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It’s very difficult for someone who didn’t live in that era or see it first hand to really understand what Reagan meant and did for America. Reading his speeches leave you stunned, even without his homespun, winsome delivery they are so powerful and profound, he made the best case for conservatism ever stated and he did it with style.

All hail Ronaldus Maximus!

Remember that incident with Reagan, of blessed memory, demanding the Soviets to tear down that wall? Wasn’t supposed to happen. His advisors thought it was too confrontational. Wouldn’t want the Soviets to pour more money on nuking us rather than bread and butter, no? But Saint Ronnie said it anyway, and that became iconic of American impertinence…which was and is a good thing!

I may get plenty of flack from right and left, but W is our post-9/11 Reagan. Or he would be if he communicated more. I don’t care much about his mangling the English language: he just needed to reach out.

Whoever our next potential savior may be, I hope he’ll learn that lesson from Reagan the Great: communicate, and the Nation will support you.

Mom always said that I had to take up for myself. “You’ll get your ass kicked if you don’t,” she’d say.

To me W’s greatest failing is/was that he didn’t take up for himself. All those charges from the left. Why didn’t he sit down and explain the way things really were?

Meh.

I have a bad feeling this is how our leftist friends see Obama: a cool breeze after a hot Summer.

I’d say let them have their man (we aren’t going to win EVERY election), if it weren’t clear how very far to the left he is. He’s been careful not to articulate specific policies, just vague, happy words like “hope” and “change.” I wonder how long he can get away with that, and what will happen if he stops.

“My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”

Audio here.

*wistful sigh*

* When Mondale challenged Reagan for the presidency in 1984, there were plans to make Reagan’s age an issue. Reagan easily defeated that plot by saying in a debate, “I will not make age an issue in this campaign. I’m not going to exploit for political purposes my opponents youth and inexperience,” and then proceeding to beat Mondale until he cried like a little girl.

* The only state Mondale did win, Minnesota, eventually rejected him in a Senate bid making him the only major candidate to lose in all fifty states. Not so great a record, but what have you done of note?

Via Frank J.’s Know Thy Greats: Ronald Reagan.

For the record: I hate Obama. He might be the only reason I’d vote even for Huckanidiot.

Of course, this is sort of personal for me. When he was running for senator, he promised us Illinoisans he would not run for president. I can’t trust him at all. I feel personally betrayed.

Eh. I just have this feeling, Musli.

Of course, when it comes to predicting elections, I’m pretty much always wrong…

Oh, Your Grace, I can certainly see why others would be smitten by him to whatever degree. I just have difficulty joining that wagon.

Feh, 我不能看中文！

Well! Babelfish says, “I cannot look at Chinese.” Is that a translation of 我不能看中文, or is it telling me the translation engine cannot look at Chinese?

Is your Chinese character set busted, Musli? Because it’s showing up right on my screen, just like a cool gangsta tattoo.

Oh, I meant “read” not “look”. Which is strange if I’m writing it in Chinese.

I suspect that the left does see Obama as a sort of Reagan who’ll lead them all out of misery, but unlike the 1980 election, the rest of the nation doesn’t share this feeling. People know it’s just not that bad out there, no matter what the press tells them – at least they know it’s not personally that bad. People old enough to remember the Carter economy know for a fact what it was like and how different it is now.

Having gone through those years is like insulation against media lies about the economy. Worst economy since the Hoover years? Please. I remember double digit inflation and unemployment. This is nothing.

Reagan was president for the first quarter of my life. Which probably explains a lot.

I was too young to notice much of the infamous Carter “malaise”. In fact, my parents did pretty well during those years so we didn’t lack for anything really. I do remember long lines at the gas stations though. We lived in Maryland at the time. My older sister used to bribe me with a stop at the ice cream parlor if I went along to keep her company while she waited to get gas. I didn’t pay much attention to politics for most of Reagan’s terms though. Mom & Dad liked him so that was good enough for me. It’s only in hindsight that I understand what a remarkable man he was and what he managed to do.

Hey Wease, just catching up a bit but I’m still behind. I know what you mean about the whole “dissing the guy who was a good prez and I didn’t even know it”. Another amazing thing about him is that the guy was ALWAYS writing letters to people on a personal level. That says something.

As to “Zombie Reagan”, remember, the guy had a sense of humor. I recall the “commence bombing in five minutes” remark which got out over the airwaves. I gotta believe that in this context, he’d see the humor – the candidates look pretty grim… and they are *alive*.

Well, that was how I put it to folks on my blog when I linked you.

So, ARE t-shirts going to be made or was that a cruel teasing joke? I mean, how many people could really say they they had a Zombie Reagan t-shirt? Sorry if you already posted an answer to that, but I’m late in getting back to work, as the joys of salaried pay just keeps on coming.

– LK