Posted on 07/15/2004 9:05:30 AM PDT by presidio9
With all the stories about the newly graduated Bush twins posing for fashion spreads and hitting the campaign trail with their father, I must say a few words about another president's child who seems to have grown up well: Ron Reagan.
Granted, at 46, Reagan is more than twice the age of the Bush twins, and his father left office more than 15 years ago. But Reagan also seems to have finally come into his own.
The beginnings were not auspicious. Twenty-two when his father took office in 1981, Ron Reagan was a lanky, awkward-looking ballet dancer, one of the lesser lights of the Joffrey Ballet Company, with a downscale wife who was seven years older than he was. And, some thought, he was rather effeminate.
He was easy to make fun of. Remember that skit he did on Saturday Night Live, when he danced around in his underwear? He was no Tom Cruise. And he was clearly an embarrassment to his parents, even if he wasn't as resentful toward them as his older brother and sisters were.
Over the years, while his sister Patti posed for spreads in Playboy and Maureen and Michael carped about how their parents had neglected them as children, Ron slipped away into the shadows. He left ballet, wrote magazine articles, and launched an obscure television career, which included hosting a short-lived cable talk-show, and most recently hosting dog shows on the Animal Planet network and being a commentator on MSNBC.
Since his father's death last month, however, he has emerged as a mature, thoughtful and well-spoken middle-aged man. I was shocked to learn that he's been with the same wife - Doria, a clinical psychologist - for more than 20 years. At the memorial and funeral services, he seemed solicitous toward his mother, and when he spoke of his father's religious faith, he chided the politiicians who flaunt religion to gain political points. Later, in an interview with Lary King, he denounced the Bush administration for leading us into war with Iraq, charging that "we lied our way into the war."
In recent years Ron Reagan has criticized the Bush administration for claiming his father's legacy, saying that although his father called for "an international army of conscience" to deal with atrocities in the world, "these people are overly reaching, overly aggressive, overly secretive, and just plain corrupt."
He has called George W. Bush "simply unqualified for the job," adding that his father "didn't have to ask Dick Cheney what he thought."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
Precisely. One wonders if they swapped babies in the hospital.
Regards, Ivan
Only in this author's liberal-land is Ron Reagan considered a "man in the middle."
Incidentally, for a much better view of Ron Reagan's motives, check out Richard Cohen's column in the Washington Post. Even though Cohen's a lib, he accuses Ron of "grave robbery."
This coming from a woman who once wrote that Michael McDonald must be part black cause he sings soooooo good.
If you're going to thread this regurgitation, add a BARF alert!!!
***Since his father's death last month, however, he has emerged as a mature, thoughtful and well-spoken middle-aged man...who could hardly wait until his father was in the ground to pimp himself and his "name" to the forces his father spent his political life fighting against. And during those "years of growth," when did he do all this biomedical research and foreign policy study? I missed it.***
WELL SAID.
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