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thedrifter
11-04-05, 07:03 AM
Reagan's Silver Glow
By Paul Beston
Published 11/4/2005 12:14:46 AM

Even back in November 1980, a time that seems so far removed from our technological age, political campaigns knew things long before the voters did. Both Ronald Reagan's and Jimmy Carter's insiders understood a day or so before the election that the President was done for. Weekend polling told Patrick Caddell what he needed to know, and he passed the word along to Carter. Reagan was going to become the next president.

For all the American people knew, the race was still essentially a toss-up, though it had seemed to be moving slightly in Reagan's direction. The week before, the two candidates faced off in their only debate. History remembers that night for two Reagan lines that have become part of our political vocabulary, for good or ill: "There you go again," which must be the most overhyped political one-liner of all time; and "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" which largely deserves the stature it attained, as one of the great framing devices any politician has used.

But Reagan was much more than one-liners. The reason those sound bites resonated so much in the 1980 debate was that they came in the context of his all-around strong performance, outclassing Carter not just in quips but in content, command, and presence. The lines were just ribbons on a box.

For voters, the debate performance seemed to put to rest the fear the media and the opposition had been drumming up about Reagan as a reckless cowboy who would "push the button." That was always founded in politics, not reality. Even as a mere 14-year-old at the time, I'd sensed immediately that Reagan was not dangerous, but that he was tough.

I'd first heard him speak in July, 1980, when I sat on the floor of my family's living room in Illinois, watching him accept the Republican presidential nomination in Detroit. My father sat behind me in his reading chair, holding the newspaper up as he was wont to do, but mostly peering over it at the TV, the way he did on those rare occasions when what was being broadcast was better than what he was reading.

The man on the screen was sublime. I'd never heard anyone talk that way before, not at my youthful age, in the waning months of the worst presidency of the American century. It didn't seem, in Jimmy Carter's America, that politicians could say things like:

The major issue of this campaign is the direct political, personal and moral responsibility of Democratic Party leadership....They say that the United States has had its day in the sun; that our nation has passed its zenith. They expect you to tell your children that the American people no longer have the will to cope with their problems; that the future will be one of sacrifice and few opportunities.

My fellow citizens, I utterly reject that view. The American people, the most generous on earth, who created the highest standard of living, are not going to accept the notion that we can only make a better world for others by moving backwards ourselves. Those who believe we can have no business leading the nation.

I will not stand by and watch this great country destroy itself under mediocre leadership that drifts from one crisis to the next, eroding our national will and purpose...



Reagan was inspiring that night, but he was also, at points, just short of angry and irritable. That phrase -- "I utterly reject that view!" -- was delivered with a pursed lip expression he rarely wore in public. He must have been some kind of magician, though, because he seemed to be talking directly to both me and Jimmy Carter. He didn't sound like a madman. If anything, he sounded like my father, the most sensible man I knew.

On election night, the newscasts had barely gotten started when they were announcing that Carter was going to concede, a gesture grounded in empirical logic -- the election was lost -- but also in Carter's customarily disastrous political judgment. Getting on television and conceding the election before the polls had closed on the West Coast was a perfect expression of the wreckage that he had brought to his country and his party. Even today, Democrats fume about it, and with good reason. For myself, I was grateful to President Peanut for conceding before my bedtime. I could never watch the second half of Monday Night Football, but at least I knew who our next president was.

I remember Carter coming into the hall of his election headquarters to make his concession speech, wearing that hapless, hangdog look on his face, an expression that is etched into my memories of growing up. I did pity him. The poor man, I thought, he tried his best. And I thought then that he was a good man, though 25 years later I'm not so sure.

So Carter would go. And with him would go the "crisis of confidence," which he had both inflicted and reflected; the willful refusal to distinguish friends from enemies; the "shock" at the presence of evil in the world; the hectoring self-righteousness and spiritual emptiness; the paralysis in taking action, like a father unwilling to defend his sons in a fight. God help this country if another man like him comes along anytime soon. A great country's Carters should be spaced out by at least a century.

I remember less about Reagan's victory speech. Having won, he had less need of oration beyond expressing his thanks and his confidence in the future, a note he would never stop sounding. The important thing was that we would be seeing much more of Reagan and much less of Carter. Eventually, Carter would develop a shadow ex-presidency every bit as sanctimonious and wrong-headed as his real one, but that is another story. Reagan would serve two terms, change history, and leave Washington with the gratitude of his countrymen ringing in his ears. He had no need for shadows, and the monuments are going up.

"Thank God," my father said to someone on the telephone that night. Our phone kept ringing.

"And so," one of the newscasters intoned as Reagan departed the victory stage, "it is over." It was. And then something else began.

Paul Beston is a writer in New York.

Ellie

http://p089.ezboard.com/bthefontmanscommunity

yellowwing
11-04-05, 09:27 AM
Reagan Loved Our Service People Like A Father Loves His Son
By Rick Erickson (06/14/04)
The American Daily (http://www.americandaily.com/article/1272)
In 1991, inspired and influenced by Ronald Reagan and his presidency, I joined the U.S. Marine Corps. President Reagan said that, by becoming a Marine, I could make a difference, and I believed every word.

