Free Republic

Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th President of the United States and out of office for twenty years, still has the landslide support of the American people that helped him win two historic terms in the 1980s.An overlooked poll released last week by Public Policy Polling of over 1200 registered voters showed the Republican icon Reagan was the most popular of the five most recent presidents with 41 percent, impeached Democrat Bill Clinton was a distant second at 27 percent.The current occupant of the Oval Office, Barack Obama, came in third with 22 percent, thanks to a splintering of support from African-Americans....

A recent New York Sun editorial makes the observation that the essence of Sarah Palin's world view — which the editor has dubbed "Palinism" — is emerging: "...and it is far more substantive than her detractors suggest or than we gained a glimpse of during the campaign. She has been, in a straightforward way, stepping up on certain issues that her fellow Republicans would do well to emulate."The 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate's statement on Israel is one example cited in the editorial: "It provides a glimpse of a leader who would respect Israel’s right to establish, democratically, its own...

In the mid-1980s liberals Ronnie Dugger of the Texas Observer and Joe Cuomo produced a biased documentary, "Ronald Reagan and the Prophecy of Armageddon," which was broadcast on 175 public radio stations. Another leftist writer, Rayelan Allan, teamed up with Barbara Honegger, a bit player in the Justice Department who made a public show of attacking President Reagan and quitting her job. While Dugger and Cuomo were concentrating on public radio stations, Allan and Honegger were flooding the pages of newspapers and magazines with their similar propaganda. What was the message these four characters were sending to the nation? It...

You've loaded up your iPhone with Yelp for restaurants and Shazam for music. Now get ready to download a dose of "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" from a popular political figure of the past: the Gipper. The Ronald Reagan iPhone app, introduced this week, promises to "deliver Ronald Reagan right to your fingertips," offering the speeches, sayings and photos of the "Great Communicator" to a potentially wider and younger audience, thanks to the popular mobile technology. The efforts of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley (Ventura County) mean that five years after his death, Reagan's appearance on...

On MLB network, 12 pm today: The 1989 All Star Game (July 11, 1989) President Reagan joins Vin Scully in the broadcast booth.

On Turner Classic Movies today, 12 pm: Ronald Reagan in "The Girl From Jones Beach" 1949 Brief Synopsis: An artist discovers a real-life version of the perfect woman he's been drawing for years. http://www.tcm.com

John Bolton has referred to President Obama as America's first post-American President. By this he means that instead of pursuing America's interests in relation to the rest of the world, President Obama is pursuing the rest of the world's interests in relation to America. In other words, Obama is imposing on America the policies the rest of the world would like to see stuffed down our throats. This is why it seems like we are losing our country piece by piece, and that America is in an accelerating downward spiral. To those who are paying attention, and not just blindly...

I was fortunate enough to live in a city that was on the list of stops for Governor Palin’s book tour. Of all the cities and areas in upstate NY, I didn’t expect it to be mine! However as an organizer for 2012 Draft Sarah Committee, I was happy that I could potentially get my book signed and meet the governor. I ended up walking out with a signed copy of ‘Going Rogue,’ a signed t-shirt (that my awesome girlfriend made for me) and an awesome experience under my belt! There were people from all walks of life. Some were...

ReGaining Reagan Sarah Carlsruh, November 23, 2009 Today, there are “far too many people saying ‘let’s move beyond Reagan,’” lamented Steve Hayward, author of The Age of Reagan and keynote speaker at Accuracy in Academia’s November 5th Author’s Night. Reagan stuck to an unwavering and enduring set of ideals. Yet, liberals are trying to present a distorted picture of Reagan and make him into a proto-liberal, said Hayward. Some liberals embrace the 2nd Term Reagan as a man of peace, call his foreign policy “pretty good” while condemning the Reagan of domestic policy. In contrast, Hayward insisted that “it was...

As Sarah Palin embarks on a publicity tour for her book, conservative commentators have again taken to likening the former Alaska governor to the GOP’s revered conservative icon Ronald Reagan. Palin, like Reagan, brands herself as an articulate conservative. Both Palin and Reagan were governors from Western states, but the similarities end there. When Reagan entered the White House, he had successfully completed two terms as governor of California and had run for president against President Ford. Palin chose not to complete her first time as governor. Reagan’s Republicanism was that of the big tent—the kind where contrasting opinions, even...

