Ronald Reagan, 93, dies at California home

04:02 PM CDT on Saturday, June 5, 2004

By CARL LEUBSDORF / The Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON – Ronald Reagan, the one-time movie actor who became one of the nation's most important 20th-century presidents, died today at his California home. He was 93.

Mr. Reagan, whose legacy combined extraordinary successes with some major missteps, was the oldest person ever elected president and lived longer than any other chief executive.

An icon to generations of Republicans who was seen by many as the ideological father of the current Bush administration, he had rarely been seen in public in recent years after his 1994 announcement that he had Alzheimer's disease.

His eight-year tenure included one of the longest economic expansions since World War II and the beginning of a new era in the U.S.-Soviet relations that led to the end of the Cold War.

He also reshaped the terms of domestic political debate, helped to create a new confidence among the American people and brought the Republican Party to its strongest position in a half century.

Mr. Reagan cut taxes but failed to reverse the steady growth of the welfare state and, while he helped the GOP control the Senate for six of his eight years in office, his party failed to break the Democratic grip on the House until six years after he left office.

His presidency was marked by record budget deficits, a series of scandals including the Iran-Contra affair abroad and the ethical problems of several top advisers.

But his memory was cherished by the Republican faithful, as well as by many other Americans. In every campaign since his retirement, GOP candidates for the White House have vowed to emulate his leadership and his policies.

During his two terms, Mr. Reagan survived a 1981 assassination attempt and 1985 surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in his colon. He left office weeks before his 78th birthday in apparent good health.

But 6 ½ years later, he disclosed in a handwritten letter to the American people that he had Alzheimer's.

"I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life," he wrote on Nov. 5, 1994. Three months later, his biographer, Edmund Morris, disclosed that the former president hadn't recognized him for six months. Alzheimer's is a degenerative disease marked by memory loss and disorientation.

For several years, Mr. Reagan went to his office, entertained visitors and was seen near his California home. But in late 1999, his wife Nancy disclosed that he no longer recognized close friends and had stopped outside activities.

Historians agreed that Mr. Reagan's presidency was one of the most important of the post-World War II era.

"I think he'll probably turn out to have a rather significant place in American history," said Stephen Hess, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Brookings Institution.

Professor George Edwards, director of Texas A&M University's Center for Presidential Studies, agreed. "He had a lasting impact on defense policy and on domestic policy and he changed the terms of American politics," he said.

But there was less agreement on the merits of his contributions.

"I don't think he was a good president," Mr. or Dr. Edwards said, citing the degree to which his policies polarized the American people and the legacy of massive deficits that his successors struggled to control.

"But I certainly think he was an important president."

Ronald Wilson Reagan had a genial, yet confident manner that was the source of much of his popularity. It enabled him to become one of Hollywood's best-known leading men during the 1930s and 1940s and then move seamlessly into the world of politics.

But it was accompanied by a laid-back style of management that was a source of controversy throughout his years in public office. During the latter half of his presidency, for example, some of the Iran-Contra disclosures revealed he was unaware of what top aides were doing.

His successor, George H.W. Bush, spent much of his first year cleaning up the residue of the Reagan years in areas ranging from the financial collapse of the savings and loans industry to U.S. policy in Central America.

And both Mr. Bush and the man who unseated him in 1992, Bill Clinton, were forced to seek massive packages of spending cuts and tax increases to curb the national debt that had spiraled during the Reagan presidency.

Later, however, his standing began to rise. A 1999 survey of historians by C-SPAN, which rated presidents according to 10 categories of skills and leadership, placed Mr. Reagan in 11th place, just behind John F. Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower and well ahead of George Bush, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford.

Because he was the first president since 1960 to serve two full terms, Mr. Reagan enjoyed a historic opportunity to leave his imprint on the nation. He entered office vowing to restore America's global military supremacy and reverse the trends that built the modern welfare state.

The defense buildup that marked his first term slowed dramatically during his second term amid signs that four decades of a U.S.-Soviet "Cold War" were coming to an end. When the Soviet Union broke apart during the presidency of Mr. Bush, supporters and critics disagreed over the extent to which Mr. Reagan's defense buildup was responsible.

"Some people will say that it led to the collapse of the Soviet empire," Dr. Edwards said. "Others will say it merely affected the timing. Quite frankly, I don't see there's a way to definitely decide that issue."

