Posted on 06/11/2004 9:00:42 PM PDT by nuconvert
Text of Ron Reagan Jr.'s Remarks at Father's Burial Service
The Associated Press
Jun 11, 2004
Text of remarks by Ron Reagan Jr. at Friday's burial service for former President Reagan, as transcribed by eMediaMillWorks Inc.:
RON REAGAN JR.: He is home now. He is free. In his final letter to the American people, Dad wrote, "I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life." This evening, he has arrived.
History will record his worth as a leader. We here have long since measured his worth as a man. Honest, compassionate, graceful, brave. He was the most plainly decent man you could ever hope to meet.
He used to say, "A gentleman always does the kind thing." And he was a gentleman in the truest sense of the word. A gentle man.
Big as he was, he never tried to make anyone feel small. Powerful as he became, he never took advantage of those who were weaker. Strength, he believed, was never more admirable than when it was applied with restraint. Shopkeeper, doorman, king or queen, it made no difference, Dad treated everyone with the same unfailing courtesy. Acknowledging the innate dignity in us all.
The idea that all people are created equal was more than mere words on a page, it was how he lived his life. And he lived a good, long life. The kind of life good men lead. But I guess I'm just telling you things you already know.
Here's something you may not know, a little Ronald Reagan trivia for you, his entire life, Dad had an inordinate fondness for earlobes. Even as a boy, back in Dixon, Ill., hanging out on a street corner with his friends, they knew that if they were standing next to Dutch, sooner or later, he was going to reach over and grab hold of their lobe, give it a workout there. Sitting on his lap watching TV as a kid, same story. He would have hold of my ear lobe. I'm surprised I have any lobes left after all of that.
And you didn't have to be a kid to enjoy that sort of treatment. Serving in the Screen Actors Guild with his great friend William Holden, the actor, best man at his wedding, Bill got used to it. They would be there at the meetings, and Dad would have hold of his earlobe. There they'd be, some tense labor negotiation, two big Hollywood movie stars, hand in earlobe.
He was, as you know, a famously optimistic man. Sometimes such optimism leads you to see the world as you wish it were as opposed to how it really is. At a certain point in his presidency, Dad decided he was going to revive the thumbs-up gesture. So he went all over the country, of course, giving everybody the thumbs up.
(UNINTELLIGIBLE) and I found ourselves in the presidential limousine one day returning from some big event. My mother was there and Dad was, of course, thumbs-upping the crowd along the way, and suddenly, looming in the window on his side of the car, was this snarling face. This fellow was reviving an entirely different hand gesture. And hoisted an entirely different digit in our direction. Dad saw this and without missing a beat turned to us and said, "You see? I think it's catching on."
Dad was also a deeply, unabashedly religious man. But he never made the fatal mistake of so many politicians wearing his faith on his sleeve to gain political advantage. True, after he was shot and nearly killed early in his presidency, he came to believe that God had spared him in order that he might do good. But he accepted that as a responsibility, not a mandate. And there is a profound difference.
Humble as he was, he never would have assumed a free pass to heaven. But in his heart of hearts, I suspect he felt he would be welcome there. And so he is home. He is free.
Those of us who knew him well will have no trouble imagining his paradise. Golden fields will spread beneath a blue dome of a western sky. Live oaks will shadow the rolling hillsides. And someplace, flowing from years long past, a river will wind toward the sea. Across those fields, he will ride a gray mare he calls Nancy D. They will sail over jumps he has built with his own hands. He will, at the river, carry him over the shining stones. He will rest in the shade of the trees.
Our cares are no longer his. We meet him now only in memory. But we will join him soon enough. All of us. When we are home. When we are free.
Did I say Michael, I meant Ron. Ron's eulogy was the one that was politicized. I loved Michael's.
I don't see how anyone could take this to think he directed an insult at Bush because I don't think anyone thinks Bush wears his religion on a sleeve ---- I think we all know Bush is sincere in his faith.
No no no. He was in fact referring to GWB because it is a *talking point* from the left that President Bush thinks he has a divine mandate from God in the war on terror. See?
