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I was an engineering graduate student at Princeton U on March 30, 1981 when Reagan was shot. A couple days later, I went to the weekly "wine and cheese" reception with faculty and saw my advisor. I remarked, seriously, "Isn't it terrible about the President?" Now I was still a Democrat back then, I hadn't voted for Reagan, but as a starry-eyed 22-year old I most certainly didn't want to wish him, or anyone, dead.

Not so my advisor and his staff. One of them, a Jewish woman whose family had survived the Holocaust, said, "Are you kidding? I'm sorry the gunman missed! Just look at what Reagan will do to the budget, to the environment."

All the other faculty members in that gathering just nodded. None of them said, "Now, now, you don't really mean that." They were all august members of an Ivy League faculty, wearing their tweed jackets with patches on the sleeves and knit ties. None of them displayed the essential humanity and decency which one might have expected of them.

That was the moment when my eyes opened. That was the moment I realized that Democrats are not nicer or more moral than Republicans. It took another year, but I registered as a Republican the following year and have never voted for a Democrat again.

1 posted on 01/14/2018 4:54:52 PM PST by tom h
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To: tom h
At my place of business, nobody cheered. I got the news from a Russian émigré who was almost in tears. "They didn't waste any time," he said. I knew who "they" were in his mind.
27 posted on 01/14/2018 5:47:41 PM PST by Publius ("Who is John Galt?" by Billthedrill and Publius available at Amazon)
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To: tom h
They thereby, probably very unwittingly, triggered the Curse God laid out for those who rejoiced when their enemy fell.

I bet if you had somehow tracked all those with that attitude, you'd have found they incurred some serious hassles, devastations, troubles in life.

29 posted on 01/14/2018 6:08:17 PM PST by JockoManning (to cpy/paste if want: http://preview.tinyurl.com/Haiku-For-The-End-Times)
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To: tom h

It’s funny, I frequently get compliments for stellar long term memory going back to when I slept in a crib, but I don’t recall that specific day. I don’t remember what I was doing or anything. I was in the Marine Corps reserve at the time, and was a huge fan of President Reagan. Maybe I just never doubted that he’d pull through.


30 posted on 01/14/2018 6:16:29 PM PST by Riley (The Fourth Estate is the Fifth Column.)
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To: tom h

A “language arts” teacher is the only person I can recall hoping he wouldn’t make it. Everyone else even as Democrat-dominated as the town was, were concerned. But then, those were the now extinct gun-toting flag waving two genders Democrats, not the newfangled suicidal socialist gender-challenged kind.


33 posted on 01/14/2018 6:25:20 PM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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To: tom h

Though I didn’t witness any of what I’m about to say, I’m pretty sure that many liberals did weep when Reagan was shot. Not, not because he was shot. I’m pretty sure that millions of democrats wept or felt sad and angry because Reagan had survived.


34 posted on 01/14/2018 6:28:12 PM PST by adorno
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To: tom h

I had a big excavation job going in New Milford, NJ, with 50 trucks hauling dirt to a landfill in Rockland County, NY.

When on of the chauffeurs started yelling “Reagan has just been shot”, the whole job stopped, all very angry men.

I knocked the job off, sent everyone home, very somber, told everyone to come back in the morning. The next morning it was much happier, the sense of relief was very apparent.


35 posted on 01/14/2018 6:29:47 PM PST by Rumplemeyer (The GOP should stand its ground - and fix Bayonets)
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To: tom h
I’m sorry, I don’t remember anything like the negative experiences you are reporting. I was in high school, everyone around me was subdued, and there was no expression of glee of any kind. (That includes my teachers.)

When the pope was shot there was more shock and condemnation, but absolutely no one took joy in either event.

I am surprised anyone’s experience was so different.

36 posted on 01/14/2018 6:33:20 PM PST by untenured
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To: tom h

Was glad when Bobby Kennedy was shot.


37 posted on 01/14/2018 6:37:25 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: tom h

I was working at a nursing home with a large black staff here in upstate NY. Yep, they cheered.


38 posted on 01/14/2018 6:42:01 PM PST by AbolishCSEU (Amount of "child" support paid is inversely proportionate to mother's actual parenting of children)
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To: tom h

A little over a year ago I visited the Reagan Presidential Library. On display there is the suit he was wearing when he was shot. The bullethole is quite visible.


42 posted on 01/14/2018 7:00:13 PM PST by Ciaphas Cain (Liberalism, as with all else evil, can never create. It can only corrupt.)
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To: tom h
I was in high school in Americus GA, and yes, part of 'President Jimmy Carter's Home Representative Band' (We had a banner saying so).

I remember this guy being the biggest badass I'd ever seen at the time:

Secret Service Agent Robert Wanko. Hope President Trump has someone like him around.

44 posted on 01/14/2018 7:29:25 PM PST by real saxophonist ( YouTube + Twitter + Facebook = YouTwitFace.com)
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To: tom h

Would I cheer if Obola was shot?............Don’t think so, but I wouldn’t be upset either.

Now if he suddenly dies like King Herod Agrippa in Acts 12:23, which, by the example given there, he richly deserves, I would probably cheer since it would obviously be an intervention by God.


45 posted on 01/14/2018 7:48:22 PM PST by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite it's unfashionability)
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To: tom h

Sr. Eileen came running into my 8th grade class saying breathlessly, “Close your books, children; we must pray for the President.”


47 posted on 01/14/2018 8:05:32 PM PST by Oratam
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To: tom h

I was in 8th grade History class on that Monday. Our principal went from classroom to classroom to announce Reagan had been shot. We didn’t have radio or TV in the classroom so our teacher went out and wheeled his pickup truck to the classroom window and cranked up the radio so we could listen to the news. By then it was known that he would survive. Everyone was relieved but quiet and subdued. Later that night the NCAA basketball championship between Indiana and North Carolina aired. During a pre game prayer they showed a cheerleader crying. That whole afternoon and evening was surreal. I can only imagine how our country would have done if we lost President Reagan that day.


51 posted on 01/14/2018 9:25:30 PM PST by GoldwaterCountry (Viva Reagan Revolucion!)
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To: tom h

I was 19. I was sent home from work in with a horrible flu. I remember waking up in a cold med stupor hearing that someone was dead. I believe they were referring to Brady (obviously wrong) but I thought it was the President...my mom came to check on me because I was bawling like a baby. She told me that RR was in the hospital and she was pizzed off that her soaps had been interrupted. I think she voted for Clinton twice.


52 posted on 01/14/2018 10:15:04 PM PST by lovesdogs
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To: tom h

I was a 17 year-old High School Senior living north of San Diego, CA.

I never heard a single “cheer” for Reagan being shot.


54 posted on 01/18/2018 8:50:58 AM PST by Mr.Unique (The government, by its very nature, cannot give except what it first takes.)
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