Posted on 06/06/2004 9:01:42 AM PDT by ml/nj
I was at Belmont yesterday. I posted this on a Belmont thread but it more properly belongs on a Reagan thread:
They put a picture of President Reagan, with an American flag and a black border, up on the large matrix boards; and I knew. This was followed shortly by an annoucement over the public address system which concluded by requesting that everyone rise for a minute of silence. Though it did get pretty quiet, there never was complete silence but you could hear quite a few people shushing during the minute. I watched the flag for a short time to see whether it would be lowered immediately, but it was not. My group of six began to speak a bit about President Reagan. One of my daugther's friends observed that Reagan was President when she was born and her parents have a congratulatory note from him to them regarding her birth. The next time I noticed the flag, it was at half-staff.
I guess I will always remember this. Reagan was my President more than any of the others, but I started thinking about the deaths of other Presidents and what I remember.
Truman: Nothing really. He died when I was old enough to know but he wasn't that important a presence in my life that I remember anything.
Eisenhower: Ike was really the first President I knew and cared about. I remember where I was quite clearly. I was driving to my barber in Hartford when I heard the news on my car radio.
Kennedy: Everything!
Johnson: Surprisingly, absolutely nothing.
Nixon: I don't really remember when I first heard about Nixon's death. I just looked to see when it actually occurred. My family was flying across the country that day, and I probably learned about it when I arrived in California. But what I do remember quite clearly is Nixon's funeral. I was in Palm Springs listening by the hotel pool while my wife and daughter went shopping for a prom dress. Billy Graham spoke, and so did others who knew Nixon well. One who knew Nixon hardly at all also spoke. His words seemed more touching than the others, and probably didn't believe a word of what he said. That was President Clinton.
And now Reagan: As I said I don't think I will forget Belmont. We'll see about the funeral. I know I'll be paying attention.
ML/NJ
Bump.
bump
Since the news of President Reagans death broke before the NBC show started at 530 it was hard to tell if they mentioned it on the show since by then I was flipping back and forth from stations. I did find it bizarre that NBC went back to Arena football before the Stakes. I can understand still broadcasting the Stakes but arena football???
I did notice today that both Pataki and Guiliani were interviewed on Reagans passing at Belmont.
Just watching the Fox News live report as the hearse procession with full police escourt drove along, and then the crowds gathering in front of the funeral home was so poignant. A giant had just passed on, and it was a time to stand and salute.
I was at a friends house that had NBC on...they mentioned Iran/Contra in the opening 'salvo'...
Later, at home, with access to Fox News I got to hear a much more favorable review of the man and his life.
He's the first president that I was able to vote for and did so twice!!
So much bashing from the "left" at the time...as is the case today as well. Have you noticed that when the "R's" have a great leader the "L's" scream the loudest.
A very sad day for our nation, but I am relieved to know that his suffering has ended and that he will be remembered always!! A truly great American.
You guess it: http://www.FreeRepublic.com/forum/a38c5c579700f.htm#29
But I did notice something about last weekend when the World War II Memorial was dedicated. Last weekend there were five former Presidents -- Gerald R. Ford, Ronald W. Reagan, James E. Carter, George H.W. Bush, and William J. Clinton. Of those five, two were elderly and ill (Ford and Reagan), two were elderly and in reasonably good health (Carter and Bush), and one is young and in relatively robust health (Clinton). Three of them should have been at the dedication, but only two showed up.
Who was Missing In Action? None, other than Jimmy Carter, the worst president of the Twentieth Century (if not of all time) and the worst former President of all time.
Where was Jimmy Carter? He was metaphysically performing a Billy Carter by urinating on the World War II Memorial dedication by being down in South America looking a signatures on a petition to oust some leader of some banana republic. But then we know he still thinks he is the arbiter of U.S. foreign policy.
Where was Jimmy Carter yesterday? He was in Groton, Connecticut (with his wife Rosalyn and his crackpot daughter Amy) at the dedication of a Los Angeles class submarine, the USS Jimmy Carter. (What were the admirals in the Washington smoking the day they made that decisions!)
Former President Ronald Wilson Reagan died yesterday. What did Jimmy "I'm Afraid of the Rabbit" Carter, president of the malaise and the worst economy since the Great Depression have to say? Apparently, he said nothing.
I do not understand why the liberals hold this clown up as an icon.
For the record, his three sons were not in Groton. I don't know if they weren't there because they are just like Jimmy and Rosalyn or because they realized dedicating a submarine to the former President who did more to undermine the U.S. military than any Premier of the former Soviet Union was unseemly.
I suppose better a submarine than an aircraft carrier.
My post on this is on another thread which addresses the Carter reaction.
ML/NJ
Reagan 2004. Even at room temperature, he's the best choice.
"Reagan 2004. Even at room temperature, he's the best choice."
Why do you keep posting this on every thread?
"Reagan 2004. Even at room temperature, he's the best choice."
Why do you keep posting this on every thread?
I heard that the officers on the Jimmy Carter have been issued cardigans. (This is second hand info and may not be totally accurate)
If that's not true, it sure should be. Free peanuts as well.
I wish there were some way to get a hook around that guy's neck and get him off the stage. It's long-since past time for him to disappear. Clinton too, for that matter.
At least Bush the elder, Reagan, and Ford all conducted themselves with discretion after leaving office. Same for Johnson, Eisenhower, and Truman.
Yes, better a submarine than an aircraft carrier, but naming anything other than a public toilet after Jimmy Carter is a travesty.
I also have some recollections of the death of Herbert Hoover (1965?). I remember thinking how strange it was that the same people who said all kinds of terrible things about him while he was alive (mainly because of the Great Depression) were now praising him in death.. Next was Eisenhower, then Truman, Johnson, and ten years ago, Richard Nixon.
Yes, and getting worse by the day. Carter is a true, deep Leftist ideologue. He was awarded that sorry excuse for an award, the Nobel, only because Euro-Leftists thought it was a way to slap GWB.
But Carter, for all his pretentions of piety, is a lousy human being, a lousy American, and a disgrace to the presidency. He can't hold a candle to the giant who just passed. So who needs any words from Carter. They wouldn't be sincere anyway.
I was there. I thought it was very quiet from where I was sitting.
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