bump
My all time favourite Reagan moment, the one that won my love forever -
And of course, there's the beautiful relationship with Nancy...this was a rare public photo from 1998:
Look at her eyes. Amazing love.
Then of course, President Reagan and Our Maggie!
And the Great Man saying farewell as only he can...
Regards, Ivan
Thanks indy. Would love to add a picture of maggie by the coffin to this thread. But being a technological idiot, I don't know how to do it... Could you do the honours?
I read this at "The Corner" and thought I'd pass it on:
WATCHING THE GIPPER GO BY [KJL]
Dear ...,
I was fortunate enough to be able to attend President Reagan’s funeral procession yesterday as well.
I won't tell you about all the pomp and circumstance, or the sad beauty of a state funeral procession for the death of a beloved president, other than to say that it was like the death of a king. I’ll leave the sweeping descriptions to the media though. The things you won't read about are the many beautiful little moments that took place.
Grown men weeping openly, and young children standing in awe, not quite able to understand whom this President Reagan was, but fully aware of the solemnity of the moment and that something very important was happening.
So many small things happened that I will never forget. Like the ten year old with the too large glasses looking up at the big Marine Corps photographer saying, "You're a reporter? I'm a reporter too. I write for my school newspaper. We're not as big as your paper is though. And I'm not so much a writer as a cartoonist really."
Overhearing the old men who didn't know each other figure out that they’d stayed at the same hotel at the '76 convention when Reagan challenged the incumbent President Ford, and where they heard the concession speech that ignited a movement. The father and his two sons who'd driven straight through the night from Missouri, who simply said, "We had to be here." Or the five year old that instinctively took his baseball cap off as the caisson passed by who looked up at has father and whispered, "Daddy, take your hat off", and his father nodding and smiling at his son through his tears, having been so completely overcome with emotion that he had forgotten to remove it.
The fighter jets buzzing the crowd in the missing man formation. Seeing the first flight group, then the second, then the third, and finally the fourth. And just as they reached Constitution Avenue seeing one of them take off at a 90-degree angle straight up until it was forever gone from sight, a beautiful symbol of Reagan’s entrance into Heaven.
What a beautiful day.
Sincerely,
Jordan Gehrke
http://www.nationalreview.com/thecorner/04_06_06_corner-archive.asp#033586
Its not verbatim but my favorite Reagan quote goes something like:
Its suprising how much you can get done when you dont care who gets the credit.
Ronnie once compared Government to a baby: "It is an alimentary canal with an appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other."
Without a doubt, the absolute best was during the debate when he said "I will not exploit my opponent's youth and inexperience for personal political gain".
"When a California state senator who supported prescribing birth control devices for teenage girls without parental consent charged that 'illegitimate births to teenage mothers have increased alarmingly while Reagan has been in office,' Reagan wrote back, 'Thanks very much...I have never felt so young and virile.'"
A few more:
« A government agency is the nearest thing we’ll ever see on this earth »
Ronald Reagan
“The difference between them (the Democrats) and us (the Republicans) is that we want to check government spending and they want to spend government checks.”
Ronald Reagan
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'"
Ronald Reagan
"I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born."
Ronald Reagan
And a few more:
Honey, I forgot to duck." -to his wife, Nancy, after surviving a 1981 assassination attempt
"I hope you're all Republicans." -speaking to surgeons as he entered the operating room following his assassination attempt
"I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience." -during a 1984 presidential debate with Walter Mondale
"Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his."
"I'm afraid I can't use a mule. I have several hundred up on Capitol Hill." –refusing a gift of a mule
I asked my Mom (an immigrant from Greece) what she thought we should do about our votes. I asked her if we should vote for "blood".
Mom said that voting ideas and ideals as our ancestors had believed in doing was by far the better option.
We both voted for Reagan and I have never looked back since.
/a>I still get goosebumps when I hear him say Tear down this wall!!!!! I will never cast a vote as important as I did back then for his first term!!!
I remember that Mr. Reagan gave a speach in China. He added some controversial comments to the Chinese leaders concerning human rights, which was subsequently purged from the broadcast.
The American journalists asked him to comment on the censorship to which Reagan replied in his gravel voice:
"Well at least they didn't through any rotten tomatos at me."