As a native Californian, I was too young to vote for Governor Reagan and, as an American, I was too young to vote for President Reagan. I was, nevertheless, one of the thousands so moved by his politics and so motivated by his patriotism that I read and watched everything I could about him and followed his lead in every possible way.

I came to learn that, as an unabashed conservative, President Reagan faced great political odds and hateful criticism. I experienced this in college when my professor refused to budge from giving me a “B” grade of 89 on a paper praising Reagan’s ability to build coalitions from traditionally Democrat voting blocs. The professor literally told me that he just could not attach an “A” grade to “a Reagan paper.”

I also came to learn that, above all, President Reagan was passionate about his command of our military and that he personally bonded with service people unlike any president in American history.

I remember the day before my birthday in 1983, when a suicide bomber brought down the Marine barracks in Beirut, and I distinctly recall the anguish in President Reagan’s face as he explained to the Nation that 346 Marines lay dead below the rubble. In Ronald Reagan, The Presidential Portfolio, definitive Reagan biographer, Lou Cannon, reproduced Reagan’s hand-written speech, in which he directly addressed lingering questions about why Marines were there and the cause for which they died.

Typical of President Reagan, he did not dodge and cover the controversy. He went straight into American living rooms and answered our questions like a president should. In that speech, President Reagan also explained what is equally true today, that the Middle East “is key to the economic and political life of the West.” No doubt he would agree with our efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq today, but that he would grieve over the loss of life necessary to defeat terrorism at its source.

President Reagan was, after all, respected by friend and foe for being decisively committed to the promises he made to the electorate. People forget that, on October 25, 1983, two short days after tragedy in Beirut, President Reagan ordered Marines into another theater of war to stop Communist expansion in Grenada.

Political opponents tried to characterize Grenada as another example of Reagan’s war mongering. To most Americans, however, Grenada was additional proof that Reagan was determined to win the Cold War by defeating Communist expansion from little Caribbean islands to large Eastern bloc countries. The strategy was criticized all along the way, but was proven victorious in the end.

Military people loved Reagan for sticking to his guns, and he returned the love in kind by honoring service people from top to bottom. In Ronald Reagan, An American Life, he recalled the story behind his practice of returning salutes from military guards despite being told that presidents did not historically do so.

It troubled President Reagan that service people assigned to his security would hold their salutes without any acknowledgement or courtesy in return. Not wanting to affront military courtesies, however, President Reagan consulted Marine Commandant Al Gray, who responded that if the President of the United States started returning salutes, “I don’t think anyone would say anything to you about it.” The practice continues with President Bush today.

On June 11, 2004, during the playing of Taps at President Reagan’s Simi Valley resting place, photographers caught Marine Sergeant Ethan Rocke holding back tears while giving a final salute. The picture of Sergeant Rocke saluting with his hand perfectly stiff and aligned, combined with his strained and emotional expression, says everything about Reagan’s relationship with the military and his fatherly presence over our troops. I can only imagine that it troubled President Reagan’s spirit that Sergeant Rocke’s salute went unreturned.

God Bless Ronald Reagan
http://www.ywg-web.com/images/reagan-marine-salute.jpg

junker316
11-04-05, 11:48 AM
I was old enough to remember all teh above. I was 10 when he came into the presidentcy. I remember all that he did for our beauitful and caring country. I also remember when, the then, President Carter, was going to negoiate with terrorist that high-jacked a plane and held American hostages it for over 300 days. President Reagan told the terrorist that if he became President of the USA that he was going to GET HIS AMERICANS BACK at all cost. I knew then that he was a man of his word and it inspired me to join the military in 1988 while he was still President of our Country. President Reagan was well known as a movie star for Westerns, War movies, and the such. But he showed that he was also very capable of running the United States of America in the right direction. He would never negoiate with terrorists nor would he let his American people down. He held his military to the highest standards possible and was thankful for each and every one of us that served, were serving, or rested before reaching the Pearley Gates. President Reagan showed compassion for all of us. He wouldn't commit his Military to any service of the world unless he though it through, he made sure that his military was taken care of, and he made sure that America would remain ahead of the times and not fall backwards to please the rest of the world. There is nothing I could ever say bad about that great President. He wopuldn't allow a debate to go through what this last one was, a who did what and who did it better and who did it when. It was more of a shame that a debate. More like a grade school playground arguement that what I would expect from grown men running for President to run a strong country like ours. All those that follow him have huge shoes to try to fit into. Even though each President wishes to make their own path during their time in the Presidentcy, they should all look at what President Reagan did and was going to do and learn from him. Learn to walk his walk and talk his type of talk. Learn to lead from the front and follow through with what they promise. Learn to treat America as it should be treated.

the mac
11-16-05, 03:15 AM
thank you both for reminding me just who i am, everything said in this thread brings me back to my time , when i joined, why i joined ,who was president, the hostages, beruit, grenada , i turned 18 in 80 joined in 81 and i must of somehow forgot the intense, the history, the momment of the Reagon years the best time of my life , and the saddest, thanks again for jarring memorys long forgot i really mean that. Sempre fi