The 19th century American writer Henry Adams said the descent of American presidents from George Washington to Ulysses S. Grant was enough to discredit the theory of evolution. The same could be said of the pantheon of conservative political heroes, which in the last half-century has gone from Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan to Sarah Palin. That refutation may be agreeable to Palin, who doesn't put much stock in Darwin anyway. You can confirm all this by looking at what the three wrote. Goldwater, the 1964 Republican presidential nominee, made his reputation four years earlier with an eloquent and intellectually...

Steve Hayward Discusses Reagan (Video) Bethany Stotts, November 17, 2009 Our video of Steven Hayward’s Author’s Night presentation on Ronald Reagan is now up on YouTube. Visit our channel or sit back and enjoy the embedded videos of his speech....

There We Go Again Sarah Carlsruh, November 17, 2009 Unlike the current Republican Party, which does not “know what it stands for,” former President Ronald Reagan’s ideals encompassed the Republican party, claimed Craig Shirley, author of Rendezvous with Destiny: Ronald Reagan and the Campaign That Changed America. This transformed the Republican Party into a conservative party and made the conservativism of Reagan’s day into the vehicle of change, claimed Shirley Unfortunately, America has no such “father figure today” Shirley said when he introduced his book at The Heritage Foundation’s conservative Blogger’s Briefing on November 10th. In response to critics suggesting...

During the election cycle, and those heady first days of Barack Obama’s presidency. Barack Obama sold himself, depending on the audience, as Abe Lincoln, FDR, JFK, and the Great Ronald Reagan. Of course, it was all smoke in mirrors, as the President Obama most resembles is Jimmy Carter......

Supporters of the House health care bill who tout the American Medical Association's endorsement fail to mention that the AMA no longer represents the majority of American doctors or that it frequently backs left-wing policy proposals. There was a brief flash of the old AMA earlier this week when the organization's House of Delegates reconsidered the resolution endorsing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's monstrosity, H.R. 3962. Unfortunately, the resolution was voted down by a wide margin. As a result, the AMA continues to back the health care legislation passed in the House last weekend. Best known for advocating against health care...

It’s bad enough that President Obama could not be bothered to attend the celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. But Hillary Clinton’s refusal to even acknowledge the role played by Ronald Reagan in the Wall’s demise as well as the downfall of Communism was highly insulting towards one of the greatest figures of our time, and reeked of petty and partisan mean-spiritedness. The Secretary of State’s remarks yesterday in Berlin completely erased from history the huge contribution played not only by President Reagan but also by the United States in confronting the Soviet Empire....

On November 9, 2009, the world will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Naturally, in Germany, there will be commemorations of the event, and the collapse of Communism in Europe. "snip" And given all of this, it is safe to say that Barack Obama will attend the 20th anniversary celebration of the fall of the Wall, right? Wrong. While Candidate Barack Obama was perfectly willing to go to Germany during the 2008 Presidential campaign, President Barack Obama has chosen to skip the 20th anniversary celebrations altogether. Needless to say, this has not elicited much outrage...

Not many speeches are mighty deeds. When Ronald Reagan stood in front of the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate on June 12, 1987, he performed a mighty deed by giving the speech he gave. Our friend Peter Robinson was the man who wrote the speech. He tells the story behind the speech in his memoir How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life. On the occasion of its twentieth anniversary, Peter recalled the events leading to the speech for Power Line readers in a form condensed from his book. As we celebrate the fall of the Wall today, we remember: "In...

President Ronald Reagan's demand that the Berlin Wall be torn down became a reality. Video with his actual words.

Twenty years ago, the ultimate symbol of the division between freedom and tyranny was torn down. The Berlin Wall was constructed for one purpose: to prevent the escape of East Germans to the freedom of the West. The Wall’s cold, gray façade was a stark reminder of the economic and political way of life across the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence in Eastern Europe. Ronald Reagan never stopped regarding the Berlin Wall as an affront to human freedom. When so many other American leaders and opinion makers had come to accept its presence as inevitable and permanent, Reagan still hammered...