But even Mr. Reagan's political rivals agreed that his presidency had transformed the nation's domestic political environment, emphasizing limits on the role of the federal government that forced future presidents to make hard choices on how to allocate reduced federal resources.

"Even the Democrats no longer talk much about the expansion of social programs," said Benjamin Ginsberg, a Cornell University professor of government who wrote a book on the Reagan legacy.

Just as Mr. Reagan's success as a tax cutter was linked to his failure as a budget balancer, these other aspects of his presidency were also marked by contradictory forces:

• Foreign policy. Entering office with an outspoken, anti-Soviet policy, Mr. Reagan wound up putting U.S.-Soviet ties on a firmer footing by forging a working relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet leader who took power midway through his presidency.

But his record also included failure to build on the Carter administration's progress in the Middle East, intervention in Lebanon that saw 241 Marines killed in a bomb blast, a Central American policy that neither produced stability nor ended Communist subversion and a failed effort to free U.S. hostages in Lebanon by selling arms to Iran.

• Defense buildup. Partisans credited his buildup in Pentagon spending with fostering improved U.S.-Soviet relations.

But public support for the buildup waned amid budget constraints spawned by the huge deficits, doubts about such major programs as the "Star Wars" space defense system and a major defense procurement scandal.

• American spirit. The first part of the Reagan presidency was marked by a patriotic surge that climaxed with the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and the 1986 centennial of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.

But his second term was clouded by scandals that affected such close associates as Attorney General Edwin Meese and White House aides Lyn Nofizger and Michael Deaver

• Judges. Mr. Reagan appointed more federal judges than any predecessor and also filled three of the nine seats on the U.S. Supreme Court, appointments that both friend and foe expected would shift the federal judiciary strongly to the right.

His high court nominations played a key role in a 1989 decision to permit states to enact stiffer restrictions on abortions. But he was rebuffed by the Senate in his efforts to install Robert Bork and Douglas Ginsburg on the high court.

• Political realignment. Mr. Reagan's election was accompanied by a Republican resurgence that took control of the Senate for the first time in 26 years and encouraged Republicans to believe they would soon become the nation's majority party for the first time since the 1920s.

But prospects for a national political realignment faded as Democrats regained the Senate in 1986 and the presidency in 1992.

Mr. Reagan got the major credit for the 1988 triumph of his vice president, Mr. Bush, the first time in 60 years that Republicans won a third straight White House term. And his presidency laid the basis for the stunning 1994 triumph that gave the GOP control of both houses of Congress for the first time in 40 years.

A native of central Illinois, Mr. Reagan was, like many other modern presidents, the son of a strong mother and an unsuccessful father.

His father, Jack, was a shoe salesman who often changed jobs and drank too much. Reagan biographer Lou Cannon called him "engaging, if alcoholic." His mother Nelle, recalled by neighbors as very religious, imparted her interest in theater to her son.

As a teenager, he acted in high school plays and became renowned for his exploits over seven summers as a lifeguard in Lowell Park. A plaque credits him with saving 77 swimmers in the Rock River.

At nearby Eureka College, he played football, was an active member of the drama club and became student body president. After graduation, he got a job as a sports announcer with WOO in Davenport, Iowa.

During his days at WOO, and later at its sister station, WHO, Des Moines, he became well-known through the Middle West as a baseball and football announcer under the name of Dutch Reagan, a nickname given him at birth by his father who said he looked like "a little bit of a fat Dutchman."

While in California covering spring training in 1937, an agent from Warner Brothers signed him to play the part of a radio announcer in a movie called Love Is on the Air. That was the first of about 50 movie roles, ranging from his best-known part as ill-fated Notre Dame football star George Gipp in Knute Rockne – All American to a part opposite a chimpanzee in Bedtime for Bonzo.

He married actress Jane Wyman, served in the military in a noncombat role during World War II and became active in the Screen Actors Guild when Congress was investigating Communist influence in all walks of American life, including Hollywood.

His increasing political involvement played a role in ending his first marriage. But through his union activities, he met Nancy Davis, an aspiring actress and the daughter of a strongly conservative Chicago physician. She , who became his second wife.

Later, Mr. Reagan became host of the GE Theatre, a television program sponsored by General Electric Co., and he began a new career speaking to business groups as his political views veered to the right.

