Ronald Reagan

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Let me add, in the Party of Lincoln, there is no room for intolerance and not even a small corner for anti-Semitism or bigotry of any kind. Many people are welcome in our house, but not the bigots.
--Ronald Reagan, acceptance speech to the Republican National Convention, Aug. 23, 1984


*


Some Republicans today might do well to heed those words.

RIP. Alzheimer's is an awful way to both live and die.
 
God bless him.

I'm from Reagan's hometown, and I'll always remember getting to go to one of his birthday parties. I was in second grade. I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Godspeed Mr. Reagan.
 
I've been reflecting on the life Nancy has faced over the last 25 years, particularly the last ten. May God overwhelm her with His peace and comfort.
 
So the reports were not exaggerated. :( Good bye Mr. Reagan, may history be kind to you.

I'm not one for politicians, but he was one of our better presidents. Like Bono, he had charisma. He was a strong leader and I always felt safe with him in charge. There was a reason people elected this man twice in huge landslides. I don't believe the country or the world would have been a better place if Carter had gotten a second term or Mondale had gotten in. I am actually surprised at the amount of negativity toward him, considering everthing.
 
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anyone who knows me knows i didn't think reagan was the best president. still, he was the leader for some good that happened during the 80s. and regardless of that, i've gotta respect him for being president.

like others have said, alzheimers is a terrible way to live and to die. i'm glad he is at least somewhere now where he has no ailments and remembers his wife nancy will be with him soon. :(
 
i thought we were putting the disrespectful posts in the other thread.

oh wait... you already did.

:|
 
Screaming Flower said:
i thought we were putting the disrespectful posts in the other thread.

oh wait... you already did.

:|
Click to expand...

I know, I can't believe somebody went to so much trouble to come up with every single possible fault they could find on him and use it as a prayer of all things.

When I started this thread, I had no idea it was going to get this bad. I know not everyone is a fan of his, but, damn, I am literally floored by the animosity, cruelty and the digging up of dirt on a barely cold body, no matter who it is. I wouldn't do this to my worst enemy or a possum I didn't like. I am shocked and saddened.
 
Could a mod please remove that post and put it elswhere. I am amazed at the fact that people cannot leave one thread to pay respects and the other to do what they wish.

Shame on people who can't.
 
wolfeden, we had separate threads for a reason.

Do you know how much trouble it is to remove one post from a thread?

I hope you feel your statement was worth it.

:|
 
Totally uncalled for wolfeden. Your journal entry was shocking enough but, hey, its your journal...but to use prayer of all things to spout hate...unbelievable.




Rest in peace RR.
 
Yes, I do feel it was worth it. I have no more reason to "respect" this man's passing than I do that of Pol Pot or Oliver Cromwell.

My family was ripped apart by AIDS while that man did nothing but say it was "God's punishment." He alone had the unique opportunity to have slowed the spread of HIV. He wouldn't even TALK ABOUT IT until the end of his presidency, let alone fund research and prevention.

Maybe you never had to nurse your own family and friends through their horrific deaths from AIDS complications. I hope you never do.

I hope you never had to be the ones forced from school or work because someone "found out" someone in your home had HIV and their minds instantly clouded with the hateful rhetoric cloaked in religion that Reagan spewed. Came home to find "DIE FAGGOTS" splashed on your front door. Had parents of your schoolmates demand you be given blood tests -- and you were not even the one infected. Told to your face that your family and friends were dying because it was "God's punishment" for "sinning", like Reagan said so famously.

I honestly hope none of you castigating me understand, to tell the truth. I hope you never do.

If there was one man who could have stopped the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or one man who coould have stopped 9-11, and did not because they felt they were 'divine retribution'... there would be no kind words for them upon their deaths either.

Reagan had no respectful words for those who die every day of AIDS, only sanctimonious hatred cloaked in religion. Why then should I have such for him?
 
If you want to make Reagan the focal point of your hatred over the terror that is AIDS, that is your prerogative. Perhaps his passing will be a source of relief for you.

Either way, I hope you do find peace.
 
From the Presidential Library site:

?Whatever else history may say about me when I?m gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty?s lamp guiding your steps and opportunity?s arm steadying your way.?
 
Wolfeden, I am terribly sorry for what you have faced. No one deserves to deal with the bigotry, hatred, and ignorance that has scarred you. For all of those who claim Christ, I deeply apologize.

I won't for a second say that I understand what you're feeling, but please know that this hatred will not bring the healing you desire. Don't let this fire consume you.
 
wolfeden said:
Yes, I do feel it was worth it. I have no more reason to "respect" this man's passing than I do that of Pol Pot or Oliver Cromwell.

My family was ripped apart by AIDS while that man did nothing but say it was "God's punishment." He alone had the unique opportunity to have slowed the spread of HIV. He wouldn't even TALK ABOUT IT until the end of his presidency, let alone fund research and prevention.

Maybe you never had to nurse your own family and friends through their horrific deaths from AIDS complications. I hope you never do.

