Ted Cruz's tribute to Ronald Reagan goes hilariously wrong

Ronald Reagan, America's 40th president, died 11 years ago today. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)—who, like every other Republican presidential candidate, wants to be seen as the next Reagan—marked the occasion by tweeting that he missed Reagan and asked his followers to share their favorite memories of the conservative movement's hero.

But while conservatives remember Reagan's presidency fondly, the rest of America remembers the things he did that his disciples would rather forget or mischaracterize. Cruz's tweet offered Reagan's critics the perfect opportunity to sound off with the requisite Twitter snark.

There were, of course, the juvenile tweets from die-hard trolls...

And then some flat-out macabre stuff.

But it's worth remember that as much as Reagan did to promote a conservative vision for America and the world, there are still people on the extreme fringe of the right-wing movement who think he didn't go far enough.

Photo via ctbto/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)