He gained attention in the political world with a nationally televised speech for the doomed 1964 GOP candidacy of Barry Goldwater. Two years later, he was elected governor of California.

In 1968, Mr. Reagan made an abortive run for the White House. But eight years later, after the end of his second gubernatorial term, he nearly blocked the nomination of Gerald Ford, who became the nation's first unelected president when Richard Nixon resigned in the Watergate scandal.

In 1980, though 69 years old and considered too conservative, Mr. Reagan capitalized on discontent with Democrat Jimmy Carter's handling of the economy and the Iranian capture of 66 U.S. hostages to win the White House.

Four years later, he carried 49 of the 50 states against his Democratic rival, former Vice President Walter Mondale of Minnesota.

But he failed to lay out a new agenda and, as time passed and issues came up on which there was no firm notion of where he stood, "his type of management, his incuriosity and his sense of not taking hold of details caught up with him," Mr. Hess said.

That occurred most spectacularly in the bungled effort to sell arms to Iran in the hopes of freeing U.S. hostages in Lebanon. It became public in November 1986, at about the time that the GOP loss of the Senate ended talk of a Reagan-led political realignment.

"He suffered because he really didn't have a successful second term," said Kevin Phillips, a Republican analyst and author.

But Mr. Hess noted that few presidents have enjoyed successful second terms.

"An administration runs out of energy and becomes a lame duck after the sixth year elections," he said. "His failures in the second term were not unique." He correctly predicted that Mr. Reagan's personal shortcomings would seem less significant over time.

E-mail cleubsdorf@dallasnews.com

Great President.

Great American.

Great Man.

God bless you, Ronald Reagan.

I thought that nazi would never kick the bucket. But hey, he was brain dead even as president. I'm gona have a party to send him off to hell.

"I'm gona have a party to send him off to hell."

I'm sure that'll be a barnburner.

Sheepdog and 2 or 3 of his fellow KPFK listenin' creeps, sitting around grousing about chemtrails and remote controlled jets while having a misspelling bee.

On cutting subsidies for school lunches: "Well, ketchup is a vegetable, isn't it."

On deforestation/global warming: "Tree's cause more pollution than people do."

Welcome to Hell, Ronny. Enjoy your stay! Be sure to say hello to your other denizens in the Malebolge, the 8th Circle, swimming in excrement forever...

As a young punk rocker during Reagan's terms I was, of course, VERY anti-Reagan. As were all young stupid people of my ilk.

But you get older and wiser and you learn a few things.

The juvenile glee that the usual suspects have at his passing is a very satisfactory and crystalline testament to his greatness.

To paraphrase: You will know true genius as the fools will rise up around him in a confederacy of dunces.

True enough.

The fools are rising and I'm smiling.

It's a shame that a socialist asshole like Carter gets to live on in a sound mind (as sound as a liberal's can be, anyway) while Reagan had to go.

For now, the more mainstream lilliputian liberals will feign bowing their heads in respect to our fallen giant of a former President. In about 2 weeks, the lefty assholery trying to bring America down will turn against his memory, just like they turned against the US after 9-11.

No matter. The Reagan record stands. Even the poor got richer under Reaganomics and it was proven once and for all that tax cuts work.

Viva la Reagan Revolution!

I'm just back from the store, champagne is chilling in the fridge. Thinking about how much blood this man had on his hands, this celebration will be modest in comparison.

It is reassuring to think he is finally seeing the faces of the victims of his murderous Central American policies.

May God have mercy on him.

I mean we still have quite a few evil assholes still waiting to see the other side of this plane and it would be good of them to follow Mr. Raygun. Soon.

it's sad indeed to see one of America's greatest Presidents moving on while the very worst, Bill Clinton, still pollutes the planet with his obnoxious presence.

A tip of the hat to Ronnie. He got the maximum tax rate down from 90% to something like 40% -- still way too high but a huge improvement and the high point of his many contributions.

-And having been driven out by the Vietnamese, who came from the wrong side of the cold war, the Khmer Rouge were restored in Thailand by the Reagan administration, assisted by the Thatcher government, who invented a "coalition" to provide the cover for America's continuing war against Vietnam. -

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig4/pilger4.html

I guess everyone's scum unless they share your fear and confusion about chemtrails and rempte controlled jets.

