I was sitting in front of my television, playing Jet Grind Radio for the Dreamcast (or P.N. 03 for the Gamecube) when a friend called me and told me to turn on the news, that there was information about President Reagan.

I told him I'd heard the whole "condition worsening" bit from the people at National Review earlier on, but he repeated himself, noting that it wasn't anything to do with a "worsening" condition. I flipped over to CNN and found out that a man was dead. It wasn't surprising, given the cowardly disease that struck him down. It is, however, regrettable; the death of a President is an unfortunate thing.

I'm old enough to have remembered Reagan vaguely. I was alive through his entire administration, and I remember watching the hearings in regards to our policies vis-a-vis Iran and the Nicaraguan resistance fighters. (Yes, I could say 'Hasenfus' while in elementary school.)

I'd recently been amused by the positive references to him in Tom Clancy's Red Rabbit, and oddly enough, watched a rebroadcast of his D-Day speech on MSNBC or one of the similar channels.

However, I don't have some grand Peter Robinson-esque story of how President Reagan changed my life. As far as I know, he never came to my corner of the Commonwealth, and that's OK. This'll be closed by three of my more favorite quips from the man:

"We have some hippies out there in the Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco. One of them the other day was givin' some advice to his companions; he says, 'You know, your parents take care of you until you're 21; the government takes care of you after you're 65. You've only got 44 lousy years you've gotta look out for yourself.' This fellow that was doing the talking had a haircut like Tarzan, he walked like Jane, and smelled like Cheetah."

"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."

"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

Rest in peace, Mr. President.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:38 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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