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.
After seeing a picture of people standing across the street from the Cathedral holding signs saying, "Reagan is in Hell" nothing would surprise me. As much as I despise the Clintons I would never do something like that at their funeral.
I have no idea what you are talking about. Maybe you should explore the very public politics of President Reagan's son before making your own ill informed judgments.
your ridiculous claim that the earlobe comment was steeped in homoeroticism
vs.
what I said way back in this thread:
"The ear-lobe story was definitely not OK, it was slanted to try to appear homoerotic or at least hint at it."
_____________________________________
what is your agenda in distorting what I said? and what kind of person do you think you are addressing? and why is your argument style essentially name-calling: eg: ridiculous, preposterous, outlandish ?
Are you trying to persuade me of something? Then why change what I said? why call me names? why state that I am bizarre and disturbed ...and the rest?
Really, what are your intentions and aim?
Are you going to respond to my questions with another burst from your cannon about how dare I make such terrible suggestions about Ron Reagan who would never dream of doing any such thing? If so spare me, please.
I 've only bothered to respond to this after 10 times telling myself I would not, because I foolishly believe that most people are of good will and will eventually engage in discussion, not name-calling.
Hey, I dont have anything invested in the claim that the earlobe story was trying to play around the edges at Ron and his friends are uptight and would get spooked by something ambiguously perhaps suggesting something of a homoerotic nature about the national hero while at the same time not actually doing so and letting anyone who claimed it to be so to be easily dismissed as a perve.
That's my perception of what Ron was trying to do. If I was wrong, so what. Are you trying to tell me that no one should dare say that they perceive such a thing on this FR site becaue otherwise the castigators will arise to call names? Is that what you really want to convey?
That isn't all he did! He used a national platform that should have been all about his father to make a gratuitous, political slam at Bush. I repeat, he politicized the event, not his critics on this thread or anyone else who noticed what he did. We're just reacting to him. I can't help you if your political antennae are so insensitive or if you're so naive that you don't know what he was doing. What is certain is that he knew exactly what he was doing, i.e., slamming Bush while he had a national audience.
It was tacky, tasteless and disrespectful of his father. But then, that's what Naderite, failed ballet dancer and failed journalist Ron Reagan Jr. has always been.
Reagan's parents were notoriously remote from their four children. Ron Jr. reportedly had the closest relations with his parents and he remains close with his mother, Nancy Reagan, who as the keeper of the Reagan flame is often called upon to dedicate public sites bearing her husband's name. Reagan says his mother shares is "distrust of some of these [Bush] people. She gets that they're trouble in all kinds of ways. She doesn't like their religious fervor, their aggression."
This reinforces what I have long thought about the pretty boy. There were books and other stories about Nancy's hostility toward the Bushes stemming from GHWB's competing with Ronnie for the GOP nomination in 1980. She was definitely a mother-bear. She was absolutely amazing this week.
You're more than welcome to claim anything you want, as it is my right to press forward with a counterargument. However, you seem to think that you can post whatever you want and be free from any criticism; it doesn't work that way.
I have not heard one word of criticism, that's the point.
You must be one of the souls that believe you can lose your salvation. Show me a scripture. My Bible says I am saved forever. You can only get to heaven on Christ's merits, nothing you can do , good or bad, can affect that.
All three did a great job except for that one line of Ron's. Michael Reagan is by far the most like his father. He also has two beautiful children which I think may be a "jealousy" factor.
"Mike Reagan turned me off with his "I'm going to heaven" line. Arrogant. Only God decides who goes to Heaven."
There is not an arrogant bone in Michael's body and if anyone is going to heaven, he surely will.
I feel for Nancy because she obviously had immense love for her husband. However she was always hateful toward Michael.
And the comment of wearing religion on a sleeve: I am not a religious person in any sense but I would rather have a president like GWB who is sincere in his Christian faith rather than a First Lady who uses stupid New Age crap like astrology behind the scenes.
I guess there's a reason why my grandfather always referred to Ronald Reagan as his "good president who wasn't afraid of Russia" while referring to Nancy as "the Meatball."
Bro, I saw it NO other way...If Ronnie Jr. were pitching, the pitch would have been behind the ear of Dubya Bush.
Amen, bro.
Will Bill Clinton go to heaven when dies?
Gods grace gift of eternal life is there free for every wretched soul on this planet. It is up to the each individual to reach out to God through his Son Jesus Christ and to ask for forgiveness and repent and turn away from his/her sin. Yes, even Bill Clinton can go to heaven. God loves everyone equally. God wants all to have eternal life but he gave us free choice so we would not be automatons. What God created in the beginning was good it was mans choice to sin that separated us from him. But Gods love is also eternal so through Jesus Christ God bridged the gulf for us if we will listen to Him and make Him our personal savior. It is that simple.
What everyone also seems to br overlooking is that I'm sure Nancy knew every word the kids where going to say.
Well, if Clinton is going to heaven, then I'd rather go to hell, because spending eternity with Clinton would be hell.
And neither does President Bush, contrary to what Ron Jr. may think.
Please re-read my remarks to you and see there isn't a speck of "hate" nor rant to be found. I am in complete agreement that the week was a solemn, uplifting, breathtaking display of honor, nobility, ceremony and patriotism, that I will never forget and I will always be grateful to the Reagan family for opening the services for all of us to witness and thereby participate in, in our own way.
This thread, however, was about the remarks specificially of Ron Reagan, and if you wish to ignore them, it is best to not come on and chastise others for discussing them, or worse, pretend the words were not said.
And please note, there is not one bit of "rancor" in the above objective comments.
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