Ron Jr. Protects His Dad’s Legacy
It’s nice to see someone finally call King George on his religious arrogance, even if it is in a subtle way (via Kevin Drum) :
RON REAGAN JR.: Dad was also a deeply, unabashedly religious man. But he never made the fatal mistake of so many politicians wearing his faith on his sleeve to gain political advantage. True, after he was shot and nearly killed early in his presidency, he came to believe that God had spared him in order that he might do good. But he accepted that as a responsibility, not a mandate. And there is a profound difference.Humble as he was, he never would have assumed a free pass to heaven. But in his heart of hearts, I suspect he felt he would be welcome there. And so he is home. He is free.
And for those of you who didn’t catch it last year, here are some further thoughts from Ron Jr. about the current occupant in the White House :
“The Bush people have no right to speak for my father, particularly because of the position he’s in now,” he said during a recent interview with Salon. “Yes, some of the current policies are an extension of the ’80s. But the overall thrust of this administration is not my father’s — these people are overly reaching, overly aggressive, overly secretive, and just plain corrupt. I don’t trust these people.”
. . .
Reagan says his mother shares his “distrust of some of these [Bush] people. She gets that they’re trouble in all kinds of ways. She doesn’t like their religious fervor, their aggression.”Reagan says his family feels particularly alienated from the Republican Party over its opposition to embryonic stem cell research, which could have significant benefit for Alzheimer patients like his father. “Now ignorance is one thing, ignorance can be cured. But many of the Republican leaders opposing this research know better, people like [senate Majority Leader] Bill Frist, who’s a doctor, for God’s sake. People like him are blocking it to pander to the 20 percent of their base who are mouth-breathers. And that’s unconscionable — there are lives at stake here. Stem cell research can revolutionize medicine, more than anything since antibiotics.”
I suspect that Ron’s eulogy was a warning shot of sorts to the Republican leadership to keep their hands off this dad’s legacy. If the Republicans invoke the memory of the Gipper too much this campaign season, I’d be willing to bet the Reagan kids are gonna start raising hell.
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Yes it’s interesting to see how the fissures emerge. A lot of GOPers have made efforts to distinguish the Gip from Dubya, rather than blur the differences.
Comment by oyster — June 12, 2004 @ 8:01 am
They really could’ve cemented that Dubya/Reagan connection for all eternity, if only they’d sealed George up in the casket with Ronnie…!
Comment by Johnny Bender — June 14, 2004 @ 11:38 am
i was listening to tavis smiley on my way to a show friday night, and he hat newt on, speaking about the dead ron. when tavis asked him about criticisims that ronnie didnt have a plan for the poorest americans newt replied, “i think thats a fair criticism…”
he then went on to say we should get rid of soda machines in school, shift our healthcare to preventative and embrace a universal healthcare system.
wow. thats where we’re at. newt is more critical of regan and more progressive than kerry is, and ron jr attacks w more eloquently and with more grace than any democrat out there.
Comment by josh — June 14, 2004 @ 2:31 pm
Web Roundup
How To Save the World on how to save the world. Political Wire reports a secret meeting of Republican Senate aides and pressure group leaders. As noted in an earlier post, a top Republican PR firm helped one of the…
Trackback by Pacific Views — June 14, 2004 @ 11:10 pm
Hey, Greg, thanks for the links!
Comment by JR — June 16, 2004 @ 7:37 pm
Let’s see… Reagan said the following:
1984 annual convention of the National Religious Broadcasters: “He promised there will never be a dark night that does not end,” Reagan said. “And by dying for us, Jesus showed how far our love should be ready to go: all the way.”
At Kansas State University in 1982, Reagan spoke of the “admonition of the Man from Galilee to do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” (line Reagan himself personally inserted into the speech).
Speechwriter Ben Elliott: “He would want a change like that and he would just write it in.” On one speech draft by Elliott and speechwriter Peggy Noonan, they called Christmas “the day that marks the birth on Earth of the Son of God.” Reagan added a line: “the birthday of the promised Messiah , the Son of God.”
At an ecumenical prayer breakfast in Dallas, Texas, August: “I believe that faith and religion play a critical role in the political life of our nation — and always has — and that the church –and by that I mean all churches, all denominations — has had a strong influence in the state. And this has worked to our benefit as a nation. Those who created our country — the Founding Fathers and Mothers — understood that there is a divine order which transcends the human order. They saw the state, in fact, as a form of moral order and felt that the bedrock of moral order is religion. . . . Without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”
During his infamous “evil empire” speech before the National Association of Evangelicals in March 1983: ” . . . There are a great many God-fearing, dedicated, noble men and women in public life, present company included. . . . The basis of the ideas of those ideals and principles (that brought us into the public arena) is a commitment to freedom and personal liberty that, itself, is grounded in the much deeper realization that freedom prospers only where the blessings of God are avidly sought and humbly accepted.”
Reagan then spoke of the country’s Judeo-Christian traditions, and attacked government “attempts to water down traditional values and even abrogate the original terms of American democracy. Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.”
About the “evil empire,” Reagan proposed that his administration would “negotiate real and verifiable reductions in the world’s nuclear arsenals, and one day, with God’s help, their total elimination.”
Finally, Reagan closed his speech with a quote from Isaiah: “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increased strength . . . But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary . . . ”
Yup, I guess Ron Reagan Jr. really, really did call “King George on his religious arrogance”… Yup!
Comment by Milla — June 24, 2004 @ 6:38 pm
So I guess Ron Jr. now speaks on behalf of his deceased father? Someone should point to any position that Ron Jr. shared with his father. It’ll be interesting to hear Michael Reagan tell it and I suspect the message will be more in line with his father’s opinions.
Comment by Menlo Bob — June 26, 2004 @ 7:06 am
I had become a hugh fan of the Reagan’s over the funeral, especially Ron Jrs speeches and interviews. Reagan Sr., to raise such a open son who is not afraid to change, to go against the very party to which elected Ron Sr. shows the strength or Ron Sr. and his family.
Comment by Bill — June 27, 2004 @ 8:59 am
Poor little Ron, Jr and I do mean Little.. talk about the antithesis of his father. It seems, at the end of the day, Nancy is still running the (SIDE)shows….I LOVE MICHAEL AND YES, MICHAEL, YOU AND MAUREEN AND RON, SR. WILL BE RID OF THESE GUYS ONCE AND FOR ALL IN HEAVEN….I’LL SEE YOU THERE…. We can only pray for their souls!!!!! Poor Ron, Sr. ever the optimist and faith-filled Christian that He never gave them the LASHING they needed, but then again that’s why we all loved him…..he wasn’t capable of seeing the bad……what a shame his wife is his nemesis and her children are her spawn…..sad, truly sad.
Comment by Chris — July 25, 2004 @ 6:47 pm