Ronald Reagan

Twenty years ago, CBS faced a firestorm after a leaked script to the New York Times showed the network’s upcoming mini-series, The Reagans, was an inaccurate and unfair portrayal of the 40th President, then in the final months of his battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Over the last week, one conservative Republican rose up, and one conservative Republican stepped down. Former Vice President Mike Pence, a consistent and unwavering Christian and constitutional conservative, announced the termination of his presidential campaign, saying, “It’s become clear to me; this is not my time.”

It was November 4, 1979. The President of the United States was Democrat Jimmy Carter. Carter was seen by many on the GOP side as a weak president, which was part of the reason Republican Ronald Reagan was making another try for the GOP nomination to face off with Carter in the soon-to-arrive 1980 presidential election.

On the Thursday edition of her MSNBC show, Nicolle Wallace says she has a "visceral rejection" of Jim Jordan, whom she mocks as "Jacketless Jim," and asks ex-Republican congressman David Jolly why the 22 Republicans who voted against Jordan for Speaker "hate him."

For his first post-Writers’ Strike guest, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel welcomed Arnold Schwarzenegger to discuss his favorite topic: Donald Trump’s weight. Schwarzenegger would also insist that he is still a Republican by offering up left-wing causes such as climate activism and “universal health care” as reasons why.

Back there in the ancient age of November, 1986, my younger self, then a Reagan White House Associate Political Director, was in the Oval Office with Political Office colleagues and President Reagan. 

The latest edition of PBS’s Frontline documentary series to air on Tuesday night carried the subtitle America’s Dangerous Trucks as host A.C. Thompson explored the safety aspects of 18-wheelers. At one point, it was emphatically declared that Ronald Reagan contributed to truck-related deaths through his policy of deregulation although the logic needed to make such a claim was…

PBS released their latest Frontline documentary on Tuesday with the subtitle of Clarence and Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power and the Supreme Court that purported to uncover why the Thomases view the world the way they do. Ultimately, however, Clarence Thomas was portrayed as a far-right sexual abuser who benefited from affirmative action who rules the way he does on cases in…

The very term “debt limit” makes a mockery of any kind of responsible budgeting. Each time the government reaches the “limit” it gets raised with the familiar scenarios that include threats of a government shutdown (an idea that increasingly appeals to some conservatives) and the claim that the “full faith and credit” of the U.S. is at stake. We have faith and credit? Who knew?

PBS celebrated the return of the ancient “October Surprise” election conspiracy theory -- the unsubstantiated rumor that Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign, led by William Casey, delayed the release of the 52 American hostages in Iran in order to win election over Democrat Jimmy Carter. The original version was advanced by former Carter aide Gary Sick before being discredited…

The press never misses a chance for a dig at conservative president Ronald Reagan, as shown by public television’s fulsome tributes to “trailblazing” former Colorado Rep. Pat Schroeder, dead at 82. Schroeder served 12 terms in the House as a prominent liberal feminist. PBS and NPR also celebrated her "sharp wit," or at least her political cracks at the expense of then-President Reagan.

CBS’s Stephen Colbert sat down for a softball interview with Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday for an interview where the duo lamented pro-life laws and the toughest question was Colbert wondering if the administration was not sufficiently radical on the environment. Colbert would also use Wednesday’s edition of The Late Show to label Ronald Reagan a crack dealer.

Journalists love to use past presidents to measure today’s politicians, either to build up those who exemplify their historical liberal heroes, or to belittle conservatives with whom they disagree. Here’s a deep dive into the MRC’s archives showing how the media have used presidents from George Washington to Abraham Lincoln to JFK as talking points in today’s political battles.

On MSNBC’s The ReidOut, the always nasty and venomous Joy Reid used the occasion of Martin Luther King Jr Day to smear former President Ronald Reagan as a racist who signed the federal holiday into law as a cover so people wouldn’t think he’s racist. This despite the fact that Reagan was never a racist and his policies did more to get African Americans off welfare and out of poverty…