RonBOY the RINO... REAGAN in name only.
Posted on 06/28/2004 10:59:36 AM PDT by Jenya
The Son Also Rises
Questions for Ronald P. Reagan
Interview by DEBORAH SOLOMON, The New York Times
Now that the country is awash in Reagan nostalgia, some observers are predicting that you will enter politics. Would you like to be president of the United States?
I would be unelectable. I'm an atheist. As we all know, that is something people won't accept.
What would you do if Senator Kerry asked you to be his vice president?
I would question his sanity.
Do you ever go to church?
No. I visit my wife's sangha.
So you sometimes practice Buddhism?
I don't claim anything. But my sympathies would be in that direction. I admire the fact that the central core of Buddhist teaching involves mindfulness and loving kindness and compassion.
Your father has been eulogized as a model of genuineness. But did you see any schism between his public and private selves?
In private, you got what you got in public. He treated everyone the same. He was just a very warm man, and he worked hard to impress upon his children the value of kindness. He was biologically incapable of gossip. There was no smallness in him.
Do you think you were a thorn in his side during his presidency?
No.
But you and Patti were constantly getting into trouble. Didn't she later pose nude for Playboy?
I never really talked to Patti about it. She said that she had done it, and what do you say to your sister who poses in the nude? It's not like you are really itching to see photographs of your sister naked. I mean, it's just something that is not too exciting.
How did your father react when you joined the Joffrey Ballet?
That was fine with him. He wanted us to be happy, and if that meant leaving Yale University as a freshman and studying ballet, his first move was to call Gene Kelly and find out where the best place to study would be.
Do you and your wife, Doria, have children?
No. We have three cats. It's like having children, but there is no tuition involved.
Aren't you working in television these days?
I am a correspondent for MSNBC. They hired me primarily to do election coverage for them. We're not rich. Doria's a clinical psychologist. I mow my own lawn.
Doesn't your mom help you out financially?
Of course not. My father felt that children should make their own way.
How do you account for all the glowing obituaries of him?
I think it was a relief for Americans to look at pictures of something besides men on leashes. If you are going to call yourself a Christian -- and I don't -- then you have to ask yourself a fundamental question, and that is: Whom would Jesus torture? Whom would Jesus drag around on a dog's leash? How can Christians tolerate it? It is unconscionable. It has put our young men and women who are over there, fighting a war that they should not have been asked to fight -- it has put them in greater danger.
Did you vote for Bush in the last election?
No. I did not.
How did your mother feel about being ushered to her seat by President Bush?
Well, he did a better job than Dick Cheney did when he came to the rotunda. I felt so bad. Cheney brought my mother up to the casket, so she could pay her respects. She is in her 80's, and she has glaucoma and has trouble seeing. There were steps, and he left her there. He just stood there, letting her flounder. I don't think he's a mindful human being. That's probably the nicest way I can put it.
How serious is your mother's glaucoma?
I don't know the specifics. She can still see. You may have noticed that she was wearing large glasses at one point.
She seemed very moved by the tributes to your father.
I have to say that flying on Air Force One sort of spoils you for coach on a regular airline. They did all sorts of little things that were very nice for my mother. They put towels with my father's monogram in the bathroom.
Paper towels?
No, cloth! Burgundy terry towels.
Wow. Why can't they run the United States with that kind of efficiency?
That's a good question. One thing that Buddhism teaches you is that every moment is an opportunity to change. And we will have a moment in November to make a big change.
June 27, 2004
The New York Times Company.
Y'know, I get sick of people who aren't Christian telling Christians how they're supposed to act and feel--and what they're supposed to do.
Work on yourself, boy.
I think we should pray for him.
Twinkle toes would notice something like that.
He is no Ronald Reagan!
Isn't it interesting that the adopted son of Ronald Reagan is more like his father than either of his flesh and blood.
Sorry, but he's not Jr.!
Shouldn't it be "R. Prescott Reagan" from here on?
All of this moral superiority, from the man who used his father's eulogy to score political points.
Oh, yes! Michael appreciates his father and his good fortune!!!
One thing that Buddhism teaches you is that every moment is an opportunity to change. And we will have a moment in November to make a big change.
What's the matter with the moment now, or in ten minutes or an hour from now? Why are you waiting until November? You can change now. If you are speaking of the election in November get a grip. What does Buddhism teach about accepting defeat? Go cry in a corner? Or claim the election was stolen?
"I think it was a relief for Americans to look at pictures of something besides men on leashes. If you are going to call yourself a Christian -- and I don't -- then you have to ask yourself a fundamental question, and that is: Whom would Jesus torture? Whom would Jesus drag around on a dog's leash? How can Christians tolerate it? It is unconscionable. It has put our young men and women who are over there, fighting a war that they should not have been asked to fight -- it has put them in greater danger."
"Well, he did a better job than Dick Cheney did when he came to the rotunda. I felt so bad. Cheney brought my mother up to the casket, so she could pay her respects. She is in her 80's, and she has glaucoma and has trouble seeing. There were steps, and he left her there. He just stood there, letting her flounder. I don't think he's a mindful human being. That's probably the nicest way I can put it."
"That's a good question. One thing that Buddhism teaches you is that every moment is an opportunity to change. And we will have a moment in November to make a big change."
Whooo boy! Breathtakingly subtle! Speaking for myself I find it hard to believe that this guy personally hates both Bush and Cheney that much to cram that many cheap shots into such a brief interview. I am convinced what we're looking at here is a man who has had honeyed promises poured into his ear (perhaps by one T. McCauliffe?) and is blinded by visions of sugar plums dancing in his head. By the way--it has been a long time and I was very young back then--but I seemingly recollect that no one on either side of the media aisle treated little Ron as anything other than a prancing buffoon. Isn't it ironic, don't you think, that the MSM is giving him the statesman/sage treatment, and with a straight face at that.
He is unelectable because he has achieved nothing that would qualify him for office. He dropped out of school, is stupid and makes no sense. He is constantly saying mean things like he is the superior insider, telling us what some person thinks or thought of Bush and Cheney. I remember when all he and his horrible sister Patti did was embarrass and criticize their father.
To me, he looks like a flaming homo. If there is such a look, he's got it.
I think the difference is Mike loved his dad but never felt any pressure to "one up" hime and Ron Jr. always seemed to feel he was in competition with his dad when he was in office. I mean, Ron Jr. was ALWAYS doing whatever he could to embarrass his dad. I wonder if his rage at Bush isn't simple jealousy: here's a President's kid who has done better than his father. I honestly think that's why Ron hates Bush so much. But Mike just is who he is, and seems very happy and at peace with that -- and as a result is successful, he doesn't have anything to prove.
Just promoting the use of "R. Prescott Reagan"
since he's not a Jr.
Works for me -- I didn't realize he wasn't a jr.
He was biologically incapable of gossip. There was no smallness in him.
Small, Ronnie P., very small...
RonBOY the RINO... REAGAN in name only.
Sort of like Gore and Ted Kennedy
His atheism seem to be in contrast to his remarks at the funeral. He talked about his Dad being "home". Where is "home" after death for an atheist.
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