The End of a Legend

I am going to miss the man. He was a great man and one of the best presidents of modern history (IMHO).

I just hope that where ever he is now, that he has his mind back. His degradation over the last few years must have been horrible for him.

Yeah. He was really funny, too.
"This man (Clinton) says that he is the new Thomas Jefferson. Well, I knew Thomas Jefferson."

I was glad to see him leave the White House, and I was glad to see him leave public life. I'm sorry he got such a terrible disease, and it's sad when anyone dies. But he had a long life, and his passing doesn't change my extremely negative view about him as a public figure.

Matt

Wow... pretty harsh... I know he wasn't perfect, but he was instumental in the downfall of the Soviet Union (something I know about first hand), he brought pride back to being an American, and he was and will always be considered one of the greatest Presidents the country has ever had.

I was naught but a kid during Reagan's Presidency. I wasn't able to vote until George H.W. Bush's reelection run in '92. But I saw what happened to the Soviet Union from within the Soviet Union and from the eyes of Soviets. I was told that Reagan was hated by Soviet leaders, but loved by Russians, Latvian's, Estonians, Georgians, etc. They loved him for what he did: He puffed up his chest, looked down his nose at Communism, and said "Bring it on..."

Like I said, he wasn't perfect. There will always be the Iran-Contra debacle, and there were times that he got facts just plain wrong. But Reaganomics ended up working. It worked well enough to make Clinton look good, anyway..

I have a lot that I could say about President Ronald Reagan. A lot that I remember. A lot that I've learned since. But I cannot convey the sense of American pride conveyed in a firm handshake and a confident smile that turned a hippy peace-nik left-wing liberal high school sophomore into a conservative. I will simply end by saying:

Good night, Dutch. God speed.

I was in my teens during the Reagan years - and being such I believed all the propoganda from the left that he was senile, or crazy, or a war-loving hate-monger. Gadzooks, I was a naiive little socialist who believed that there were such utopian ideals as a fair economic system for all and that the state could solve all our problems if only we made enough rules...

Anyhoo, enough of my subtle distaste for the foolishness of my youth. With the gift of hindsight, I can see what a great man he truly was.

He and Thatcher were probably the only politicians I'll see in my lifetime whose actions were decided by their beliefs, not by opinion polls and electioneering.

From his run-in with the air traffic controllers in '81 to the downfall of the USSR, he brought pride and prosperity to America, and indirectly to the rest of much of the world.

He made mistakes... after all, he was a politician, and human, but he walked closer to his ideals and love of America than few in office before him, and any since.

our country has lost a great man

"The Great Communicator" is now communicating
on a much higher level.

RIP Ron, You are not forgotten and never will be!

God speed.

I'm soooo not harsh, comparatively speaking. Consider:

http://slate.msn.com/id/2101842/

Matt

Granted, what you stated was mild compared to the vitriolic filth spewed like so much vomit by some bitter left-wingers.

But:

It's harsh to be speaking that way about any dead man who isn't even in the ground yet.

I'm not talking about placating the masses with flowery exagerations... But DAMN! can't you even show a modicum of respect for a man that was elected President TWICE? I don't care if you voted for him or not, he was still President, and that deserves some respect.

Being president doesn't make me respect anyone, personally. You have to earn my respect. I grew up with Reagan, and he didn't earn it. Very few politicians have, really. And I'm not just being anti-republican. I'm not really all that fond of John Kerry for instance, but I think John McCain is great. I'm an independent, and vote by the issues, not the party.

Reagan's death hasn't made me respect him any more, either. That may sound harsh, but the truth is I feel for his family's loss, just as I would in any person's case, but I'm not going to pretend that I liked him as my president just because he's dead. I've had my own experiences with death, and I would be mighty upset if someone was trashing a very good friend of mine that passed away, which is why I won't badmouth our ex-president here. But that doesn't mean that I have to like him all of a sudden.