Top 10 Greatest Quips from Ronald Reagan

Human Events ^ | 1/20/05

[rhema]

10. "Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first." —Remarks at a business conference, Los Angeles, March 2, 1977

9. "You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans." —The Observer, March 29, 1981

8. “Thomas Jefferson once said, "We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.' And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying." —Circa 1988

7. "I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting." —Said often during his presidency, 1981-1989

6. "How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin." —Remarks in Arlington, Virginia, September 25, 1987

5. "The government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." —Remarks to the White House Conference on Small Business, August 15, 1986

4. “I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.” —Said often during his presidency, 1981-1989

3. "All great change in America begins at the dinner table." —Farewell Address to the Nation, The White House, January 11, 1989

2. "I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born." —The New York Times, September 22, 1980

1. "There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn't mind who gets the credit." — First Inaugural Address, January 21, 1981

[cake_crumb]

"I am generally of the opinion that husbands should listen to their wives (at least that is what my wife tells me {smirk}), but I really wish that he would ignore Laura in this case."

My husband is of the same wise opinion as yourself concerning his wife...but I wish he'd ignore her in this case too. Also in the case of his "dead or alive" rhetoric. THAT'S his best stuff!

[OrioleFan]

Thanks, that was priceless!

[ConservativeMan55]

bttt

[liliesgrandpa]

"Bush is a good man, but not in the same league.

Not even close."

I agree, Bush isn't in the same league as Reagan. If fact Bush is trying hard to be the next Carter, another big spending liberal.

Reagan was a giant among the leaders of this country, in the mold of Washington, and Lincoln.

[RandallFlagg]

Heh! Agreed.

Remember, "The Look," from the second Bush/Gore debate?

Nuked the goron with a single stare.

[DeSoto]

You know.... you're right, I forgot about the death "look". Add that to the "dead or alive" and "you're either with us or against us" and we have a pretty good start.

It seemes with Reagan that he always had the liberals in apoplexy over something that he said. He could lob a verbal grenade into the mix without even breaking a sweat. And he did it with a grin and twinkle in his eye.

I will say it again, I miss Reagan and thank God that I was fortunate to live in a time to witness such greatness first hand.

[B.Bumbleberry]

Bump

[cake_crumb]

Considering Reagan was vilified for A: massive deficit spending and B: building up the military on account of being a Neanderthalistic warmonger, Bush and Reagan are very similar and Carter isn't fit to lick the boots of either president.

Nice soundbyte though. I'm sure Hillary and Kennedy will be saying similar by Monday.

[cake_crumb]

It's a shame there are so many people, even FReepers, who missed the Great One's presidency and so few in schools, journalism or educational TV who want the truth told.

[guinnessman]

Two examples of his quick wit come to mind:

One was from Peggy Noonan's What I saw at the Revolution. A White House staffer was saying good bye on his last day working at the White House. As was the custom, he had the opportunity to meet the President in the Oval Office before he left. He brought his parents in for the occasion so that they could meet the president. His parents also brought the family dog. As the staffer is introducing his parents to President Reagan in the Oval Office, the dog breaks free, jumps up on the President's desk, and begins to urinate on his desk. The mortified staffer says, " I'm so sorry Mr. President, I had no idea he was going to do that!" Reagan responds, "Well, why shouldn't he? Everyone else does."

The second example is from a press conference I saw on tv around 1985. If you remember, the press would always try to shout out questions at Reagan as he would get off the helicopter on the South Lawn and walk towards the White House. On one of these occasions, the press was shouting questions at Reagan, and Reagan responded, "I can't answer you, I have laryngitis" I remember the press reacted with a sarcastic, "Sure, Mr. President". Anyway, a couple of days later, Reagan is holding a press conference. Andrea Mitchell stands up to ask a question. As her voice is cracking, she says, "I'm sorry Mr. President, I seem to have caought your laryngitis." Reagan's response was: "Oh well Andrea, you know what they say. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"

[operation clinton cleanup]

Mile after mile of a single line of cars, waiting through the entire night in order to file for a quick minute past their hero's coffin to pay their respects.

I doubt this will happen when Jimmy or Bubba passes... the line of people bidding the Gipper farewell dumbfounded the press.

[handy]

that's my favorite

[DeSoto]

Aahhh....... Grasshopper. Remember the Internet and the FReepers, history cannot be rewritten and ignored as long as there are FReepers on duty. It is a beautiful thing.

Yeah, yeah, I know it is hokey, but I am just in one of those moods. 8^)

[RockinRight]

My favorite.

The man was a genius with words. We'll never see the likes of him again, although someone like him is just what America needs.

[RockinRight]

I almost expect to hear cymbals and a high-hat when I hear that one.

[cake_crumb]

"Yeah, yeah, I know it is hokey, but I am just in one of those moods. 8^)"

FOFLOL! Yeah it's hokey, but I can use the laugh.

At least young FReepers can learn right here what a truely great president Reagan was

[TheBrotherhood]

>Nuked the goron with a single stare.

I remember that look very well and I also remember asking myself: Is he home?

[rawhide]

Ronald Reagan's Irish Wit

June 8, 2004

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by Tom Purcell

---

It was St. Patrick's Day, 1988, when an unexpected visitor arrived at Pat Troy's Irish pub: President Ronald Reagan.

