CARTOON: “Just Say No”

From cartoonist Clay Jones on “Just Say No,” Republican hypocrisy, and Reagan mythology

I think Nancy Reagan carried herself with grace. She was extremely loyal to her husband. Years after they left the White House, she bucked her party and supported stem cell research and gun control.

I also think she put herself on a pedestal and was seriously out of touch with normal people. That didn’t matter so much, because most people loved her. Her belief in psychics was wacky and not something I would want a mile within the White House, less enough sleeping with the leader of the free world. Her decorating the White House was snobby as hell (though she did refurbish parts that were falling apart). What she is most associated with is her “Just Say No” campaign, which might have been the most tone-deaf answer in the history of public relations. Oh, you have a problem that’s destroying your life and killing you? Just say “no.”

Reagan has mythological status among Republicans. That’s because his accomplishments are a total myth. Most people will say he was a good president because “he made us feel good about ourselves.” That’s the same mindset that’s currently giving us Donald Trump.

Republicans exhibit hypocrisy on a massive level when it comes to their idolatry of Reagan. If storing emails on a personal server is bad, why is it OK to trade weapons for hostages? If four dead Americans in Benghazi should have endless investigations, why worship a man who got over 200 killed in Beirut? If a nuclear deal with Iran is bad, why is it OK with the Soviet Union and actually selling weapons to Iran? If raising taxes is so terrible, why is it OK that Reagan did it seven times?

The scandals in the Reagan administration resulted in the investigation, indictment, or conviction of over 138 administration officials. None for Obama.

Though the Reagans were tone deaf toward minorities, the poor, women, apartheid, and the AIDS epidemic, I do believe that (most) people are complicated, and there were great qualities in Nancy Reagan. I believe she exhibited most of her class after she left the White House, and even further after her husband’s death. I wonder what Ronnie would think of his party today and of what he set it on the path toward.

claytoonz.com/2016/03/08/just-say-no