Very sad news. Nine years is a long time to watch someone you love wither and fade away. I hope his family can now begin to heal.
Country
(By the way, none of us Liberals are happy to see anyone die. And there is no celebrating here.)
Breaking news: RONALD REAGAN HAS DIED TODAY
by sf 38 Replies latest social current
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SixofNine
Statement from Senator John Kerry on the Death of Ronald Reagan
June 05, 2004
For Immediate Release
Boston, MA
Senator John Kerry released the following statement today:
?Ronald Reagan's love of country was infectious. Even when he was breaking Democrats hearts, he did so with a smile and in the spirit of honest and open debate. Despite the disagreements, he lived by that noble ideal that at 5pm we weren't Democrats or Republicans, we were Americans and friends. President Reagan and Tip O'Neill fought hard and honorably on many issues, and sat down together to happily swap jokes and the stories of their lives. The differences were real, but because of the way President Reagan led, he taught us that there is a big difference between strong beliefs and bitter partisanship.
?He was the voice of America in good times and in grief. When we lost the brave astronauts in the Challenger tragedy, he reminded us that, ?Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue.?
?Now, his own journey has ended-a long and storied trip that spanned most of the American century-and shaped one of the greatest victories of freedom. Today in the face of new challenges, his example reminds us that we must move forward with optimism and resolve. He was our oldest president, but he made America young again.
?Our prayers are with his family, and the wife he loved in a way all the world could see. And to the end, she loved him with courage and complete devotion. She helped all of us better understand the cruel disease that took him away before it took his life, and what we must do to prevent and cure it.
?Teresa and I and our family extend our deepest sympathies to Nancy Reagan and the Reagan family. Today, from California to Maine - ?from sea to shining sea? - Americans will bow their heads in prayer and gratitude that President Reagan left such an indelible stamp on the nation he loved.? -
Gamaliel
I had a lot of respect for the man's political abilities. I know that no politician always uses their political abilities for good purposes, but that's part of politics. His ability to help the American people be optimistic and believe in a more positive future is one of the jobs of a good president.
I've been arguing with my son over this today, and he tells me, with all due respect, that Reagan was responsible for the deaths of more people than Pol Pot.
Say it ain't so! -
Double Edge
I've been arguing with my son over this today, and he tells me, with all due respect, that Reagan was responsible for the deaths of more people than Pol Pot.
Say it ain't so!It ain't so!
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got my forty homey?
What perplexed me about Reagan was that we didn't see him at all in the past 9 years. I wish we could have even in his sickly state. He was a great speaker, and invented the decade of greed which Clinton revived in the 90's.
Even though his "pulling yourself up by the bootstraps" baloney was crap I still remember him as a young teenager as a President who was a President. Not like the bumbling idiots we've had after him. Senior Bush was a idiot, Clinton didn't care about anything but the polls, Bush Junior is no Reagan, thats for sure, Carter was a stupid idiot, Nixon was a liar, Johnson was a bumbling idiot. So he really was a President that will always be hard to match.
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Amazing1914
When Ronald Reagan took office, Iran held American hostages. Inflation was abround 12% to 15%. Mortgage interest was at 17% (I was luckly, because my mortgage was only 16%) and few people could buy a house ... unemployment was at 10% and rising ... and the economy was in a mess. The upper marginal income tax rate was 70%. The Soviet Union was making hell around the world, either directly, or through its subordinate puppet states.
Reagan launched the greatest and longest post-war (WWII for the young people) economic boom, a boom that George Sr. and Clinton inherited. He forced the conditions which led to the fall of the Soviet Union and Communism around the world ... all without a shot being fired. Tax rates were brought down to 28%. Unemployment reduced to 4% or less. And now today we enjoy 6% mortgage rates.
He had trouble with the Iran-Contra scandal, but I agreed with his actions ... the scandale went away. While the lower tax rates boomed the economy, which brought in more tax revenue by virtue of the growth, the spend-happy members of congress managed to keep over-spending ... my only complaint about Reagan is that he signed the spending bills. I wish he would have shut down the government until Congress got serious about spending cuts.
Ronald Reagan achieved far more in eight years than Franklin Roosevelt did in 14 years as President ... and the claims that he killed more people than Pol Pot is typical of the radical idiots who refuse to take an honest look at history. Ronald Reagan had nothing to do with mass killings of any kind. - Jim W.
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bisous
Summary Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, to parents Jack and Nelle Reagan in Tampico, Illinois. Reagan had one older brother, Neil. His parents referred to him as "Dutch" growing up because his father claimed he looked like a fat little Dutchman. The Reagans didn't have much money, so they moved throughout the Midwest in search of work while Reagan was growing up until they finally settled in Dixon , Illinois, when young Dutch was roughly twelve years old. Reagan finished school there and graduated from his high school with athletic and extracurricular honors.
