Ronald Reagan dead at 93

[Cringer]

Am watching it on ABCNews, will see if I can find a link to a site.

ABCNews website doesn't have much yet....

ABCNews

[Senator]

.

[vtbub]

[Havok]

a sad day indeed

[MrBug708]

Sad Sad....

One of California's best politicians.....

[GrantDawg]

Always will be my president.

[Havok]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Always will be my president.

Ditto..... unfortunetly i was to young to care about politics then( i was born in 79'). But he basically changed my ENTIRE family from democrates to Republicans.

My father is a very sad man right now......

[Eaglesfan27]

I was reading articles about his family gathering at his bedside early this morning. His whole family flew in from parts of the country according to the article. Least, he was surrounded by love ones when he died. Still a sad day

[Gary Gorski]

Very sad day indeed

IMO one of the best presidents we ever had - you're right though Eaglesfan, at least he had has family there.

[Joe Canadian]

[Axxon]

As much as I disliked president Reagan, I have nothing but respect for the man, Ronald Reagan. We just didn't see eye to eye.

I'm saddenend for his family and his supporters. I'm happy for him. My grandmother had alzheimers and it's a horrifying disease. Finally, he can have some peace.

R.I.P. President Reagan. May your new adventures be happy and prosperous ones.

[JeeberD]

Very, very sad news...

[SFL Cat]

A great man has left us.

Still the best president in my lifetime IMO.

[WussGawd]

Didn't like his politics at all, but I have to admit I admired his style. And I have sympathy for him and the family of anyone who loses someone to Alzheimer's. Terrible way to go.

[SirFozzie]

A great man, and a great president. A man of his time.

[Axxon]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

A man of his time.

[EDITED]

This isn't a thread to make jokes in, even innocent ones. Sorry.

[pennywisesb]

Definately the best President of my lifetime IMO, RIP President Reagan, and may God be with his family as they deal with his passing....

[Arles]

He will always be "the president" in my mind. Truly a sad day in our history.

[Dutch]

He's was an awesome man and President. He combined decisive action and great public speaking into one for the only time in my lifetime to date.

RIP.

[atatange1]

A sad day.

[Eaglesfan27]

This is a very touching tribute on the local NBC station right now.

[Dawgfan1980]

We won't have another president like that for a long time. He was a rare breed, the type that could convey the idea that he was everyman, but he still knew how to handle any problem. I think the proof of what he did for this country in the 1980's shows up crystal clear in the '84 Electoral results. He also helped win the cold war, by breaking the USSR economically, and showing the people of that great land that America was truly the land of plenty. Rest in Peace President Regan, you have earned a well deserved rest.

[Jon]

I did not agree with his policies one bit, but as I stated in another thread, he was a tremendous president who deserves respect. It is a sad day ... I was crushed when they announced he had alzheimers. One of the primary reasons I want to be involved in politics is because of Reagan. I had the fortune of meeting him one time, and, when I left, I felt like he listened. I was nine, and it didn't matter what I was saying, he just listened.

[Leonidas]

I wasn't a big fan of Reagan at the time, but he was my first Commander in Chief when I enlisted and I think he desrves most of the credit for winning the Cold War. I was talking with my mother about this a couple years ago and told her Reagan will be to our generation what FDR was to her parents and she agreed without hesitation. He politically defined a generation.

I know a lot of lefties out there will say Bubba deserves this "title" and not Reagan, but Clinton was probably influenced more by Reagan than anyone else in the way he approached the purely political and functional aspects of the Presidency. Reagan really changed the role of the President and how to work with Congress.

I suspect I will shed a tear or two when they have the burial.

[clintl]

On the one hand, his passing is sad, but in another way, it's not. As someone who has seen terminal illness up close, I don't think any good comes from a person lingering on indefinitely, and it sounds that like Reagan had long ago reached the point where life was not much more than physical existence.

Count me in as one who disliked many of his policies, but looking back can see that he was a unique and accomplished leader who had a vision he believed in, and was successful in implementing quite a lot of it. That's a lot more than you can say about most of our presidents.

[Franklinnoble]

What's the over-under on the likelihood that W. changes his campaign slogan to "Win one for the Gipper!"?

For me, Reagan was THE MAN in the 80's. I don't care what anyone says, I will always believe that he was the reason why the Soviet Union collapsed, and his trickle-down economics really do work.

[Sharpieman]

R.I.P. Mr. President

alzheimers is a horrible disease. I know Mrs. Reagan has been lobbying for research for some time. Hopefully, his death will help raise awareness for researching and give America initiative to pursue stem cell research so that many of lives are saved.

God Bless Ronald Reagan, I know he is in a better place above us now.

[WussGawd]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

What's the over-under on the likelihood that W. changes his campaign slogan to "Win one for the Gipper!"?

For me, Reagan was THE MAN in the 80's. I don't care what anyone says, I will always believe that he was the reason why the Soviet Union collapsed, and his trickle-down economics really do work.

If we're going to give him credit for the Soviet Union, let's let him take the blame for things that happened on his watch:

*Created the homeless problem by cutting Federal funding of mental institutions.

*Ran up record deficits (later surpassed by the Shrubs, sadly) in the early years of his administration.

