Posted on 06/10/2004 10:42:21 AM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
MRS. REAGAN, PATTI, RON, MICHAEL, DISTINGUISHED GUESTS, MEMBERS OF THE REAGAN FAMILY, AND FRIENDS OF RONALD REAGAN IN AMERICA AND THROUGHOUT THE WORLD:
TONIGHT, PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN HAS RETURNED TO THE PEOPLE’S HOUSE TO BE HONORED BY MILLIONS OF AMERICANS WHO LOVED HIM.
SINCE 1824, UNDER THIS ROTUNDA, OUR NATION HAS PAID FINAL TRIBUTE TO MANY DEDICATED PUBLIC SERVANTS. PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN WAS THE FIRST PRESIDENT TO LIE IN STATE UNDER THIS CAPITOL DOME. IN THE COMING DAYS, THOUSANDS WILL COME TO THESE HALLOWED HALLS TO SAY GOOD-BYE TO ANOTHER SON OF ILLINOIS WHO, LIKE LINCOLN, APPEALED TO OUR BEST HOPES, NOT OUR WORST FEARS.
IN THE LIFE OF ANY NATION, FEW MEN FOREVER ALTER THE COURSE OF HISTORY. RONALD REAGAN WAS ONE OF THOSE MEN. HE ROSE FROM A YOUNG BOY WHO DIDN’T HAVE MUCH TO A MAN WHO HAD IT ALL, INCLUDING THE LOVE OF A FAITHFUL PARTNER AND FRIEND HE FOUND IN HIS WIFE NANCY.
THE TRUE MEASURE OF ANY MAN IS WHAT HE DOES WITH THE OPPORTUNITIES LIFE OFFERS. BY THAT STANDARD, RONALD REAGAN WAS ONE OF AMERICA’S GREATEST. HE FIRST PROVED THAT AS GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA AND LATER AS THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
WHEN RONALD REAGAN WAS SWORN IN AS OUR 40TH PRESIDENT, THIS NATION WAS GRIPPED BY A POWERFUL MALAISE, INFLATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT WERE SOARING, AND THE SOVIET UNION WAS WINNING THE COLD WAR.
BY THE TIME PRESIDENT REAGAN LEFT OFFICE, HE HAD REVERSED THE TREND OF EVER-INCREASING GOVERNMENT CONTROL OVER OUR LIVES, RESTORED OUR DEFENSE CAPABILITIES, GUIDED US THROUGH THE WORST ECONOMIC DOWNTURN SINCE THE GREAT DEPRESSION, AND SET IN MOTION POLICIES WHICH ULTIMATELY LED TO THE COLLAPSE OF THE “EVIL EMPIRE.”
HIS INTEGRITY, VISION AND COMMITMENT WERE RESPECTED BY ALL. BUT HISTORY’S FINAL JUDGMENT, I BELIEVE, WILL REMEMBER MOST HIS ABILITY TO INSPIRE US.
PRESIDENT REAGAN PUT IT BEST WHEN HE SAID: “THE GREATEST LEADER IS NOT NECESSARILY THE ONE WHO DOES THE GREATEST THINGS. HE IS THE ONE THAT GETS [THE] PEOPLE TO DO THE GREATEST THINGS.”
THIS PRESIDENT INSPIRED AMERICANS BY REACHING OUT FAR BEYOND WHAT HE COULD ATTAIN. LIKE A GOOD COACH, HE UNDERSTOOD THE VALUE OF A GOAL ISN’T ALWAYS IN ACHIEVING IT; SOMETIMES IT IS ENOUGH TO SIMPLY LOOK OUT INTO THE FUTURE AND REMIND PEOPLE WHAT IS POSSIBLE. AND, OFTEN HE ACHIEVED THE IMPOSSIBLE.
HE REMINDED US THAT “GOVERNMENT IS NOT THE SOLUTION.” THE SOLUTION LIES IN EACH OF US. TRUE AMERICAN HEROES ARE ORDINARY PEOPLE WHO LIVE THEIR LIVES WITH EXTRAORDINARY CHARACTER AND STRENGTH.
PRESIDENT REAGAN SHOWED US FREEDOM WAS NOT JUST A SLOGAN; HE ACTUALLY BROUGHT FREEDOM TO HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE AROUND THIS GLOBE BY OPPOSING OPPRESSIVE REGIMES. THOSE OF US FROM THE WORLD WAR II GENERATION LOOKED UP TO HIM FOR HIS MORAL COURAGE; IN HIM WE SAW THE LEADERSHIP OF GREAT MEN LIKE EISENHOWER WHO LED THE WAY AND MOVED US TO FOLLOW.
