New lines for the grifter
A friend forwarded me an email from someone saying, with regard to Ronald Reagan, “Didn’t realize just how much he’s missed, until I read and remembered some of the stuff he said… and stood for.” Here are the Reagan pearls of wisdom included:
‘Here’s my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose.’
‘The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’
‘The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.’
‘Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.’
‘I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.’
‘The taxpayer: That’s someone who works for the federal government but doesn’t have to take the civil service examination.’
‘Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.’
‘The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.’
‘It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.’
‘Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.’
‘Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed, there are many rewards; if you disgrace yourself, you can always write a book.’
‘No arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is as formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.’
‘If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.’
– Ronald Reagan
That got me to wondering what I would add for Ronnie, if I could:
“When I was a kid, we didn’t have homeless people — so as president, I created them.”
“Trading guns for hostages is a good way to arm the enemy and reinforce their bad behavior.”
“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall. And help us run up our debt.”
“Bailouts for the rich. It was good then, and it’s good now.”
January 28th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
You left out “I have no memory of that” and “Sorry, I can’t hear your question.”
January 28th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Also, let us not forget that he was the originator of this construction: “Mistakes have been made…” (never saying who precisely made them), a locution that I believe has been adopted by every president since. He truly was a trailblazer.
January 31st, 2008 at 12:31 pm
There seems to be a movement afoot to deify Reagan. I saw an author on CSPAN2 who had written a book about him. The man interviewing the author had nothing but good words for Ron. At one point the interviewer made some glowing comments about Reagan and the author pointed out that the former President had not been as great as the interviewer was making him sound. That’s when the interviewer started trying to convince the man who had researched and written the book that he should elevate his opinion of Reagan. It was disturbing.
I’ve encountered several other efforts to sugarcoat the Reagan legacy. None of them have been major but, taken together, they strike me as more than the normal response of someone’s supporters.
February 4th, 2008 at 4:34 am
I must confess: I voted for him. Twice. I’m not proud, but there you are. After the relative paralysis of the Nixon-Ford-Carter years, it was nice to see thr Government running again. gave me the same good feeling Italians got when Mussolini made the trains run on time.
Of course, we know how well that turned out for Italy. And now that we have our own version of Il Duce in the White House, it’s no wonder Republicans want to ignore him and paint Reagan as a glorious Caesar.
Meanwhile, the middle class gets lean and hungry…