Has political discourse degenerated since Reagan was president?

It started to go downhill after Kennedy. Reagan had Alzhemiers

Edit - all discourse went down at the advent of Cable TV shows. They say the Fairness Doctrine took away free speech. I say it made for intelligent speech. Now you have idiotic speech and lots of crap on News stations that is so far from the News its unbelievable. Who cares about beauty tips and plastic surgery. Come on. (Thanks Reagan)

I think it degenerated since Clinton was president. Clinton was impeached for lying under oath, but he was not so vilified as Bush who "lied" about WMDs in Iraq even though Congress agreed with his assessment and WMDs were later found. Now Obama has received such favorable press from the MSM that many Americans are disgusted and hyperbolic. If the press would just do there job, the discourse would improve.

No just since Bill Clinton.

Reagan could reach across the isle and get Democrats to not only work with him but to vote for him in large numbers! That is where the term Blue Dog Democrat came from. He won 2 landslide elections and in one carried 49 states!

It's been since 2000 by my recollection. But we have Reagan to thank for the '11th Commandment'. I'm sure he had no idea that his successors would twist that into 'thou shalt never work with a Democrat'. That's kinda where it all started. But Newt Gingrich took it a step further with the Neocon movement during the Clinton administration. Shortly thereafter the Bush administration began their 'if you aren't for us you're against us' crap, and was all downhill from there, culminating in the complete obstructionism we see today.

I honestly don't see how anyone can argue that it hasn't. You turn on the cable news channels and you see the same thing, no matter what station you watch. You see people with their talking points, their images on the screen in boxes like the Brady Bunch, denouncing anyone and everyone on the other end of the political spectrum. It's even worse on the radio, and it's all so useless.

Political discourse has always been around..It is more apparent now since we have cable opinion/entertainment networks and a lot of social media.

Yes, and it gets worse every day. Political discourse has been replaced by mean-spirited personal attacks.

No it was still civil at that time but began to go down hill during the first Bush Presidency but got worse during the Clinton administration.

Both sides were at fault on this.

it started to go down hill after Reagan wiped the floor with Walter Mondale..2 straight election blowout losses was unacceptable to Kennedy..

Biff is an idiot. The Dems are hateful and were hateful toward Reagan.

What was Obama'a profession, a community agitator.