ON A WINTER DAY IN 1981, RONALD REAGAN STOOD ON THE STEPS THAT LIE JUST BEYOND THESE DOORS TO DELIVER HIS FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS. HE SPOKE OF A JOURNAL WRITTEN BY A YOUNG AMERICAN WHO WENT TO FRANCE IN 1917 AND DIED FOR THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM. FROM THAT JOURNAL HE READ THESE WORDS:
“I WILL WORK, I WILL SAVE, I WILL SACRIFICE, I WILL ENDURE, I WILL FIGHT CHEERFULLY AND DO MY UTMOST, AS IF THE ISSUE OF THE WHOLE STRUGGLE DEPENDED ON ME ALONE.”
THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE, RONALD REAGAN BORE OUR BURDENS AS IF THE OUTCOME DID DEPEND ON HIM ALONE. WE WILL ALL REMEMBER HIM AS AN UNPARALLELED LEADER AND AN EXCEPTIONAL MAN WHO LIFTED OUR NATION AND SET THE WORLD ON A NEW PATH.
PRESIDENT REAGAN ACHIEVED GREATNESS IN HIS LIFE; SOME MIGHT EVEN ARGUE HE TRANSCENDED IT. HE COULD NOT HAVE ACCOMPLISHED THIS WITHOUT NANCY. NANCY IS ONE OF THE FINEST FIRST LADIES THESE UNITED STATES HAVE EVER KNOWN. AND THE LOVE RONALD AND NANCY REAGAN SHARED TOUCHED THE HEARTS OF PEOPLE EVERYWHERE.
IN 1989, PRESIDENT REAGAN DELIVERED HIS FAREWELL ADDRESS FROM THE OVAL OFFICE. IN THAT SPEECH, THE PRESIDENT SPOKE OF “THE SHINING CITY UPON A HILL” THAT, “AFTER 200 YEARS, TWO CENTURIES …STILL STANDS STRONG AND TRUE ON THE GRANITE RIDGE.” NOW, IT IS OUR TURN TO THANK RONALD REAGAN FOR MAKING US BELIEVE IN THAT SHINING CITY. AS WE SAY FAREWELL, HIS LAST WORDS AS PRESIDENT ECHO ACROSS THIS GREAT NATION. IF WE LISTEN, WE WILL HEAR HIM WHISPER THE HUMBLE WORDS HE USED TO SUM UP HIS REVOLUTION:
“ALL IN ALL, NOT BAD, NOT BAD AT ALL.”
Re #33 and #34 -- I agree with your assessments.
Truth does hurt. I can see it now, 30 or 40 years from now at GWB's funeral some poor soul will be riduculed and dissed for saying that Bush was President on 9-11 and then went after and killed all the terrorists. The opposition doesn't like it when a conservative does well.
I agree. I don't need O'Reilly telling me what to think. I stopped watching him over a year ago. His arrogance is shameful.
Has anyone else commented on the speech. The liberals are kind of "damned if they do" -- because they will remind people of the thing they don't want people to be reminded of! LOL. They really can't spin what Stevens said about the Carter years -- because they're fact!
WOW, you people dont like O'reilly as much as Al Franken.
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STEVENS' Rotunda Speech was Spot On.
Perfect CLARITY at the Perfect Occassion
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A FoX News Panelist just correctly said that REAGAN was right on fighting Comunism, on the Soviet Union and on the restructuring of our Economy.
And the Democrats REAGAN was also fighting against on these Issues were WRONG all along and the American People now see all this.
The Democrats' playing nice-i-nice to REAGAN on TV now is simply their way for covering up their own Past..!!!
Again, STEVENS' Rotunda Speech was perfect CLARITY at the perfect occassion.
CLARITY now finally Rules.
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Bump, Bttt, as a bookmark
Jimmy Carter: "OUCH"
And then he went on to say that President Reagan "GUIDED US THROUGH THE WORST ECONOMIC DOWNTURN SINCE THE GREAT DEPRESSION," which I loved because Kerry's been saying that Bush has created the worst economic downturn since the great depression. Time to hear a bit of truth about exactly which president did that, and it wasn't GWB.
Most un-addled folks know that a eulogy contains pertient facts about the dearly departed that made them memorable and defined them. Of course, those were facts that Stevens spoke. Inescapable and concrete facts.
O'Rielly "un-spins" so much so that it's become an excuse to hear himself pitch a fit about anything. O'Rielly would've found fault with the manner in which Moses descended the mountaintop and the sentences handed down to the NAZI criminals at Nuremburg.
I sincerely do believe O'Rielly has finally lost what few marbles he once had rolling around inside that empty dome.
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