Reagan was the first President whom I can consciously remember knowing was the leader of our country. His last year in office was when I was in 8th grade, so I never had the pleasure of voting for him, but he was an inspirational leader. I remember, even at that age, being held in rapt attention by his speeches, such as the “Tear Down That Wall!” speech and the D-Day 40th anniversary, as well as his address to the nation after the Challenger explosion. He defined the second half of the 20th century the way FDR defined the first; we lost a great man and a great American, and he will truly be missed.
It’s amazing, watching the coverage, that those who knew him best are saddened, but can’t help but tell stories about his inspiration, warmth and courage. Each of the speakers talks of his personal character, and how he took the time to personally interact with the people with whom he came into contact, from the drivers and kitchen staff up to the members of his cabinet. A truly good, steadfast man.
The man was a stalwart who won the Cold War. He also understood politics in a way that few contemporaries can - one of his best friends throughout his political career was Tip O’Neill, the very liberal statesmen.
Reagan understood that the battle of ideas has opponents, not enemies.
To folks like Paul - uneducated and foolish - the fact that you can spout off like an ignorant wretch is attributable to the freedom that Reagan help protect by staring down totalitarian communism.
RAINJACK, this is an open forum and it’s meant to voice people’s opinions. Sometimes we may or may not agree, but we can’t evaluate someone unless we see both sides of the coin. Did he do good things? Yes he did. Did he do bad things? Of course he did. I’m just voicing an opinion from another perspective. If the truth hurts, that’s tough.
STEELYEYES, it’s called F R E E D O M O F S P E E C H, as a good American you should know what it means. It’s funny how you defend that same right but on the other hand when someone disagrees with you you tell them to fuck off. I’m not compelled to bow to anyone or kiss anyone’s ass, and NO I don’t care if I’m “politically correct” or not and I don’t care to jump on the latest bandwagon. He fucked us up in Latin America and that’s the truth.
By the way if I’m so samll and insignificant, how did I manage to piss you off?
Good arguments buddy, I see that your cognitive skills are very advanced.
Technically there is not ‘Free Speech’ on this board. Read the terms of use to which you agreed to. And really, resorting to ‘its about free speech’ as an argument that it is okay to spew hate is weak.
This thread was started by people who want to pay respects to Reagan. Why can’t you accept that and have some courtesy and respect, which will go a long way to making you a better person.
Freedom of speech does not protect you from criticism for your opinions. That is others exercising THEIR freedom of speech. It’s amazing how many people overlook that.
Also, with freedom comes responsibility. You chose to exercise your freedom of speech in a way many would find uncouth, untoward and offensive. When one chooses to scream “FUCK” outside a church, one is responsible in the eyes of others for the manner in which he expressed himself.
The person who started this thread asked that this thread not be used for criticism of President Reagan. You chose to disrespect that request, when it would have been just as easy to begin your own thread and say whatever you wanted. You did so with knowledge of the request, and, I assume, with an idea of why it was made. If you lose respect in the eyes of others for this, it is no one’s fault but your own.
The passing of Ronald Reagan is the first time I can remember feeling a personal sense of loss at the singular passing of a major public figure. I was not born yet when LBJ died, and when Nixon died, while I knew of him, his whole political career occured before my cognizence.
At the same time, while I feel the loss, it is not the same thing as the feeling of tragedy that occurred with September 11, or when the space shuttles exploded. I imagine it is much different from the sense people had, when JFK was assassinated, that the country was robbed of so much potential. I am certain it is because Reagan served his terms and accomplished his goals, and finally passed on as an old man who had lived a full life.
Still, though Reagan accomplished so much, there is yet the sense of loss from the passing of a great man. He will be missed.
A man in New Jersey spent 3 days in jail because he said “shit” when his rowboat flipped over. A police officer was around, along with children, he was arrested and charged… just a bit on the free speech thing there
I was going to respond to kike but the Barrister dealt with it just fine.
Most of the time I was running around under the Pacific and Indian Oceans from 80-86 Reagan was the CIC. We were on one of the fronts of the cold war at the time and his policies directly affected us. We were better off under him than we had been under Carter (I joined the Navy in 77, it takes a while to train us nuke guys) and even though he pissed off a few people in Latin America there were a lot more in the US and Europe that were happy with what he did for them.
I know a lot of people from common backgrounds that grew to be adults during his tenure in office and just about all of them did fine. I guess his domestic policies were OK for most of the blue collar, public school people like my friends. You could throw money at the poor and make the liberals happy but a look at any lotto winner a couple of years after they took the winning ticket back to the trailer park will show you that money does not cure all ills. Basically no matter what you do, even if it’s nothing like Gerald Ford, people will bitch.
BostonBarrister, telling someone to fuck off and telling someone that he is insignificant and small is not criticism, that’s called… well I don’t know what you call it, but definetly shows the level of intelligence and culture the person has. Now, you say I offended people by saying what i said. Then I guess the truth hurts. What happened in Latin America was no joke, if you had gone through it you would understand. The analogy I think is a little bit exaggerated… America is no church and you ain’t no saints.
Rainmaker, I’m not spewing hate… hate is what Al Qaeda has done to your people. What I’m saying is just an opinion based on personal experience and facts. Got it?
Muerto el perro, se acaba la rabia.
SteelyEyes, dealt with me how??? You think it does anything to me? For crying out loud this is freakin’ cyberspace, you take it a little too serious, blah, blah, blah.
Ronald Reagan became president at a time when the country needed a leader.
