As has been noted by Atrios and others, many of the things the mass media (fed, no doubt, by RNC'ers and/or right-wing zealots) are saying about Reagan are untrue. To wit:

• Myth: Reagan was the most popular president.
  
• Myth: Reagan left office with the highest approval ratings in history.
  
• Myth: Reagan was universally beloved.
  
• Myth: Reagan presided over the longest economic expansion in history.
  
• Myth: All of Congress came under Republican control on Reagan's watch.

All of these things are patently false, and it would be nice if the press would not promulgate them as facts -- not because it really makes much difference now (Reagan isn't running for re-election, after all, although the Bush campaign would prefer it that way) but because it's such a clear demonstration of just how poor a job our press core does at basic fact-checking in the face of a sustained right-wing press barrage.

Come on, guys: you don't have to paint Reagan as a god to honor him as a president.

No more "steady leadership in times of change". We're now talking "dead leadership ripped from the 80's".

Faced with the stark reality that even a deceased former president who had suffered from Alzheimer's Disease for the last 15 years can handle the presidency better than George Bush, the Bush-Cheney campaign has morphed into an attempt to win a third term for Ronald Reagan.

Word is that George Bush will be undergoing plastic surgery to take on the likeness of Reagan. And the campaign says it's now found a new rationale for Bush's repeated stubborn refusal to change policy course on multiple issues**, despite clear evidence of failure: since Reagan is dead and obviously cannot change his policies, George Bush is acting as the True Reagan Heir by emulating him. "At one time, you might have noticed some difference between Bush and Reagan, since Reagan obviously did change course when things didn't work out", the campaign said. "We now feel that Former President Reagan's death, long anticipated by his admirers, brings Reagan in line with George Bush, meaning the President can now take up the mantle."

The Bush/Reagan campaign plans to make Reagan's recycled speeches and "win one more for the Gipper" the new campaign theme. There has been no word, as of yet, as to whether Reagan's old campaign commercials would be recycled. There has been some speculation, however, that Dick Cheney might change his name to Bush, to make the transformation more complete.

** Unless a policy became a PR disaster, of course.

Looks like Bush, who never wanted UN involvement in Iraq, has now caved almost completely on the subject. He's adopted John Kerry's position and gotten a new UN resolution. Whether it will be enough, at this point, to make a significant difference in Iraq is an open question. The window may have already closed, and additional concessions and willingness to work with the UN may be too much for the Bush constitution to handle. He is, after all, no Ronald Reagan.

If things now take a turn for the better in Iraq, we will have John Kerry's judgement to thank for it. Of course, this latest Bush flip-flop comes a little late: more than 800 American servicemembers have been killed in Iraq since the war and occupation started, and the long slog towards turning Iraq into a democracy has just started. If history is any guide (see, for example, the current state of Afghanistan), George Bush doesn't have the judgement, patience, skill or stomach for the hard work ahead (you thought our job was done? oh, no...at least, not if we want to keep the country from collapsing into a new terrorist haven)--which doesn't bode well for the Iraqis, should George Bush be elected in November. What will he do when he doesn't have an upcoming election to pressure him into doing the right thing?