Face it, long after you and your silly comrades are dead and forgotten, Reagan will still be remembered as one of our greatest Presidents.

Absolutely.

Because Raygun ( following his master's wishes ) deregulated the banking system.

>>>And then there was the S & L 500+ billion rip off

Why'd you have to remind us of Bill & Hillary Sheepdog? Brings back memories of Whitewater and other nefarious Clinton schemes.

Ronald Reagan stands tall as an American hero. As Fresca points out, he'll be remembered as one of our greatest Presidents long after the world has completely forgotten about Anarchism, Dennis Kucinich, Noam Chomsky, Amy Goodman, Al Gore, and Che Guevara.

Just a few excerpts from USA Today:

He won the 1980 election, ousting a sitting president and leading a conservative tidal wave. Four years later, running for re-election, he carried 49 states and won the biggest electoral-vote landslide in the nation's history. One of just 12 people to complete two terms in the White House, he left the United States and the world a different place. On his watch, the Cold War began to end, U.S. prestige was restored at home and abroad, major initiatives to cut taxes and reduce regulations were launched and the federal government's programmatic ambitions were curtailed for a generation.

The nation's 40th president was routinely underestimated during his day, from his first contest for governor of California in 1966 to the time his congressional opponents took his measure as president. His foes' misjudgments turned out to be one of his great advantages, his closest advisers would conclude. (Just like GWB)

In his time Reagan built a remarkable connection with many of the American people, even those who disagreed with him on issues. He was confident and upbeat, sure of what he believed, even when he fumbled on the details or made questionable assertions of fact.

Good old Jeb. Up to his fat ass in his own share of S & L swag because hey, the cookie jar was open. As to Clinton, I'm sure the cells of hell have a place down there for him as well for Waco. Come to think of it, I can't recall a president of this country that in my life time wouldn't be justified serving eternity in torment.

But I'm also certain your liberal media will make a saint out of him.

-But if Reagan started to ruin America, his foreign policy left the dead around like fallen leaves. His foreign policy was a disater by any standard. Dead nuns in El Salvador, murdered school teachers in Nicaragua, the tortured in Argentina, the seizure of Grenade, the failed intervention in Lebanon, the aerial assasination attempt on Khaddafi, which led to the bombing of Pam Am flight 103. Reagan's policies left a trail of failure and disaster at every turn.

How to explain funding the deeply corrupt Contras? Former Somocista generals who funded their war by the drug trade? Who murdered the innoncent. Or the war in Guatemala and the genocide of the indian population. Or the war in El Salvador, where American nuns, among many others, were raped and murdered. A government so callous that it murdered an archbishop in his church.

Reagan's foreign policy left a trail of death and fear wherever it touched.

But Iran-Contra was the defining moment. Despite a congressional prohibition on aid to the Contras, a group inside the White House decided to circumvent the law, so ineptly, and so completely, we wound up arming Iran and getting few hostages held in Lebanon released. We also sold chemical and biological weapons to Iraq. While Saddam murdered thousands, the US government was his ally. Even after 34 sailors were murdered by an Iraqi exocet missle, we still backed Saddam. No governmental outrage, no demands on Saddam. Like the Liberty incident, we turned our backs and hoped for the best.-

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=16479&mode=nested&order=0

Uh, let’s go through the list:

El Salvador: Free today.

Nicaragua: Free today.

Argentina: Free today.

Grenada: Free today.

Lebanon: Still in the thrall of their Syrian overlords.

Libya: Surrendered their nuke program.

Wow. With ‘failures’ like these, I can’t imagine what the standard for success must be.

Reagan supported of international violence (via arms dealers), training tyrannical paramilitaries (via the School of Americas) and installing fascist dictators (via the CIA "cowboys" constituency), and tax breaks for the rich that were unprecedented in their class preference until Dubya's gang got into office and rewrote the book.

Yes, examples like these certainly WILL be bubbling the surface, in spite of the media's pandering (which is not so much a partisan issue as a knee-jerk response to a US president's demise). The fact that "unconscionable" is not in a Fresca and Walker's vocabulary doesn't mean that most people will be so ready to pardon Reagan for his actions now that he has passed away.