For more than 23 years, Pat Troy's Old Town, Alexandria pub has been a favorite watering hole for some Washington insiders seeking a respite from their hectic lives. Some of Reagan's advance men were regulars. They arranged the president's visit.

The pub was half-packed when Reagan and his entourage arrived just before noon. As news spread that Reagan was there, the pub quickly filled to capacity. While Reagan enjoyed a pint of Harp and some corned beef and cabbage, Troy was so busy tending to his pub, he didn't have time to react to his famous patron.

"He had an energy about him that put you instantly at ease," Troy told me. "He made it easy to carry on as though he was just another patron, so that is what I did."

Troy took the stage and led the audience in the "Wild Rover." He had sections of the audience compete with each other to see which would sing and clap the loudest. "You have to clap louder, Mr. President," he said to Reagan, prompting the president, not used to being given orders of any kind, to laugh.

Next, Troy led the audience in the Unicorn Song. While Troy sang the words, the audience mimicked the animals referenced in the song ("There were green alligators and long-necked geese, humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees, some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born, the loveliest of all was the unicorn.")

Reagan turned to watch a group of young women behind him act out the song. His face showed curiosity and delight - he never saw this song performed before. But that was how he was: at the same time he was the world's most powerful man, the man who felled communism and restored American optimism, he was also a man of youthful innocence who found immense pleasure in the most simple things.

When Troy was finished, he handed Reagan the mike. The normally raucous crowd - remember, this was St. Patrick's Day - became extraordinarily quiet. "They were spellbound," said Troy. "I've never seen a large crowd that attentive."

Reagan spoke off the top of his head. He graciously thanked Troy for having him for lunch. He said it was his great surprise - that his advance men set it up and he was thankful. He talked about his father, an Irishman.

"When I was a little boy, my father proudly told me that the Irish built the jails in this country," he said, pausing expertly, "then proceeded to fill them."

The crowd laughed heartily.

"You have to understand that for a man in my position, I'm a little leery about ethnic jokes," he said. "The only ones I can tell are Irish." The crowd roared.

He told a story about his visit to Ireland. He went to Castle Rock, the place where St. Patrick erected the first cross in Ireland.

"A young Irish guide took me to the cemetery and showed me an ancient tombstone there," he said. "The inscription read: 'Remember me as you pass by, for as are you are so once was I, and as I am you too will be, so be content to follow me."

As Reagan paused, the crowd eagerly awaited his follow up.

"Then I looked below the inscription," he said, "where someone scratched in these words: 'To follow you I am content, I wish I knew which way you went."

The crowd roared loud and long, causing Reagan to deadpan to his advance men: "Why didn't I find this place seven years ago?"
__________________________________________________________

[rawhide]

June 06, 2004, 3:31 p.m.
By Peter Robinson

EDITOR'S NOTE: This vignette is excerpted from How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life.

The incident I always considered the best illustration of Reagan's regard for ordinary individuals took place in a North Carolina parking lot. "It was during the 1976 primary fight," says Dana Rohrabacher, who then worked on the Reagan campaign as an assistant press secretary. "We were getting ready for a rally in this gigantic parking lot at a shopping mall. I was in the staging area behind the podium, and a lady called me over to the side and said, 'I've got a group of blind kids here. Since they can't see him, I was wondering if you could have Governor Reagan come over and tell them hello.'"

Dana passed the request on to Mike Deaver, and Reagan, who was standing nearby, overheard. "He said he'd do it, but he didn't want any photographers," Dana explains. "Can you imagine that? He was in the middle of a presidential campaign, and the press would have gone wild for a photo of him with a group of blind kids. But Reagan wanted this to be between him and the kids."

Deaver came up with a plan. When the speech ended, Deaver told Dana, he'd begin walking Reagan back to the campaign bus. Concluding that the candidate was about to leave for the next event, all the reporters and photographers would hurry back to their own buses. And then, when the press had cleared out, Deaver would double back with Reagan, returning the candidate to the area behind the podium, where Reagan would meet the blind children.

"It worked," Dana says. "The press guys all went back to their buses, and I brought the lady with the blind kids back behind the podium. There were six or seven kids, real sweet little kids about eight or nine or ten years old. Since there was a lot of background noise — Reagan bent down, close to the kids, to talk to them. But somehow I could see him thinking that that wasn't enough. So after the kids had asked him a couple of questions, he said, 'Well, now I have a question for you. Would you like to touch my face so you can get a better understanding of how I look?' The kids all smiled and said yes, so Reagan just leaned over into them, and one by one these little kids began moving their fingers over his face to see what he looked like.

"The only picture of that scene is the picture in my mind," Dana says. "But I can still see those kids, touching Ronald Reagan's face and smiling these really big smiles."

"The Declaration of Independence," G. K. Chesterton writes, "dogmatically bases all rights on the fact that God created all men equal; it is right [to do so].... There is no basis for democracy except in a dogma about the divine origin of man." Although in nearly every way you could ever imagine, in other words, we humans are not equal but unequal — some rich and some poor, some bright and some dull, some healthy and some sick — in one way we enjoy perfect equality all the same. Did the 40th chief executive ever read Chesterton? I can't say. Yet Ronald Reagan demonstrated an implicit belief in the sacred and equal importance of all men as children of God.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Nov. 5, 1994

[Pharmboy]

Thanks for posting...he was something, wasn't he?