In the late 1970s, interest rates were near 20%, inflation was nearly equally as high and the term “misery index” was coined to describe the combined economic hardship America was facing. Add to that long gas lines and the nuclear threat of the cold war, the problems we face today nearly pale in comparison.
Ronald Reagan came into office and gave the country a sense of direction. A sense of purpose. He initiated tax cuts to give strength to the economy and under his vision, he not only guided the United States out of the economic hardships, but brought down the Soviet Union. There was an interview with a Soviet general and I’ll have to paraphrase, but he said something like, “once Reagan started talking about Star Wars, we knew we couldn’t keep up.”
Ronald Reagan propelled the United States into its position as the lone world super power and gave birth to the 1990’s, where for the first time in generations, people didn’t live with the constant threat of nuclear war. The threat of Khrushchev banging his shoe on the UN podium shouting, “We will burry you!” had been replaced with Glasnost.
Ronald Reagan is an American hero. God bless Ronald Reagan.
Among other things…Reagan brought pride back to us in the armed forces. After the malaise of Carter…moral was pretty low…not unlike the “Schlickmeister” himself although Clinton did have the balls to use us when we were needed.
The same criticisms of Bush were hurled at Reagan and looked at what happened…the Evil Empire fell, among other great things. This president is of the same mold.
But there was only ONE “Gipper!”
You have no concept of time/place appropriateness, and you apparently missed the point of the analogy completely. You don’t debate politics at a funeral or a wake, and while this is cyberspace, the intent of this thread was to create a similar environment: remembrance of a great man, recently departed.
You also ignored the fact that the person who started the thread specifically requested that criticisms be precluded. But you lack the respect, maturity and/or self control to respect that simple request.
My critique of you and your lack of manners has nothing to do with the objective truth, or lack thereof, in any of your critiques. The offense you gave has everything to do with the appropriateness of the context of where and when you chose to express them, given the above.
It is rather sad, actually, that you seem to want to get your jollies by annoying those trying to celebrate the memory of a recently departed hero, or in attempting to attack a recently departed man who did so much for his country.
“after today, the bar has been raised for the presidential candidates”
–>Just curious, why? Why did it take his death for the bar to be raised?
“Paul is just a typical hate filled liberal…”
–>Why, ZEB, are you always compelled to stoop to the level of those you criticize?
“Reagan was the first President whom I can consciously remember knowing was the leader of our country.”
–>Me too. I remember being a kid and being impressed by him. I also remember when my parents told me he wore make up (as does everyone who appears on TV) and I couldn’t figure out why he would! (This isn’t a knock on him, just a reflection of my childhood thoughts)
All it does is illustrate just how small and insignificant they must feel but it still grates on everyone else’s nerves.
I didn’t call you insignificant, you must not have read all the words. I did say fuck you. I would apologize but I meant it at the time. If you were offended, tough. As has been pointed out already your comments were out of place, unwarranted, and rude. They were offensive to more than just myself.
It is cyberspace but manners are good to use everywhere and you were out of line. I was rude to you purposefully to irritate you to illustrate how your words affected others here. I could have said I don’t give a rat’s ass about a few Latin Americans and what happened to them but that’s not accurate.
It’s nearly a universal custom to not speak ill of the dead, especially when people are celebrating their life in rememberances. How would you feel if one of your buddies got killed in motorcycle wreck or something and at the funeral one person started talking about…oh, the time he fucked another guy’s girlfriend in high school, or stole someone’s lunch in grade 5, even if most of the things he did were good?
Like BB said, you could have started your own thread about anything you wished with the click of the mouse but you chose to pee in this pool instead.
I was going to respond to kike but the Barrister dealt with it just fine.
SteelyEyes, dealt with me how???
In case English is your second language I’ll apologize now, but see a distinct difference between your response in italics to my statement in bold? I meant dealt with it as in covered the subject, discussed the matter, explained the situation…see?
I don’t take any of this too seriously. It’s not worth getting my blood pressure up over what someone says on the internet. Hell, for all I know you could be an 8 year old kid from Miami acting like a 23 year old lesbian from Nantucket that’s masquerading as a 55 year old truck driver from LA sitting in front of his computer in dirty jockey shorts and nothing else.
kike: I started this thread. You could have voiced your opinion in another thread. At least Lumpy did not voice a negative opininon about Reagan on this thread. And yes you did offend me and and a lot others. Do you have a freedom of speech yes you do. And how exactly did Reagan screw up Latin America? Or did Latin America fucked it up themselves?
You also have the right to be sensitive to a man’s death. You also have the right to start a new thread (hopefully, at a later date). You have the right to do the right thing.
Jeff
P.S. George H.W. Bush would not care for people like kike being so insensitive at a time like this. I’m not going to ask for a check.
Like others have said, Reagan was in charge when I was old enough to start understanding or following world affairs.
It was a time when politics started to become interesting or have some bearing on my life.
I’ll never forget Perot and his voodoo stick either (Perot was funny), but the main issue with Reagan is obviously the fall of the wall and all that it represented.
I’ve been sad ever since he came down with Alzheimers, because I think he would have had interesting things to say and do. Most previous presidents do if you can get past their party affiliation after they are finished their term.
Reagan had a way of dealing with people that didn’t leave everyone upset. It is something that leaders of today could work to achieve. He had a sense of humor and the ability to think outside the box.
P.S. Jeff man, ease up on the Bush thing, this is a Reagan thread I believe.