I wouldn't piss on Reagan's grave, nor do I wish him eternal damnation (though he would certainly qualify for it, by some of the most commonly cited criteria). He was a corrupt individual who became drunk on power and did what was expected of him to keep it. He subverted Democracy throughout Central and South America, fought to help the richest people become even richer, and so on. But he was just a guy, and I find it sad that he ended up taking the path he did. He should have stuck with movies.

Still, from a certain angle, the "glory of Reagan" panel here is right: if you are a retired, extremely wealthy arms dealer, what a great fuckin' president!

1. "Reagan, huh?!! How about Clinton!" (from the makers of "Bush, huh? What about Clinton!")

2. "You paranoid freak, bla bla put on your tinfoil hat, take your meds, ad nauseum"

3. See, Reagan did good things--so the fascist stance toward burgeoning Democracies in Central-South America was irrelevant! (implied: "Either way, I'm not going to address any of that directly, because I don't have a leg to stand on").

4. Well, those countries are OK now, right? It must mean that Reagan really fixed things up when he supported the fascist coups and insurrections. US intervention wasn't something that Nicaragua, El Salvador, et. al had to RECOVER from, it was just our "tough love" way of making them stronger!

The number of fallacies these people use to try and derail valid critiques of Reagan's (lack of) humanitarian or democratic values is staggering. Can't we get some intelligent conservatives around here, instead of these carbon-copy-retort apologists?

"...intelligent conservatives..."

...don't hold your breath for that oxymoron....

"...questionable assertions of fact."

...otherwise known to us commoners as "lies"...

1. "Reagan, huh?!! How about Clinton!" (from the makers of "Bush, huh? What about Clinton!")

-----Reagan bombed people who fucked with the USA. Clinton bombed people to take heat off his own impeachment.

2. "You paranoid freak, bla bla put on your tinfoil hat, take your meds, ad nauseum"

------Those comments are spared for the posters who blame the CIA for everything, or claim THE PLAINS THAT HIT THE TOWERS WERE ROBOT-CONTROLLED MISSLE-SHOOTING DUMMIES. BUSH KNEW AND/OR PLANNED 9-11.

These same whackjobs then claim that because no one listens to them they have indeed stumbled upon the truth.

3. See, Reagan did good things--so the fascist stance toward burgeoning Democracies in Central-South America was irrelevant! (implied: "Either way, I'm not going to address any of that directly, because I don't have a leg to stand on").

------First of all, what is anyone today supposed to do about what happened 20 years ago? And when are liberals going to concede that at that time there was an actual cold war had been going on for 40 years against an Evil Empire that murdered millions of its own?

-----Who would condone 'fascist coups' unless they were the only way to defeat communist mongrels and America-hating regimes and preventing them from taking over neutral countries.

We supported whoever would fight against our enemies, from Contras to Tibetan rebels and even to Saddam, since Iran at that time was the camel's asshole crying "Death to America!"

The number of fallacies these people use to try and derail valid critiques of Reagan's (lack of) humanitarian or democratic values is staggering. Can't we get some intelligent conservatives around here, instead of these carbon-copy-retort apologists?

-------I notice not a single liberal wishing for the "good old days" when we that incompetent asswipe carter at the helm. He was the America-haters' wet dream. He was meek, caved-in to communists (who "almost" won) and had no fucking clue how to lead a country. The economy was in the shitter and morale was low. And on top of all that, he had the gaul to tell Americans to give up their dreams and expect less. What shit.

-------Reagan's genius was his restoration of Americans' pride, both in themselves and their country. The man wan't perfect but as President he was damned close.

...tell me how the nuns he left slaughtered in a ditch in El Salvador were fucking with the USA?

...forget it...back to the sweet, sweet delusions of republicanland!

-Those comments are spared for the posters who blame the CIA for everything-

What agency created al Quadea?

What agency sponsored Saddam?

What agency sponsored Ben Laden?

Not everything, just the terror, torture and death squads,

"What agency created al Quadea?

What agency sponsored Saddam?

What agency sponsored Ben Laden? "

A) None...Al Queda was concieved wholly by bin laden

B) The CIA..when it served us..rightfully so

C) CIA, Saudi Intelligence Agency and Pakastani Intelligence Agency. All long before Al Queda and the Taliban.

But you know that.

So what's your point?

