Speaking of Reagan, Ron Jr. was on Dateline NBC on Friday night discussing the eulogy he gave for his father and took the opportunity to clear up a few things :

“He is home now, he is free. The idea that all people are created equal was more than mere words on a page, it was how he lived his life. 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 has 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.”

Matthews: “That was in many ways the most remarked upon moment in a very dramatic week.”

Reagan: “Well, what I find interesting about it is that everybody assumes that I must be talking about George W. Bush, which I find fascinating and somewhat telling. If the shoe fits?”

Matthews: “Were you?”

Reagan: “Well, I said many politicians. If he’s lumped in that group then fine, fine. That’s all right. There’s a lot of– I think there’s a lot of false piety floating around Washington.”

Matthews: “Ron, do you feel deeply that the President has used religion to make his case for the war with Iraq?”

Reagan: “I think he’s used religion to make his case for a lot of things, you know.”

Matthews: “Including Iraq?”

Reagan: “Including Iraq.”
. . .
Matthews: “Many of the people in this administration who are most hawkish claim a Reagan mantle here in fighting this war. Should they?”

Reagan: “No. With all due respect, I don’t think they knew my father as well as I did. And another thing I would observe is that my father never felt the need to wrap himself in anybody else’s mantle. He never felt the need to pretend to be anybody else. This is their administration. This is their war. If they can’t stand on their own two feet, well they’re no Ronald Reagan?s, that’s for sure.”

Is it just me, or did we “elect” the wrong junior?