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Patti Davis: A Shared Father [Why Ronald Reagan Loved America and America Loved him back]
Newsweek ^ | June 5th, 2008 | Patti Davis

Posted on 06/05/2008 9:26:38 AM PDT by The_Republican

Tomorrow is the fourth anniversary of my father's death. For anyone who has lost a loved one, those anniversaries are both sad and sweet. The sadness is obvious—you don't stop missing the person who has gone; you don't stop wishing you'd had one more year, one more day. The sweetness sneaks up on you. It comes in the form of memories, some of them long buried. But mostly it comes with the realization that nothing ever dismantled the love between you, even though many things seemed to along the way.

At this time of year in California, the jacaranda trees are blooming. On some streets, there is a canopy of purple above and a blanket of purple blossoms on the pavement below. Jasmine is also blooming; the soft perfume lingers in the air. If I didn't have a calendar, I would still know that this anniversary was upon us. Jacaranda and jasmine will always be the background palette of that time.

As similar as my experience is to anyone else's who has lost a parent, it is also different because my family lived in the public eye. Because the country grieved along with us when my father died. Because tomorrow at the Reagan Library, when my mother and I go to put white roses on my father's grave, there will be more people than usual there, all of them marking the occasion, too.

It seems valuable, I think, in these thorny political times, to remember why so many people mourned so deeply when Ronald Reagan died. It had nothing to do with politics, but rather with the quality of his character. It had to do with his goodness, his dignity—qualities that we as a nation are hungry for. We know we need leadership, but we also know we need compassion.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: pattidavis; presidents; reagan; reaganlibrary
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1 posted on 06/05/2008 9:27:18 AM PDT by The_Republican
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To: The_Republican

The quality of Reagan’s character infused everything he did. Well said by his daughter.


2 posted on 06/05/2008 9:29:34 AM PDT by DarthVader (Liberal Democrats are the party of EVIL whose time of judgement has come.)
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To: The_Republican

He died on June 5, 2004....today’s date. I know because my dad died a few hours later.....6-5-04


3 posted on 06/05/2008 9:29:48 AM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion.....The Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: The_Republican

nice that she has made peace with her relationship with Magnus but I can pass on the rest of it


4 posted on 06/05/2008 9:29:59 AM PDT by wardaddy (Obama will bring the Second Reconstruction to America.......I can't wait, the first was a blast)
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To: wardaddy
nice that she has made peace with her relationship with Magnus but I can pass on the rest of it

Both of Nancy's progeny were lefty cry babies, I doubt either of them voted for Dad.

5 posted on 06/05/2008 9:34:29 AM PDT by itsahoot (We will have world government. The only question is whether by conquest or consent.)
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To: The_Republican

“.....remember why so many people mourned so deeply when Ronald Reagan died. It had nothing to do with politics, but rather with the quality of his character.”

Liar.


6 posted on 06/05/2008 9:35:53 AM PDT by EyeGuy
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To: EyeGuy

Actually, I think there is truth to what she said.

Let’s not trash Patti’s memory of her Dad. We might not agree with her politics, but she’s made peace with her father and her relationship with him.

Let’s give her that at least, can’t we?


7 posted on 06/05/2008 9:38:26 AM PDT by RockinRight (Obama '08 - Because Jimmy Carter Didn't Screw Things Up Enough)
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To: EyeGuy
Do you believe people mourned him because of his politics and not the quality of his character?
8 posted on 06/05/2008 9:39:03 AM PDT by SF Republican
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To: EyeGuy

“Character is a journey.” -Bill Clinton


9 posted on 06/05/2008 9:39:07 AM PDT by RexBeach
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To: wardaddy
When we were in Washington, D.C., for my father's service, I was taken on a tour of the White House. I hadn't been there since he was president, and in those years I couldn't appreciate it--I was too blinded by my own saga of being a very reluctant First Daughter.

Sounds like she's admitting her faults...I can give her some credit for this.

10 posted on 06/05/2008 9:39:56 AM PDT by RockinRight (Obama '08 - Because Jimmy Carter Didn't Screw Things Up Enough)
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To: RockinRight

Patti, it’s hard to buy into anything you or ronnie say. Please buy two copies of ‘The Living Years’.


11 posted on 06/05/2008 9:41:37 AM PDT by yorkie01
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To: itsahoot

At Ronald Reagan’s funeral, if all of his accomplishments were to be forgotten, then it brought a tear of disbelief and joy to my (then) 28 year old eye.

I was a kid when Reagan was president. His inauguration is my earliest childhood television memory. His accomplishments went largely missed by my child intellect.

But at his funeral, Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev sat next to one another.

_sat next to one another_

That is the most incredible time in my life as an american. Proud of who a president was and what he did at a time in my life when I didn’t understand what he was doing, or who he was. Before I took on any political opinion, I knew that this man through courage and determination brought the world’s superpowers together, so much so that they chose to sit next to one another at his funeral.

Truly, one of the most incredible moments in history.

And the Klintons were sleeping in the front row.


12 posted on 06/05/2008 9:41:59 AM PDT by Celerity
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To: SF Republican

Both.

But that is, of course, not what she said.

She said his politics had “NOTHING” to do with it.


13 posted on 06/05/2008 9:43:27 AM PDT by EyeGuy
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To: RockinRight

RR’s intimates certainly mourned him for the person that he was, but she is saying that his politics had “nothing” to do with why the rest of America mourned his passing.

She is the one who is injecting her leftist point of view here, and she is clearly wrong.


14 posted on 06/05/2008 9:48:09 AM PDT by EyeGuy
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To: Ann Archy

My momma died the day before. : (


15 posted on 06/05/2008 9:50:57 AM PDT by mpackard (Proud mama of a Sailor.)
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To: The_Republican

Anyone have a “The Best” DVD recommendation in re. Reagan’s funeral, memorial activities?


16 posted on 06/05/2008 9:55:24 AM PDT by BibChr ("...behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them?" [Jer. 8:9])
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To: DarthVader

This moved me and I’m happy to see Patti finally come to understand her father. One thing that she says in the article is that she didn’t know anyone without regrets about their parents. I do, I am one of them. One reason that she doesn’t is because she never understood the commandment to Honor her mother and father. I do, and I did, and when I lost my parents I could grieve purely, without the regrets and shame of dishonoring them. With all my faults, and theirs, the parents that I grieve were the parents that gave me the tools that I needed to get through it. I’m surely blessed.


17 posted on 06/05/2008 9:57:43 AM PDT by mpackard (Proud mama of a Sailor.)
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To: Celerity
So much said in so few words.
God bless you, Celerity.
18 posted on 06/05/2008 9:58:08 AM PDT by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true.)
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To: The_Republican
The ironic thing is that Patti Davis cavorted with the anti-nuke crowd against her father while he was President, yet Ronald Reagan did more to reduce the nuclear threat to the world than any of their sign-carrying, protests, and concerts.

Just goes to show who had the vision and who didn't, who was right and who was wrong.

19 posted on 06/05/2008 10:05:36 AM PDT by Mannaggia l'America
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To: The_Republican
This is an attempt by the Left to “explain” Reagan's greatness as his character and not his politics. I don't buy her story since she still cannot admit it was his politics. She has learned nothing if she believes that and she is still in her rebellious self denial that she mentioned in the article. The Left would love to have Reagan's greatness as just an example of a good “communicator” with a great “character” and not really his politics.
20 posted on 06/05/2008 10:09:13 AM PDT by HwyChile
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