GET OVER YOURSELF.
Evidentally I've grown up lately. Or, at the very least, the things that are enraging my friends (or at least my livejournal friendslist) aren't pissing me off. In fact, the fact that they're enraging my friends list, is1.) Reagan is awesome, and I'm impressed that he won, and American didn't just pick the obvious choices of George Washington,
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About Ronnie, I'm guessing you're talking about the "Greatest American" survey. You could dedicate volumes about how complex his legacy is. I fall into the camp who's okay with him.
Reagan, love him or hate him, was one one of the most fascinating political figures of our lifetime. People see him as the greatest president ever or an uncaring demon, depending on what media outlet you're looking at. I can only encourage you to read a lot of sources and not choose just one to go with, because Reagan's story is hard to fit in one place.
I recommend the PBS documentary from the American Experience series. It traces Reagan's career and and doesn't glorify him or smear him. Iran-Contra is talked about. It also talks about his refusal to concede much of anything to communist regimes. It touches on things that will make some liberals cringe (his christianity, his approach to the cold war) but also demonstrates how intensely principled the man was. It also may help some understand that his thought process was not callous towards the underprivileged, but rather his form of tough love, and in fact he often, very quietly,wrote personal checks to people who wrote him letters about their tough times.
I'm not a Reagan flagwaver, at times he was over-moralizing and he was crucial to introducing the religious-right to politics, but the man was a giant in terms of his approach to reducing government (about as close to Libertarian as we may ever see) and standing for exactly what he believed was right, and that's what I admire about him.
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