Of course President Bush does not act or think that way. That's why it's called a "slam" when one accuses him of doing something he isn't guilty of.
RON made that statement, not Michael.
"I don't see how anyone could take this to think he directed an insult at Bush because I don't think anyone thinks Bush wears his religion on a sleeve..."
But I am pretty good at reading between the lines, and judging from YOUR past posts, so are you.
Ron may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he's still smart enough not to risk his inheritance embarrassing Nancy with a slam against Bush yesterday.
I could be wrong...sigh.
Actually, the other poster was claiming the earlobe reference had some homoerotic significance. I was pointing out the absurdity of that claim.
Yeah, that's it. His double entendre passed completely over everyone's head (Except for yours, of course).
Give me a break.
You are 100% correct in your assumption. Chris Matthews could hardly contain himself when telling the audience that they should stick around for Ron's speech because (paraphrasing) "you can never tell what he might have in store since he didn't always follow his father politically blah blah blah.." But Chris's little charade, that he could only guess what would be said, was transparent. Chris is a lousy liar and it was obvious that he was alerted to a Bush slam by his MSNBC cohort, Ron Jr. I'm amazed at the naivety shown by so many who can't, or won't, see the reality of the situation.
The state funeral of a former president of the United States broadcast live to the nation does not simply "belong to the Reagan family." Ron Jr.'s remarks were made in public and he meant to address them to the entire nation. He politicized the event by unfavorably comparing his father's religious fervor, practiced "responsibly" in his opinion (at least, his opinion in the insincere line he was taking in his remarks) as it applied to affairs of state, with GWB's more crass religious convictions, which, again according to young Ron, are mistakenly taken as a "mandate" directly from God. Ron Jr. clearly meant to imply that Bush is some kind of religious nut.
I get a kick out of the people on this thread who don't seem to know that Ron Jr. hates George Bush, and seem to think he had something else in mind when he made the comment. Read the Salon article in Post #86 to get a true picture of who this loser is. He entire adult life has been dedicated to trashing his father and his father's legacy, which he did as recently as 2003 in a four hour American Experience documentary in which he said he never once in his life had a "real conversation" with his father. By his own admission, he is an atheist, so all the stuff his said about his Dad's religious views were dripping with insincerity. As a third rate journalist the only jobs the guy has ever held have been given to him by people who like use his name as a club with which to bash Republicans.
I agree - that's exactly what I thought when I heard it.
Reagan says he doesn't have anything personal against Bush.
Uhhhhhhhhh..okayyyyyyy Ron.....
Why? Ron wanted it in there, it was of significance to him, and it's his father's funeral. That's all the criteria needed.
No different than Reagan with the "evil empire" --- everything that could be said for Bush's faith could be said for Reagan's. And the liberals hate both of them for their genuine and very real faith --- yet love the Clinton's for their very obviously fake faith --- how quick they were to show Clinton with his carefully measured Bible coming out of services at some carefully selected church.
The liberals might be accusing Bush --- I don't know if Ron Jr was --- I just took his speech to be pointing out that his father's faith was genuine --- not the typical faith used by a typical politician.
The finger salute/wave reference should have
been left out, too. Didn't belong at a Christian
service.
I felt the same way. But evidently it's taken others on this board less than one day to go from celebrating the life of a man who didn't let politics get personal to taking just the opposite approach with the man's own son. It's as sickening as anything I've seen in quite a while.
That whole "Bush is a dry drunk" thing must be rife in the ranks of psychologists such as his wife. I get that Constantly from a psychotherapist acquaintance of mine.
If you refer to a politician who is wearing his religion on his sleeve --- I think most listeners wouldn't think you mean Nader -- he doesn't seem to do that, you wouldn't think of Bush because people know Bush is genuine in his faith, you might think of Kerry because he obviously is using his religion for politics. I think Ron is probably a Green but maybe more anti-Democrat than anti-Republican.
Ron's probably nearing his late 40's and during all those years, that's all he could come up with to eulogize his dad! Puleezzeee.....
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