The left derided him as a drooling warmonger. But our leaders could learn... from Reagan...

Daily Mail (UK) ^ | 30th June 2011 | Dominic Sandbrook

[naturalman1975]

For one group of London expats, next Monday will be particularly special. Following a weekend of Independence Day celebrations, hundreds of Americans are expected to gather in Grosvenor Square to unveil the statue of a man who became the incarnation of the special relationship.

Thirty years ago, when Ronald Wilson Reagan became the 40th President of the United States, there were many who mocked him as a washed-up Hollywood has-been. With his country traumatised after Vietnam and Watergate, with inflation soaring, oil prices rocketing and the Middle East in flames, American prestige seemed at its lowest ebb.

Yet on Monday, Margaret Thatcher’s great soulmate will become only the fifth U.S. President to have his own monument in the mother country — following George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower.

There could hardly be a greater tribute to a president who endured merciless mockery during his administration yet is now remembered as one of the most influential men of the past half-century.

[naturalman1975]

Full headline: The left derided him as a drooling warmonger. But our leaders could learn so much from Reagan's appeal to the common man

[naturalman1975]

And, yes, I know a lot of people won’t like what it says about Palin. That isn’t why I posted it.

[Steely Tom]

Anyone puts up a statue of Ronald Reagan is aces in my book.

[ReneeLynn]

What was Sarah’s ludicrous gaffe? How could you write such a positive article about Pres. Reagan and take snipes at Palin? Oh, yeah. Pres. Reagan is deceased.

[Reagan Man]

>>>>>In Ronald Reagan, a man who understood the appeal of patriotism and the anxieties of the ordinary man, the conservative movement has never had a more effective champion.

Got that right! Reagan was an honest and principled conservative and someone who knew how to lead America without surrendering our traditional values and beliefs, or trampling on the Constitution. And Reagan was no pushover either. He played the loyal opposition and his enemies in the media like the political grand master he was.

[John Locke]

And how stands the city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was 8 years ago. But more than that: After 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no matter what storm. And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home.

You'll find the whole address here

[buccaneer81]

It must be a requirement to keep one’s job in “journalism” to
trash Sarah Palin in every published story.

[Reagan Man]

Thanks... you're preaching to the choir.

"We've done our part. And as I walk off into the city streets, a final word to the men and women of the Reagan revolution, the men and women across America who for 8 years did the work that brought America back. My friends: We did it. We weren't just marking time. We made a difference. We made the city stronger, we made the city freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not bad, not bad at all."

That part of Reagan's farewell speech to America has been part of my FR homepage since I joined in '99.

[Slings and Arrows]

The eneMedia will “rehabilitate” past Republican officeholders as a means to attack current or potential Republican officeholders. We’ll see a lot more of this if a conservative gets the presidential nod.

[llandres]

“Reagan was a master at reaching across party boundaries, appealing to ordinary Democrats as well as Republicans.”

This jumped out at me. See, this is what our next nominee must be able to do. Besides Independents, there are still (believe it or not) a lot of “ordinary Democrats” such as Pat Caddell and others like him. That is what will win us back the White House. It doesn’t mean being a sell-out, it means being a uniter. Not the fake kind like BHO, but the real deal - a special kind of Conservative.

[llandres]

“Reagan was a master at reaching across party boundaries, appealing to ordinary Democrats as well as Republicans.”

This jumped out at me. See, this is what our next nominee must be able to do. Besides Independents, there are still (believe it or not) a lot of “ordinary Democrats” such as Pat Caddell and others like him. That is what will win us back the White House. It doesn’t mean being a sell-out, it means being a uniter. Not the fake kind like BHO, but the real deal.

[llandres]

whoops - sorry for the double post.

[buccaneer81]

Nice idea. But 2012 is as far politically and socially removed from 1980 as one can imagine.

It's total war now.

[llandres]

“It’s total war now.”

Winning the war requires a winning strategy.

And basic principles don’t change. It’s like history - it repeats itself.