The Ronald Reagan Song

Before Ron the Con took office

I never saw people standing on offramps

With little cardboard signs

WARNING! HELL IS WAITING FOR YOU!

And they'll be NO BUTTER IN HELL!!

A newspaper ad from the early 1980s, during the rise of Ron the Con.

I love the "Christians Who Love You" counterbalance after a message of despair and fear.

Personally, I prefer Shakespeare: "Use every man after his desert, and who should ’scape whipping? Use them after your own honor and dignity. The less they deserve, the more merit is in your bounty. Take them in."

Phone photo 2364

Homeless

Son + I are

Scared + Alone

Please Help Us

God Bless You.

Anything will help us.

Discarded cardboard sign near freeway entrance, Tumwater, Washington. I call these Reagan boards, since around here at least we never saw people with homeless cardboard signs until old Ron the Con took office.

George McGovern, 1922-2012

 

Come Home America

In many elections I hear voters say they have to choose between the lesser of evils. But in 1972 it was clearly a choice between Good and Evil. And America re-elected Evil in a landslide. Two years later it was hard to find anyone who admitted to voting for Nixon.

There was a bit of graffiti someone wrote on the restroom wall of McGovern HQ in Oly. I'll share it here, and as off-color as it was, it does sum up how us young volunteers felt about Dick Nixon: "Don't change Dicks in the middle of a screw, vote for Nixon in '72!"

When I balance the choices I made in my life, I count the experience of being a volunteer for McGovern in '72 as something I will never regret. I also supported him in my caucus when he ran in 1984 against Ron the Con. And I don't regret that either. Several issues considered radical in the 1970s-1980s are now embraced by many Republicans. So our side eventually won. George was a pioneer and a winner on the right side of history.  But being a pioneer has a big price.

To quote McGovern, "You know, sometimes, when they say you're ahead of your time, it's just a polite way of saying you have a real bad sense of timing." 

He also said something to the effect: "I wanted to run for President in worst way-- and I did!" 

My fave was when his wife, Eleanor, came to Seattle and proclaimed the Nixon administration the "most corrupt in recent history." There was a big uproar. A few days later George arrived and apologized. He said Eleanor should have left out the word "recent."

McGovern was on the winning wide of history, at least on social issues and foreign policy. In this area obstructionist conservatives will always lose and progressives will always win. Economics has more of a universal pendulum.

Goodbye Sen. McGovern. And thank you for being a voice of reason on a national stage filled with haters shouting out messages of greed and fear. You were an inept politician, but you were a decent man. It was a miracle you were ever nominated. But working for you was the cleanest political experience I have ever had in my life, and I frequently revisit the idealism of that year if I need to recharge to keep up the Good Fight. Of course we all evolve, but at my core I still think of myself as a McGovernite. And a whole generation of us were inspired by your campaign. You were a WWII vet who worked hard to end war. I salute you for your service and your vision.

Come Home America

$25 Sale - Original Art - Cranium Frenzy # 6, p. 9

 

Cranium Frenzy # 6, page 9

Medium # paper measure 35.5 x 28 cm. Nonphoto blue pencil with felt tip finishing lines. Drawn in 1990.

$25 ppd
Check or money order to
Steve Willis
PO Box 390
McCleary, WA 98557-0390

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Buttons - Presidential Campaign - 1980

Anderson For President

Congressman John Anderson of Illinois initially ran in the 1980 primaries as a Republican, but refused to join his party in their extreme tilt to the Right, so he bolted and ran as an independent. One of the more interesting third party campaigns in recent history, he enjoyed support from college campuses (and my Republican father even voted for him) but ultimately had no impact on the election, which was a landslide for Ronald Reagan. Then he vanished. So far as I know, John Anderson is still alive and is 90 years old today.

Buttons - Presidential Campaign - 1972

Nixon Now

A most impressive effort of the Nixon campaign trying to lure the youth vote, 1972 was the first where 18 year-olds could vote.

There was a real storm front between those who were raised during the Great Depression and World War Two as opposed to us Boomers who only saw the shadow of the atomic/nuclear cloud. We grew up with the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, and the Cold War. Our protests had a sense of urgency since we were concerned tomorrow might never come. Something had to be done about this mess NOW! At the time this was recognized and dubbed The Generation Gap. This button was an attempt by the Nixon people to reach over that gap. Apparently, in terms being re-elected, it worked.

I find it humorous that in 1972 Nixon won by a landslide, but by 1974 when he resigned in total disgrace I could find few people who admitted they voted for him.

When I think about who was the worst president in U.S. history, I have a hard time choosing between Nixon, Reagan, Bush II, Harding or Buchanan.

Phone photo 666

Hey, what an amazing coincidence with this number in the series!
It's a photo of Ronald Reagan!
What are the odds?

Antichrist Among Us

Some terrible person and wiseguy using the name "Mort Kanine" wrote a letter to the Daily Evergreen, the student newspaper for Washington State University. It was during the high tide of Reaganism, and WSU was a conservative campus, although it was also noted for being the "Party School" of Washington.

The letter to the editor, published February 16, 1984, claimed that old Ron the Con was the Antichrist. Notice Mr. Kanine did not claim to be a Christian, although at least one responder assumed he was.

Making an allegation at a university where Ronald Reagan was so enormously popular had the predictable effect, as demonstrated by the samples of the subsequent responses which lasted for about two weeks.

What a dreadful man Mort Kanine must have been.

Bezango: Technicolor in Olympia

Olympia Power & Light, July 28-August 10, 2010

Clarence Chesterfield Howerton, otherwise known as Major Mite, is McCleary's closest claim to Hollywood fame.

Retreads 5

1st edition, 1985, Pullman, Washington, 50 copies, goldenrod cover, enlarged digest size. Not released until 1986.

2nd edition, February 1986, 30 copies, salmon cover, enlarged digest size. This is the edition posted here.

1st Danger Room Reprint edition, July 2005, 5 copies, blue cover, enlarged digest size.

Trivia:

Pages 3-7, 23-end was my response to living in a Christian Republican stronghold during the high tide of Reaganism, an era of socialism for the rich and corporations, resulting in the national debt skyrocketing to new heights. Sarah Palin and the Tea Baggers are evidence that all of Ron the Con's massive cuts to education in the 1980s have managed to benefit the Republicans in the long run. So these comix, unfortunately, remain relevant today. I would like it better if these comix were seen as period pieces, charming reminders of when America went temporarily crazy.

Pages 11-15 gave me an opportunity to play straight man to Bruce Chrislip in one of the more unusual formats in comixland.

Pages 16-17 was a jam with Chrislip and Michael Dowers at the former's place near Lake Union in Seattle, December 18, 1984. As I recall, a significant amount of alcohol had been consumed. It was during this visit we all learned of the death of the great underground comix artist (and at that time formerly a recent Seattle resident) Greg Irons, who was one of my favorites of that genre. I always thought Irons had a touch of Durer in his work.

Pages 18-21: Obviously influenced by the Dr. Seuss book, Yertle the Turtle.

Retreads # 3

1st edition, 1985, Pullman, Washington, 50 copies, yellow cover, enlarged digest size. Not distributed until 1986.

2nd edition, December 1985, Pullman, Washington, 30 copies, pink cover, enlarged digest size. Not distributed until 1986.

3rd edition, November 1986, Coupeville, Washington : Published by Rex Munger. 4 copies, white cover, enlarged digest size.

1st Danger Room Reprint Edition, July 2005, 5 copies, blue cover, enlarged digest size.

Trivia:

Page 34: I still think that is greatest joke ever.