I hope you never had to be the ones forced from school or work because someone "found out" someone in your home had HIV and their minds instantly clouded with the hateful rhetoric cloaked in religion that Reagan spewed. Came home to find "DIE FAGGOTS" splashed on your front door. Had parents of your schoolmates demand you be given blood tests -- and you were not even the one infected. Told to your face that your family and friends were dying because it was "God's punishment" for "sinning", like Reagan said so famously.

I honestly hope none of you castigating me understand, to tell the truth. I hope you never do.

If there was one man who could have stopped the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or one man who coould have stopped 9-11, and did not because they felt they were 'divine retribution'... there would be no kind words for them upon their deaths either.

Reagan had no respectful words for those who die every day of AIDS, only sanctimonious hatred cloaked in religion. Why then should I have such for him?
Click to expand...

I don't believe Reagan said that. Everything he said was written by scriptwriters and spin doctors, and no politician would risk something like that. Jerry Falwell, maybe, not the President. Where's the proof? I think that was Jesse Helms, who has since retracted.

I also don't believe he ignored funding that much. In those days it was early in our knowledge about the disease and not much could be done about something we didn't understand. I'm sure there was some funding, maybe not as much as you would have liked, but I'm sure there was some.
 
I'm still waiting for someone to post me proof that Reagan himself said that, I don't believe it. I think it's an assumption and bad rap that has become associated with him, but he himself never said it.

After reading your diary Wolfeden, I am shocked. I disagree that he 'could have stopped it.' We knew far less about the disease than we do now, and all these years of research later and with all the billions pumped into it, it's still not cured. So I don't think more money would have done any good back then. Even if he cried his eyes out for it, it still would have had to go through both houses of congress. Your hatred and rage may be partly misplaced.

Wanna know who I blame for the AIDS crisis getting out of control? The blood industry, who refused to accept that it was spread through blood because it was too terrible to be true for them, and a disaster financially. They got most of their donations from prostitutes and druggies, just the types of people who would be at high risk for it. It was believed as early as 1982 that it spread through blood, but it wasn't until 1985 that it was proven and testing was made mandatory. By then, countless people had been infected through transfusions and needles they could have avoided if they had known. We lost most living hemophiliacs because the clotting medication they used was contaminated. It's a tragedy of epic proportions. Much of this is documented in the movie And the Band Played On.

About the way AIDS infected people were treated in the 80's, that is sad. But it is not Reagan's fault. You have to remember that it was such a new thing back then, and we really weren't sure of ways it could be spread. There were new reports and contradictions on the news almost nightly. Blood, no, yes, no, yes. Toothbrush, no, then yes. Mother's milk, yes, no, yes. Casual contact, no, but who knows about tommorrow? Mosquitoes were even questioned. I admit it was frightening and I was terrified of catching it. It's not just a cold, it's your life. People were hysterical with fear and rightly so. Yes some patients were avoided, people didn't understand, the facts were not all in and they feared for their very lives. There was NO excuse for the bigotry and cruelty you describe though. But it wasn't only gay people, or even just druggies and hookers. Even little kids who got it from hemophilia medication and old people who got it in blood transfusions were feared too. Those were frantic times until we found out for sure it was not spread through casual contact. It's all very sad. But it also happened in the ancient times to lepers and in the middle ages with the black plague. It wasn't just because a lot of gays had it. If that was the only issue for some people, that's awful.
 
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I saw some heartbreaking pictures of Nancy laying her head on the flag draped coffin. I won't post them because I don't believe in posting funeral pics. But I will post this one, it was part of a memorial set up for him. One of the things I remember about him is that he loved jelly beans.

capt.sge.clm65.080604160359.photo00.default-384x256.jpg


One other thing to mention about him is that he is the first president to survive the "Tecumseh" or "Zero" curse. Every since 1840, after a curse was laid on Washington by a the famous chief, every president elected in a year ending in zero has died in office, starting with the one he put it on first, William H. Harrison, who caught pneumonia at this inaugural and died about a month later.

Other zero year presidents to die in office:

William Henry Harrison, 1840, pneumonia
Abraham Lincoln, 1860, assassination
James Garfield, 1880, assassination
William McKinley, 1900, assassination
Warren G. Harding, 1920, health problems, but other rumors and conspiracy theories exist
FDR, 1940, stroke
JFK, 1960, assassination
Ronald Reagan, 1980, survived it.

No president elected in a year not ending in zero has ever died in office.
 
Seabird said:
This is a link to a story about how his policies helped bring down Communism in Europe and end the cold war.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5145921/

There's also a lot of interactive things about his life, and one on the cold war.
Click to expand...

Another interesting thing I thought of

The Soviet Union 1917-1991

Ronald Reagan 1911-2004

An evil empire so short lived a man could be present at its birth and still be alive at its demise.
 
I watched the part of the ceremony when the motorcade came up and the body was transferred to, what is that thing, a "quezon"? It's a French word for something they use to carry the body in up Constitution Avenue, drawn by a horse. It really was a sight, and to hear the history professor talking about the significance of everything on CNN's coverage was really fascinating.
 
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