"...tell me how the nuns he left slaughtered in a ditch in El Salvador were fucking with the USA? "

That was your precious subhuman beaners doing that number on the Nuns.

It was beaner cocks which raped the nuns and beaner knives and bullets which killed them.

Unevolved savages.

I think it's fair to say that as barbaric as these "people" are it's most fortunate that Reagan squashed their attempts to become even worse as Communists.

God love him.

Really covering all the bases there, aren't you; from liar to racist. Nice job!

Once again, fresca is the winner of the most likely to be shot in the back for humanity, award.

Since you're a White-hating Trotskyite disease-bag pillow-biting freak, I wouldn't be so quick to accuse anyone else of RASSISMS, boss.

>>Who would condone 'fascist coups' unless they were the only way to defeat communist mongrels and America-hating regimes and preventing them from taking over neutral countries.

>>We supported whoever would fight against our enemies, from Contras to Tibetan rebels and even to Saddam, since Iran at that time was the camel's asshole crying "Death to America!"

My point exactly. The Reagan administration didn't question whether the populous of any of these nations actually wanted a certain form of government, socialist or otherwise. It asked, "would this form of government be amenable to US interests?" It was a textbook case of a would-be fascist empire (in both the means of controlling other nations, and the "allies" the Reaganites dealt with in these bids for power) suppressing the democratic process.

What we are dealing with, in many conservatives' case, is a desire for democracy to be something that benefits THEM, but is only applied on a conditional basis by their grossly overglorified heroes. I see people on this IMC chapter skirting around this very stance, when it comes to the Bush Administration's more recent infringements on the Bill of Rights, in the US or abroad.

Face facts, people: if you can say "fascism is OK when...." with a wink and a smile, you are ideologically a fascist. You consider it productive and utilitarian, and (I'll give you the benefit of a doubt) assume that this fair nation can control the malice and insatiable power-hunger at the heart of the fascist stance. Well, we would be the first to pull it off without A) genocide, B) a police state, C) widespread torture, or D) a bid for global domination.

If you are so ready to glorify Reagan as a political leader and a representative of what you believe in, the Salvadorian death squads are your allies by association. Say hello to America's "comrades." You've picked your side and this is what it looks like; if it's not bed you're ready to lie in, I would reconsider the "glory to Reagan, a great American" rhetoric.

“Systematically, the Contras have been assassinating religious workers, teachers, health workers, elected officials, government administrators…"

"They go into villages. They haul out families. With the children forced to watch, they castrate the father. They peel the skin off his face. They put a grenade in his mouth, and pull the pin. With the children forced to watch, they gang-rape the mother, and slash her breasts off. And sometimes, for variety, they make the parents watch while they do these things to the children."

“These are the activities done by the Contras. The Contras are the people President Reagan called ‘freedom fighters.’ He said: ‘They are the moral equivalent of our founding fathers.’”

source: http://free.freespeech.org/americanstateterrorism/usgenocide/CrbnCnSthAmrc.html#Nicaragua

...shitpile, "beaners" is a racist term for people from Mexico, not El Salvador...

...it's a shaved head and back to Hitler Youth Camp for you!

shitpile: "beaner...bullets"

Nope...dem were Std US Army issue dat killed dem nuns, done by thugs on the US taxpayer's dime...at the order of your deadman...whasshisname..the corpse of da guy you've been beatin' off for the last week....don't recall...doesn't matter anyway all shitpiles are the same.

Oh, did I mention that you are a racist fuck?

""beaners" is a racist term for people from Mexico, not El Salvador... "

Face it..they're all Mexicans. What's the difference?

The have been and will continue to slaughter each other no matter what side we support.

When the US ceases to back anyone, third world shithole carnage will continue unobstructed.

If the European powers had never gone to S America or Africa they'd still be in a state of incessant warfare anyway. That's what tribal societies fo, they have a warrior culture.

We just enabled them to kill each other more efficiently.

I would just like to add that in my little world, the sky is flourescent pink. Very pretty!

...pink skies...great presidents....evildoers...no responsibility....

....welcome to REPUBLICANLAND! (please leave your brain with security at the gate...)

shitpile: "Face it..they're all Mexicans. What's the difference"

Let's see;

Mexicans are from Mexico

Salvadorans are from El Salvador

Americans are from the US

and idiots are from the republican party.

Is that clear enough for ya?