Ronald Reagan Dies - How will you remember him?

[Ned Ludd 10]

I can't help but think that the early stages of Reagan's illness went undiagnosed fo quite a long time..........pehaps for the entire period of his Presidency?

[Tony 10]

Originally posted by boyface

You don't believe that! Thatcher set out to crush the unions

I do believe it, and you got it in one! We disagree because I obviously think it needed doing, whereas you would seemingly rather the unions dictate the economy.

 

Can you please start another thread if you want to continue discussing this?

 

Originally posted by Carmine

I agree that there are indeed such things as last minute repentance and profound changes of heart, but you have to admit that this was hardly motivated by any humanitarian regard for the potential benefits the research could grant the world.

 

The fact that Nancy Regan changed her viewpoint on the issue while her husband was on his death-bed is a poinient image of a powerful figure brought low by a terrible affliction taking the life of her husband. But it's cold comfort for those who have already lost loved-ones who could potentially have lived longer or even been cured by the fruits of stem-cell research.

I agree with every word you said - I was really just making the point.

[Carmine 10]

Point taken!

 

I am a very political tortoise.

[Carmine 10]

BTW: Love the postscript Abe Lin quote.

[Tony 10]

"Nations crumble from within when the citizenry

asks of government those things which

the citizenry might better provide for itself. ...

hope we have once again reminded people that

man is not free unless government is limited.

There's a clear cause and effect here that

is as neat and predictable as a law of physics:

As government expands, liberty contracts."

 

-- Ronald Reagan

(1911-2004) 40th US President

 

 

"The federal government has taken

too much tax money from the people,

too much authority from the states, and

too much liberty with the Constitution."

 

-- Ronald Reagan

(1911-2004) 40th US President

 

 

"Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate!

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

 

-- Ronald Reagan

(1911-2004) 40th US President

Source: Speech Near The Berlin Wall, 1987

[Lickszz 10]

"It's surprising what you can accomplish when no one is concerned about who gets the credit."

[oxbeast 10]

Tony, all those quote were written by his scriptwriters. He could read out a script like he was, welll, an actor. Doesn't mean he came up with them. I read recently that when teh Alzheimers began to take hold, he was still doing speaking engagements. He would stare blankly at prople he had known for years, and then get up and give a great speech, with peauses and stresses in all the right emotional places. He was the epitome of style over substance.

 

 

Reagan cartoon

 

The Proto-Bush

[hotbombshell 10]

Originally posted by Phanerothyme

Seriously though, Ronnie had pretty severe alzheimers at the end there, which I wouldn't wish upon anyone.

 

That can be harsh on friends and family around the person. My nan had alzheimers and when she passed away as much as we missed her atleast she wasnt suffering and we could morn. Where before that you knew she had already left us in spirt and soul but not her body. Its a hard things to deal with!

 

God bless to him

[Jim 10]

It absolutely made my day when I pulled up at a petrol garage and saw that RR was dead. Hurray and a dance - I pulled away with a big grin on my face:D . I have waited years to hear that he was dead and my dissapointment at his longevity can only be tempered with the hope that the last 15 years of his life has been a living hell.

 

Shame on him. Shame on those who choose to remember him with rose tinted spectacles.

 

Harsh? Try telling that to the victims of his aggresive foreign policy. Tey telling that to the people of Nicaragua who paid such a high cost in removing the corrupt dictator only to have Reagan's administration do everything to remove the will of the people.

 

Don't doubt it...the actions of Reagan's administration directly caused misery, tortue, rape and death to many people in Latin America.

 

The claim that he ended the cold war and made the world a safer is pretty hollow. Reagan set out to bankrupt the Soviet Union be accelarating the arms the race. Was his intention to end the cold war? Not necessarily - the people that bank rolled his adn Bush's election campiagn are the same people that profit from his policies.

 

Did the end of the cold war make the world a safer place? Not really - the weapons still exist (lets not kid ourselves that they got rid of the good weapons) just in smaller, poorer states where it is far harder to ensure they ciorrectly looked after.

 

Sometimes when I've been fed up I think to myself - Ronald Rayguns is dead and that helps to cheer me up.

 

May he and his kind rot in hell.

[t020 11]

Jim - wishing that on ANYONE is quite frankly repulsive. I can't believe people would actually think such things. And for the record, were it not for RR the planet would probably now resemble a nucleur winter with no sign of human life.

[Jim 10]

t020 -

were it not for RR the planet would probably now resemble a nucleur winter with no sign of human life

 

I think that's just a little naive. The nuclear threat was exaggerated during the cold war along with Reagan's role in ending it. People should realise that Reagan himself wasn't really in control as President - the guy used to introduce cabinet meetings and then fall asleep till the end ffs.

 

Repulsive? I don't think so. What's repulsive is when someone can wage an illegal war that results in the removal of human rigths for millions; the deaths of thousands (if not 100's of 1000's) and be allowed to live his live out in luxury (even if he was dribbling into his pillow for the mostr part) rather than being tried for his actions.

[Carmine 10]

I was amused by the picture of Margaret Thatcher laying a hand on rambling Ronnie's coffin, the one splashed across the cover of the London Evening Standard last week. The caption droned on and on about how the two had been allies and friends.

 

Then I wondered why the press weren't too quick to trumpet the relationships that Thatcher cultivated with other world leaders such as former Argentinian dictator Augusto Pinochet, since they were dwelling on the right-wing crackpots she associated with whilst in office.