The Cold War was the original war of ideas. When Mr. Reagan used the term "Evil Empire" in 1983, his detractors laughed at his old-fashioned notions of moral judgment. When he stood at the Brandenburg Gate in 1987 and called on Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall," his critics sighed, "There he goes again."

Years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev were sitting in a backyard near Stanford, where Shultz was teaching. The two men discussed what they thought was the turning point in ending the Cold War. Gorbachev said it was two leaders — he and President Ronald Reagan — sitting in a room together, talking. Shultz said it was Reagan’s decision to show military might in 1983 by sending missiles to West Germany. “The strength we put on display was never used,” Shultz said. “Strength works hand in...

This past weekend, a small brouhaha erupted over a Halloween display on Capitol Hill. The display, in essence, mocked the death of the Republican Party and the conservative movement... Though distasteful, the display makes a point that has become increasingly common in American political discourse, that the Republican Party and American conservatism are dead... Of course, this is oversimplification and hyperbole. Conservatism is not dead, just civil conservatism. You can still hear some semblance of conservatism in the streets when Tea Partiers march, still see it on the television when you watch Fox News. In ever more hysterical tones, conservatism...

Cold War: The White House has announced our absence at ceremonies marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Meanwhile, Russia has been practicing a nuclear invasion of an abandoned Poland. The Berlin Wall has been a famous backdrop for American presidents sounding the battle cry of liberty in the struggle against tyranny. It was there that John F. Kennedy expressed our solidarity with the encircled residents of that outpost of freedom with his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner." And it was there that Ronald Reagan, with a defiant "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall," voiced our...

Here is video of Rush Limbaugh commenting on excerpts from Ronald Reagan's classic "Rendezvous with Destiny - A Time for Choosing" speech on October 27,1964 - a speech delivered by Reagan 45 years ago. Below is video of Reagan's entire speech . . . (VIDEO)

Thank you very much. Thank you and good evening. The sponsor has been identified, but unlike most television programs, the performer hasn't been provided with a script. As a matter of fact, I have been permitted to choose my own ideas regarding the choice that we face in the next few weeks. I have spent most of my life as a Democrat. I recently have seen fit to follow another course. I believe that the issues confronting us cross party lines. Now, one side in this campaign has been telling us that the issues of this election are the maintenance...

Yesterday was the 45th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s “A time for Choosing” speech made in support of Barry Goldwater. The power of the speech launched Mr. Reagan’s political career. The wisdom and power of his words have stood the time of time. Here are some selected quotes. Reagan warned that trading freedom for security was a downward course saying, “You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left orright. Well I’d like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There’s only an up or down: man’s old — old-aged dream, the...

Craig Shirley, a prominent conservative consultant and close ally of Ronald Reagan, has just written a superb insider's account of Reagan's return from the political wilderness in 1980. Entitled "Rendezvous with Destiny," it is full of anecdotes that have never been published before. Here is Shirley's account of the pivotal moment in the bitter GOP presidential primary battle between Reagan and former Texas congressman and CIA director George H.W. Bush. To order the book, click here. Rendezvous with Destiny.bmp The thirty-five days between the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary during the 1980 presidential campaign were the most important...

If you have been a regular viewer of CNN Headline News' "The Joy Behar Show," you've probably seen the nightly cheap shots at conservatives, usually in the form of jabs at Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh. But on Behar's Oct. 20 program, the HLN host used a panel discussion with liberal flamethrower/comedian Janeane Garofalo and S.E. Cupp, conservative author of "Why You're Wrong About the Right" to attack former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. "But [Palin's] favorability, popularity rates are going down," Behar said. "And is it possible her 15 minutes are up?"

The Original Comeback Kid by: Malcolm A. Kline, October 08, 2009 American presidents of both parties, all too often, need to be appreciated at a distance. Of the 20th Century chief executives, perhaps only Ronald Reagan holds up well under scrutiny. Truly, the more you know about him, the more there is to like. Even a few academics are starting to appreciate him. “Political scientist Andrew Busch conducted a content analysis of major presidential speeches from Lyndon Johnson through Reagan and found that Reagan cited the Founders three to four times as often as his four predecessors,” Steven F. Hayward...

