. The voice is just all wrong. And even if he was going to be angry and antagonistic, talk about things, and use language, that would fit him.

For instance, Reagan very well might have approved of DHS, and there were no significant Republican-passed policies that inflated the housing bubble (and if there were, he would be specific), and Reagan was actually an admirer of John McCain’s small-government efforts in the Senate, which have not significant changed in the last 20 years, so he certainly wouldn’t have flippantly said of McCain, “who does that joker think he is fooling?”

And this is all apart from the general bad taste, which actually, IMO, is more offensive in its laziness than anything else. Everyone says “so-and-so would roll over in his grave,” and “if so-and-so were alive today … .” It’s tired.

I hope I am not bashing this too much. I am sure I have written more than ity deserves. :-) I really love a good joke, even when directed at me and mine. This just isn’t one, IMO. The best jokes are ones that best reflect reality, with a twist. This has too many twists, such that it no longer represents reality very well.

By: Markor

Markor — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:35:42 +0000

Good story! Let’s not forget, however, that Reagan actively increased the size of the gov’t until it became the largest & spendiest in the history of the world, at the time. His talk was just a ruse.

By: Ulysses

Ulysses — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:29:02 +0000

Yo, pudge, it actually is fairly funny if you’re thinking about the current campaigns and reputations of today’s incumbents. Why does it HAVE to sound exactly the way you think Reagan might speak?
Weak commenting effort.

By: Patti

Patti — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:49:12 +0000

About time someone said something!

By: pudge

pudge — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:34:05 +0000

Wow, this is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever read. It starts in poor taste, never gets funny, and doesn’t even come close to representing reality. It might have been moderately successful if the words actually sounded SOMETHING like what Reagan might have said, but they don’t.

Extremely weak effort.