*Horribly underfunded and ignored AIDS/HIV in the first six years in office. During Reagan's first term, Legionnaire's Disease got more research funding than AIDS. In fact, Reagan didn't use the word AIDS in a speech until 1986.

*Cut funding for Alzheimer's research. Ironic, since it killed him.

*Set a record for most members of a Presidential administration to be indicted, convicted, or investigated for crimes while in office (135, more than the Nixon administration, and far more than the Republicans' whipping boy Clinton).

*Suggested that ketchup is a vegetable in making cuts to the school lunch program.

*Illegally sold arms to Iran so that he could then take the profits and illegally use them to fund the contras in Nicaragua.

*Backed, then ignored death squads in Honduras which killed thousands, including a group of American nuns.

To his credit, Reagan was a great speaker (then again, so was Clinton).

I'd suggest that the Soviet Union's economy was already in a state of collapse when he took office, though I will give Reagan credit for helping to finish hurling it over the cliff into oblivion.

I also think that Shrub II could learn a lot from Reagan's success in reaching across the aisle in a spirit of bipartisanship. I admired him as a politician, but overall, hated Reagan's policies.

I think the efforts to lionize Reagan as a saint are ridiculous and show just how ridiculous the myth of liberal media bias is, and I'd suggest any effort to compare Son of Shrub to him (which Gillespie et al are already trying to do) only shows just how lacking Son of Shrub is in most of the areas that were strengths for Reagan.

[hukarez]

Can't believe I completely missed this thread.

I'm not much of a politician, or a fan of politics in general...but Reagan's the one President whom I enjoyed having in office during my youth. Something about those years, that just felt 'right'. Maybe it was the cartoons of the era, or the music. Either way, life was good for a kid like me.

RIP, Mr. President. Stricken with Alzheimer's disease, busting a right hip, and falling to pneumonia. 93 years is a long time, and while I would've preferred to see him hit the century mark at top physical health, I'm sure his family can rest knowing he's not suffering anymore.

God bless, and thank you for the fond memories.

[Suicane75]

I think for alot of us, Reagan was a symbol of our childhood, a better time and a nicer time of existance, even if it is with rose colored glasses.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by WussGawd

If we're going to give him credit for the Soviet Union, let's let him take the blame for things that happened on his watch:

*Created the homeless problem by cutting Federal funding of mental institutions.

Ronald Reagan *created* the homeless problem. Riiiight. That was just about the time Al Gore created the Internet. I suppose the Democratic controlled congress had nothing to do with the federal budget at the time...

*Ran up record deficits (later surpassed by the Shrubs, sadly) in the early years of his administration.

And Clinton fixed all this, right? The fact that he enjoyed a huge influx of tax dollars during his presidency had nothing to do with it. Oh, and the Republicans controlled congress for most of his term.

*Horribly underfunded and ignored AIDS/HIV in the first six years in office. During Reagan's first term, Legionnaire's Disease got more research funding than AIDS. In fact, Reagan didn't use the word AIDS in a speech until 1986.

Not that I wanna start a war on this, but the fact remains to this day that AIDS is not anywhere near the top of the list of deadly diseases in this country. And, like it or not, the overwhelming majority of its victims are druggies and homosexuals. I'd love to have unlimited funding for every known disease, but I think things like cancer and diabetes need to take priority. Oh, and the democrats were still running congress at the time.

*Cut funding for Alzheimer's research. Ironic, since it killed him.

Can you back this up? I didn't know a president could cut funding for anything all by himself...

*Set a record for most members of a Presidential administration to be indicted, convicted, or investigated for crimes while in office (135, more than the Nixon administration, and far more than the Republicans' whipping boy Clinton).

Again, the democrats were running congress, and in charge of said investigations. Partisan politics never change. I'm sure you blamed the republican congress for all the heat Clinton got.

*Suggested that ketchup is a vegetable in making cuts to the school lunch program.

Again... I'm sure Reagan hated little kids and cut school lunches all by himself.

*Illegally sold arms to Iran so that he could then take the profits and illegally use them to fund the contras in Nicaragua.

Do you have any idea what sort of people this country sells arms to on a daily basis? This is nothing new; it went on before Reagan, and it's gone on since.

*Backed, then ignored death squads in Honduras which killed thousands, including a group of American nuns.

Reagan killed American nuns. Riiiigght.

To his credit, Reagan was a great speaker (then again, so was Clinton).

I'd suggest that the Soviet Union's economy was already in a state of collapse when he took office, though I will give Reagan credit for helping to finish hurling it over the cliff into oblivion.

I also think that Shrub II could learn a lot from Reagan's success in reaching across the aisle in a spirit of bipartisanship. I admired him as a politician, but overall, hated Reagan's policies.

I think the efforts to lionize Reagan as a saint are ridiculous and show just how ridiculous the myth of liberal media bias is, and I'd suggest any effort to compare Son of Shrub to him (which Gillespie et al are already trying to do) only shows just how lacking Son of Shrub is in most of the areas that were strengths for Reagan.

I'm not suggesting that either Bush was in Reagan's league. In fact, I think they're far from it. However, I think history will remember Reagan as a president that had a dramatic, positive effect on the world and the growth of democracy. In the long run, I think W. will be remembered the same way (like it or not, the Taliban and the Hussein regime had to go - and the mid-east will be better for it). What did Bill Clinton do on a global scale?