President Obama's "safe schools" czar Kevin Jennings addressed his former organization the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network in Iowa in 2000. In this audio clip, he talks about Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential win and references it back to a Karl Marx quote.

The Libertarian Party’s chairman said that the Republican Party’s hero “was not serious about cutting the size of government.” I receive the Libertarian Party’s “Monday message” each week, as a byproduct of the brief period before the 2008 election when I wasn’t sure if I could bring myself to vote for John McCain…until I realized that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” (That must be what McCain meant when he began every other sentence with “My friends…”) I couldn’t let Virginia turn blue and asphyxiate (though of course, it did anyway,) so I gave up on the Libertarians...

Once again a familiar scenario is being played out. Memories fade as to how bad liberal governance can be, and a liberal Democrat is elected president. Once in office, the failure of policies based on what liberals would like the world to be (instead of what experience has shown) becomes obvious, and dissatisfaction with this nonsense rises. In Obama's case we have the added specter of his obvious hatred for his own country and his desire to right imagined wrongs to add to the mix. Please, please, conservatives, I beg of you. Put your energy into reshaping the Republican Party...

Security: An Iranian mullah once said "a world without America and Zionism" was a real possibility. Our sellout of Eastern Europe and missile defense brings that dream closer to reality. It would take only one warhead."Is it possible for us to witness a world without America and Zionism?" Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked at a "World Without Zionism" conference in Tehran in 2005. "But you had best know that this slogan and this goal are attainable, and surely can be achieved." He added that Iran had a strategic "war preparation plan" for what it called "the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization." A...

National Security: The proposed missile defense system for Europe may be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Russia. Is Ronald Reagan's "We win, they lose" now "Let's make a deal"?When President Reagan began the Strategic Defense Initiative in 1983, the only ones who took it seriously were the Soviets. Their global ambitions depended on an America inhibited and even intimidated by the threat of nuclear war. They still do. Just ask Georgia. When Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev met Reagan in Reykjavik, Iceland, in October 1986, he hoped Reagan would be willing to trade SDI away in exchange for...

Being “Like Ronald Reagan” The Only Positive Political Description “Progressive” is becoming more of a dirty word, but all political labels – except “being like Ronald Reagan” – are falling into disfavor with many U.S. voters, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. “Liberal” is still the worst and remains the only political description that is viewed more negatively than positively. Being like Reagan is still the most positive thing you can say about a candidate. So says the latest Rasmussen polling on the subject.

On March 28, 1985, President Ronald Reagan made his first of two visits to the NYSE to salute the robust American expansion, as well as the central role of the New York Stock Exchange as the nerve center of entrepreneurial capitalism. President Reagan was the first sitting U.S. president to visit the NYSE. At 9:53 a.m. that morning, President Reagan—amid a roaring ovation—addressed the Exchange community from the bell podium. Flanked by his chief of staff, Donald T. Regan and NYSE chairman and CEO John J. Phelan, Jr., President Reagan proclaimed: “We’re bullish on the American Economy. The American Economy...

Has any mainstream media outlet mentioned the Patrick Swayze movie that made moonbats nuts during the Reagan era? A Politically Incorrect Vision of Guerilla War by John Milius When Hollywood decides to make a “controversial” film, it is usually about a subject or theme that the Hollywood community, which tends to be to the left of the political spectrum, agrees on and the movie watching audience does not. In 1984, director John Milius, fresh from successful films like The Wind and the Lion and Conan the Barbarian, decided to create controversy in a different way. He made Red Dawn, a...

