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As the outrage train over Lena Dunham's Obama ad rolls on, Eric Kleefeld at Talking Points Memo dug up something that might confuse disgusted conservatives: Ronald Reagan also made a voting as first sexual experience joke, and his was dirtier. The Washington Post reported in November 1980 that Reagan, appearing at a "working class bar" in New Jersey, used a sexual metaphor in an attempt to help longtime Democrats get over any hesitations they might have of switching over to the Republican Party: "I know what it’s like to pull the Republican lever for the first time, because I used to be a Democrat myself, and I can tell you it only hurts for a minute and then it feels just great." Now we've concluded that using sex metaphors for voting are nothing new. The Russians did it, the Libertarians over at Reason say they did it, and now we know even conservative heroes did it.

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