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What made Reagan remarkable
Oak Lawn (IL) Reporter ^ | 6/10/04 | Michael M. Bates

Posted on 06/07/2004 4:18:55 PM PDT by Mike Bates

Ronald Reagan’s passing was poignant. At the same time, there’s an unquestionable relief that the man’s anguish, and that of his wife, have finally ended.

Almost a decade ago, he announced in a handwritten note that he was afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease. He wrote then of how he wished he could spare Nancy the pain he knew she would endure in coming years.

Commentary on Mr. Reagan and his presidency has been surprisingly positive. Naturally, there have been a few malcontents who’ve voiced their malice toward him. Considering the level of enmity he generated while in office, however, it’s been pleasantly subdued.

Much time has been devoted to his accomplishments. This is only fitting. He knew an Evil Empire when he saw one and arguably played the major role in its collapse.

President Reagan’s predecessor claimed we Americans suffered from a crisis of confidence. We were purportedly in the depths of a national malaise. It took time to work, but Dr. Reagan prescribed the medicine to treat that malady.

Here was a president who actually did more than just posture about the desirability of cutting taxes. Inflation, raging at 12 percent under Jimmy Carter, and soaring interest rates were finally brought under control. Millions of new jobs added to the economic boom.

Not a bad record for someone who was widely considered an "amiable dunce," an appellation assigned him by Clark Clifford. Mr. Clifford, advisor and confidant to Presidents Truman, Kennedy, Johnson and Carter, later displayed his own intellectual acumen by being indicted for fraud, conspiracy and taking bribes.

At any rate, he was not alone in indicating, both on and off the record, how dim-witted he thought Ronald Reagan was. Possibly those who made this observation did so because he so often seemed uninterested in details.

Rather, he preferred to look at the big picture and take a long-term view. He usually spoke to the American public about principles, not specifics.

Mr. Reagan knew who he was and in what he believed. He was comfortable with that. He felt no need to mollify people who held his views in contempt.

This isn’t to say that he was unable to compromise. He did, frequently, and much to the consternation of his fellow conservatives.

With only a slim Republican majority in the Senate for part of his time in office, and a Democratic-controlled House for his full term, there was only so much the President could achieve. Unhappily, reversing the trend of burgeoning government wasn’t a legacy of the Reagan Revolution.

So he compromised. He didn’t capitulate. And he shrugged off the harsh disapproval of political opponents.

Peggy Noonan’s enjoyable book, "When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan," includes a pertinent anecdote from former Education Secretary Bill Bennett. Recently appointed by President Reagan to his post, he had recurrently been getting his brains kicked in by the press.

So he went to a Cabinet meeting and saw a folder marked BENNETT. It was the last item to be discussed.

"And the president — I was pretty isolated at this point and the president started to read aloud just the headlines. ‘BENNETT, A DUNCE IN THE CLASSROOM,’ ‘BENNETT, THE JAMES WATT OF THE SECOND TERM,’ ‘BENNETT MUST BE FIRED.’

"And I was sinking farther and farther in my seat as the president read aloud. And my colleagues were drawing farther away. Reagan put the last clipping in and folded it up and he said, ‘Now, that’s Bill Bennett’s first three weeks in office. What’s wrong with the rest of you?’"

There is, or at least there used to be, a common belief that any American can grow up to be president. Ronald Reagan gave reason to believe that. He was born poor, the son of an alcoholic. His family had no connections. He came from a small town that most people had never even heard of.

Yet he managed to be elected president and to win re-election with 49 states. He became the most powerful man on earth. I think one of the reasons for this success was his irrepressible optimism.

There were several sources for the optimism: A belief in God, a trust in the innate benevolence of humanity, and a confidence that ultimately good will triumph over evil.

Even in his announcement about his illness, he finished with a tone of optimism:

"I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead."

The bright dawn is in no small part due to Ronald Reagan. May God bless his soul.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: bennett; conservatism; intelligence; optimism; reagan; ronaldreagan
Rest In Peace, Mr. President.
1 posted on 06/07/2004 4:18:56 PM PDT by Mike Bates
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To: Mike Bates
Thanks for posting this. Yes, rest in peace, President Reagan...


2 posted on 06/07/2004 4:23:06 PM PDT by IPWGOP (I'm Linda Eddy, and I approved this message... 'tooning the truth!)
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To: IPWGOP

A great tribute to him. Thanks.


3 posted on 06/07/2004 4:45:46 PM PDT by Mike Bates (Irish Alzheimer's victim: I only remember the grudges.)
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To: Mike Bates
"belief in God, a trust in the innate benevolence of humanity, and a confidence that ultimately good will triumph over evil. "

Those were the bases that made him remarkable.
From the thread on the wildfires threatening his ranch right nowas he passed away :
Why was the original version of the proclamation of the apostasy of the Catholic Church, in late Ocotber 1996, in French and not in English ?
By 1996 the large majority of Western Europe was already apostate. In fact that was the year when in England the Friday attendance in mosques became larger than the Sunday attendance in churches.
No wonder that there were hardly any reactions to the fact that a Pope proclaimed for the first time to be an apostate.
But in America the situation was different. One of the reasons for that gap were the two presidencies of Ronald Reagan.
That's why the the original version of the proclamation of the apostasy of the Catholic Church, in late Ocotber 1996, was in French and not in English. To allow the trick of mistranslation, as mentioned above.

The Bilderberger knew that the legacy of Ronald Reagan needed to be destroyed as soon as possible, since they were in a race against time. That's because, for the last phase of the final showdown, they required citizens reduced to the condition of zombies, having lost all the capacity of seeing the line between good and evil. Reminder : the last phase would start in the beggining of October of 1998, with the first ultimatum to Yugoslavia to accept occupation by NATO.
Yes, americans had to be reduced to the same condition of mental slavery as Europeans. For that the fundamental christian values (God, family, truth, life) had to be destroyed. The fundamental values of the constitution had to be revoked. Americans had to be physically terrorised and disarmed.
The Bilderberger found the perfect team for the job : the Clintons. The ultimate satanic plan of the nineties could start to be implemented.
4 posted on 06/07/2004 4:49:49 PM PDT by Truth666
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To: Mike Bates

He was real and sincere.


5 posted on 06/07/2004 4:54:48 PM PDT by freekitty
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To: freekitty

Yes he was.


6 posted on 06/08/2004 5:01:39 AM PDT by Mike Bates (Irish Alzheimer's victim: I only remember the grudges.)
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To: Truth666
From the thread on the wildfires threatening his ranch right nowas he passed away : Why was the original version of the proclamation of the apostasy of the Catholic Church, in late Ocotber 1996, in French and not in English ?

Think I'm missing something here.

7 posted on 06/08/2004 8:52:37 AM PDT by Mike Bates (Irish Alzheimer's victim: I only remember the grudges.)
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To: Mike Bates

There are others who will claim it, but Ronald Reagan was the one man truly was blessed with Talent on Loan from God. And he was able to cross the aisle many times with that talent to get his agenda moved forward.


8 posted on 06/08/2004 8:56:38 AM PDT by joesbucks
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To: Mike Bates
June 5, 2004: Brushfire Threatens Structures in Santa Barbara County - 2 refineries and Reagan Ranch threatened
9 posted on 06/08/2004 9:05:01 AM PDT by Truth666
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To: joesbucks
blessed with Talent on Loan from God.

I just know I've heard that phrase somewhere before.

10 posted on 06/08/2004 9:05:27 AM PDT by Mike Bates (Irish Alzheimer's victim: I only remember the grudges.)
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