There is a poll on facebook asking who is the best President of the last 40 years...Reagan is currently winning at 67% but Bill Clinton is gaining at 22%. I voted for Reagan and already one of my liberal friends is chastising me and complaining about trickle down economics..the crazy thing is..she is a stock broker. I just don't understand the mental disease sometimes....anyway, if you have facebook...vote http://apps.facebook.com/realpolls/m/mcw5o9ukb

The Coda to In the Face of Evil: Reagan's War in Word and Deed. 9/11/01 Never Forget, Never Surrender

It has been eight years since the United States suffered the worst attack on our soil since Pearl Harbor. As we look back, we should take stock of what has transpired since then. We have sent our nation's soldiers into battlefields far from home to defend us. These brave men and women live in treacherous conditions, facing improvised roadside bombs, suicide bombers and other attacks. Yet they fight on in their mission to defend the United States and all of us without complaint. etc..

Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session With Area Junior High School Students November 14, 1988 The President. You know, this is a real treat for me -- having you here and to have, in a little while, the chance to answer some of your questions. Let me also offer a special hello to those of you who are watching on C-SPAN and -- or the Instructional Television Network. Thank you for inviting us into your home or your school today. This marks the beginning of American Education Week, and I'm particularly pleased to be talking to American students in this, the first in...

What a difference a political philosophy makes when it comes to funeral coverage. Have you heard a word of complaint from the network anchors that perhaps television is "overcovering" the funeral of Ted Kennedy? Of course not. However, after President Ronald Reagan passed away in 2004, both Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather grumbled aloud about how his funeral was being "overcovered" despite the massive turnout of citizens when he was lain in state in the Capitol Rotunda. The difference between Kennedy and Reagan, of course, was their political philosphies which explains the vastly different reactions to their funeral coverage. So...

Picking his way through the Soviet archives that Boris Yeltsin had just thrown open, in 1991 Tim Sebastian, a reporter for the London Times, came across an arresting memorandum. Composed in 1983 by Victor Chebrikov, the top man at the KGB, the memorandum was addressed to Yuri Andropov, the top man in the entire USSR. The subject: Sen. Edward Kennedy. "On 9-10 May of this year," the May 14 memorandum explained, "Sen. Edward Kennedy's close friend and trusted confidant [John] Tunney was in Moscow." (Tunney was Kennedy's law school roommate and a former Democratic senator from California.) "The senator charged...

I was listening to Howie Carr’s show yesterday afternoon and he featured an “interview” he had with Dutch concerning the government’s involvement in health care and the slow, but methodical implementation of a socialist structure into our culture. Here’s the audio from Carr, and Reagan’s full speech from 1961. Originally published at RVO on Aug. 14, but pushed back up Aug. 27. Worth 15 minutes of your time this weekend. Please, click on the audio and ensure your speakers are on. First, Carr’s interview with Reagan from his show yesterday afternoon.

Patrick S. Adams, from his Townhall.com Blog, posted a very piece putting the liberals in there place and describing how Ronald Reagan would be very proud: If it had been written from the Governor's desk, an ethics violation would have been filed because she used her office to advance her national agenda. If it had been said during a Katie Couric interview, it would have been another "I can see Russia from my house" joke. If it had been said at a campaign rally, it would have been glossed over or not reported. But because she said it from her...

Paul Benedict (Libertarian), of NolanChart.com, wrote a very nice piece describing Governor Palin and Governor Reagan. Both were ridiculed and belittled by the press, in a very similar manner, on there way to The White House. Most of America, via the health care debate, has now been treated to a taste of the derision that Governor Palin has experienced on a daily basis. The malicious slander sent their way is a badge of honor. Consider, for example, both Governor Palin and President Reagan. Most of America, via the health care debate, has now been treated to a taste of the...

CLICK HERE

Here is audio of Ronald Reagan in virtual prophetic voice speaking against "Socialized Medicine," 48 years ago. He was speaking in 1961 and pointed out that Socialism would always be rejected directly by the American people, but that attempts to introduce it into the American bloodstream could come through socialized medicine. Reagan was speaking before the adoption of Medicare, and was warning against the "encroachment" of socialism through medical care. He explains that Social Security was always intended to be a safety net, not the primary livelihood of citizens replacing personal savings and incomes. Of course, Medicare was adopted during...

Audio from the 1961 Operation Coffee Cup Campaign against Socialized Medicine as proposed by the Democrats, then a private citizen Ronald Reagan Speaks out against socialized medicine. There is no video because this was an LP sent out by the American Medical Association. Remember LP's?