"In truth, Ronald Reagan was never as popular as he is being presented to be with Americans. As president, [he] was never even as popular as Bill Clinton during the period of Clinton's impeachment." -- Slate Magazine's Eric Alterman, who apparently has started smoking crack.

Newsmax sets Alterman straight, however, not that he's really listening:

Clinton, for instance, never won more than 49 percent of the vote, managing that feat in 1996. And he probably never would have been president at all without Ross Perot acting as a Republican spoiler in 1992, when Clinton squeaked in with just 43 percent of the vote.

Reagan, on the other hand, trounced his two Democratic opponents in 44- and 49-state landslides.

In fact, no president in U.S. history has ever gotten more votes than Reagan did in 1984, despite the fact that the nation's population has grown by more than 30 million in the last 20 years.

These are the same people that argued Bush shouldn't be president because he didn't get 50% or more of the "popular vote". (As if we've ever elected presidents that way.) Bush can't push his agenda because there's no mandate from the voters, they cried. Nevermind that he got more votes than Clinton.

The claim that Clinton was more popular is just silly. But I'm glad he said it, because this slam is just classic.