Eureka College , a school run by the Disciples of Christ . Once again, Reagan established himself as a student leader. Although his grades weren't excellent, he graduated from the college in 1932 with undergraduate degrees in sociology and economics.
Depression ; however, Reagan kept his spirits up. He was turned down everywhere he went until he finally landed a job as a radio announcer for the WOC radio station. With his charismatic personality and amicable voice, he was soon transferred to a larger sister station in Des Moines called the WHO . In Des Moines, Reagan became a sportscaster and broadcasted the local university football games as well as the Chicago Cubs games from Wrigley Field. Because he was such a success on the airwaves, he was paid well and became very popular.
Love is in the Air. He made roughly fifteen movies during his first two years in Hollywood. Much as he had in Des Moines, Reagan grew more and more popular and was given better scripts for better movies. His two greatest movies were Knute Rockne, All American in which he played the legendary football star George Gipp, and King's Row for which he nearly won an Academy Award. During World War II Reagan served in the First Motion Picture Unit and made training films for bomber pilots. During his motion picture career, Reagan appeared in over fifty films.
Jane Wyman . The couple raised two children together, Maureen and Michael (their third child died after a premature birth). They were married for eight years until they divorced in 1948. Reagan later married actress Nancy Davis in 1952. They had two children together as well, Ron and Patricia . Reagan remained married to Nancy for the rest of his life.
Screen Actors Guild . It was also during this time that Reagan switched political parties, from Democrat to Republican.
Pat Brown . As governor, Reagan tried to cut government spending and taxes. He also slashed many liberal social welfare programs that he believed the state governments shouldn't provide. In 1969, he sent the National Guard to occupy the Berkeley campus of the University of California in order to end the violent student protests over People's Park . The rioters protested and the National Guard had to use force to end the protest. Many students were injured and one student died. This was by far the most stunning event during Reagan's two gubernatorial terms.
Gerald Ford in the Republican primaries, and lost. He bounced right back in 1980, though, and took on liberal Republican George Bush in the primaries. He defeated Bush, and then offered him the vice presidential position on the Republican ticket. The two went on to defeat President Jimmy Carter (who had defeated Ford in 1976). In 1981, at the age of sixty-nine years, Reagan became the oldest man to ever be elected President of the United States.
John Hinckley shot the President on March 30, 1981. Strangely, Hinckley shot Reagan not to make a political statement, but to impress young actress Jodie Foster. After emergency surgery, Reagan pulled through. Then, in August of the same year, Reagan fired 13,000 air-traffic control tower workers throughout the country when they refused to follow his order and return to work from their strike.
Arthur Laffer . During the 1980 Republican primary race, Bush referred to this theory as voodoo economics because he?like many others?believed these policies would never work in real life. In retrospect, many economists today agree with Bush.
SDI or Star Wars , had projected costs of over $1 trillion alone, although the project was eventually scrapped. Reagan did this to prepare for a possible attack from the Soviet Union with which American had been fighting the Cold War since the mid 1940s. Ironically, despite all his preparations, when Reagan left the presidency relations between the US and USSR had actually improved because of the efforts made by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbechev . Gorbechev and Reagan signed several treaties during Reagan's second term that reduced the production of nuclear arms in both countries.
Grenada in 1982 and supported the Contras in Nicaragua , even after Congress made it illegal for him to do so. During his presidency, the US also sent peacekeeping forces to Lebanon and bombed the terrorist-supporting country of Libya.
Walter Mondale in a landslide victory. Much of Reagan's second term was mired in the Iran-Contra scandal in which Reagan was accused of selling arms to Iran to raise money to help the anti-Communists in Nicaragua.
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avishai
Or the ramifications of his nuclear buildup?
Most analysts now know the US overestimated Soviet power for DECADES. And, as a side effect of the REAGEN LED nuclear build-up we have more WMD than ever before, and in more nations than ever before. Thanks
#1, we don't "give" nukes to anyone
He did'nt oversestimate the Soviet union at all. He knew exactly how broke they were in comparison to us. The ramifications of the nuclear buildup was that the soviets went broke trying to keep up, the cold war was over, and the soviet union dissolved. Yes, the USSR, "lost" weapons of mass destruction. Things could get bad on a small scale. But it's nothing like what could have happened if the USA and USSR had a full scale nuke war.
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talesin
An old man who suffered with Alzheimer's has just died. He had a successful career and none of us knew him personally. I feel bad for his family, in a general sense. Other than that, he was just another fat-cat politician who had his good and bad sides. But I'm sure it will make good fodder for yet another political argument.
RIP Ronald Reagan
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L_A_Big_Dawg
Great post Avi!!!!!