TAKING AWAY ST. RONNIE'S HALO

DougJ at Balloon Juice has a nice post about how the GOP has used racism to gain votes, going all the way back to Ronald Reagan. He included a link to a 9/1/1980 TIME Magazine piece that has a few more gems from Hannity's God:

But Mondale was right on the mark in most of his quotes of egregious remarks by Reagan, including his 1976 charge that "fascism was really the basis for the New Deal," and a claim put forth by Reagan last January that "the minimum wage has caused more misery and unemployment than anything since the Great Depression."

For instance, either candidate can hit back hard at Reagan's bid for the black vote by recalling his 1976 claim in a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., speech that working people at a supermarket checkout counter were "outraged" when they saw a "strapping young buck" buy T-bone steaks with food stamps.

Carter-Mondale researchers have also found that in January Reagan said of U.S. attempts to prevent more countries from obtaining nuclear arms: "I just don't think it's any of our business."

These snippets are a nice addition to David Corn's takedown of Reagan.