Ronald Reagan on religion

[snopes]

Comment: Please see photo attached. I highly believe this is an altered photo and quote is NOT true, but democrats are spreading it around as being true. Reagan would never say this.

[lord_feldon]

Here's the full text of the speech from the Reagan Library.

I wonder who else was in that picture...

[Richard W]

Well, it's obviously an altered photo in that it's been stylised, but what else would be altered? Does the commenter think that somebody photoshopped out the real words that were floating over Reagan's head, and photoshopped in new ones?

(eta) Here's a bit more of the speech (my emphasis) :

All are free to believe or not believe, all are free to practice a faith or not, and those who believe are free, and should be free, to speak of and act on their belief.

At the same time that our Constitution prohibits state establishment of religion, it protects the free exercise of all religions. And walking this fine line requires government to be strictly neutral. And government should not make it more difficult for Christians, Jews, Muslims, or other believing people to practice their faith. ...

And there's something else. The ideals of our country leave no room whatsoever for intolerance, for anti-Semitism, or for bigotry of any kind -- none.

[musicgeek]

Sigh. While I'm no fan of many of Reagan's policies, I wish that modern conservatives would pay a little more attention to what the man actually said and did, rather than the bizarre version of him they've concocted in their collective mind. There's a reason that Reagan was elected into office with support from so-called "Reagan Democrats."

[Alarm]

"No. No. It's not true. That's impossible."

Luke Skywalker?

or

Hundred of thousand of Republicans...


You decide!

[Simply Madeline]

Originally Posted by musicgeek

Sigh. While I'm no fan of many of Reagan's policies, I wish that modern conservatives would pay a little more attention to what the man actually said and did, rather than the bizarre version of him they've concocted in their collective mind.

Here's a great example of the "airbrushed Reagan effect":

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/201...kesman-reagan/

During a 60 Minutes interview Sunday night, CBS’ Lesley Stahl asked House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) about the GOP’s intransigence when it comes to raising any new federal revenue, pointing out that Cantor’s hero, Ronald Reagan, raised taxes when the occasion called for it. Before Cantor could even attempt to explain anything, one of his spokesmen, Brad Dayspring, interrupted the interview, taking issue with the notion that Reagan increased taxes:

Dayspring has had some trouble with the facts regarding taxes before, but the notion that it “just isn’t true” that Reagan raised taxes is absurd. He raised taxes in seven of his eight years in office, including one stretch of four tax increases in just two years. As Paul Krugman put it, “no peacetime president has raised taxes so much on so many people.” Reagan also completely equalized the tax treatment of investment income with that of wage income, a position putting him to the left of many of today’s Democrats, never mind Republicans.

[Richard W]

Originally Posted by lord_feldon

I wonder who else was in that picture...

I see what you mean, now, about it looking like somebody was photoshopped out - although I can't see why somebody would have been standing in front of him in that situation in the first place, unless the shot was cut down from one taken at a low angle in a crowded press conference, to get Reagan between people's heads and shoulders.

Anyway, to answer your question, they've obviously photoshopped out the Democrat who was holding a gun to his head...

[lord_feldon]

Actually, now I think whoever did it was extending him out rather than getting rid of someone else. All of the copies I can find of that picture are cropped a lot closer, and there's no hint of anyone else's shoulder.