Happy Birthday Mr. President

[Okla-homey]

Had he lived, he'd be 98 today. Lord, I miss him.

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/6510/ronaldreagan1985rs1.jpg

[85Sooner]

Indeed HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIR.

[Boomer_Sooner_sax]

Today is my birthday as well and when I was growing up, my grandmother would help me send him a birthday card while he was in office. I got a ton of stuff back from him and a couple of signed pictures. I truly miss President Reagan too. I cried the day he passed away. A truly great American.

[Mjcpr]

I thought he was 98 while in office.

RIP.

[85Sooner]

I have a picture of my son (3 years old) playing the drum (hung around his neck) while in the background on the TV is the funeral procession for President Reagan. I think it is a really touching photo.

[bonkuba]

I do indeed miss him.......we could use him now.

[Jerk]

He's probably rolling in his grave now realizing that he defeated the foreign communists only to see the domestic ones take over.

Nakita was right.

[Okla-homey]

If nothing else, he somehow convinced an America down on itself that we were basically good, industrious people and worth the effort.

Now, we have leaders telling us how failed, rotten and useless we are, and that we must transform our system into a centrally managed economy in order to survive.

balderdash

[C&CDean]

Quite possibly the best president ever. Ever.

Absolutely the best one in my lifetime. And I was born during Ike's years.

[Flagstaffsooner]

God bless you Ron.

[KC//CRIMSON]

He's probably rolling in his grave now realizing that he defeated the foreign communists only to see the domestic ones take over.


The foreign communist defeated themselves more than Reagan had anything to do with it.

[C&CDean]

The foreign communist defeated themselves more than Reagan had anything to do with it.

You couldn't be more wrong John. I know you like to ride the liberal wave like a bonzai pipeline surfer dude gone wild, but this comment is bull**** of the highest order. If RR didn't come into office all of those Iran hostages would be dead. If RR didn't come into office, our military would all be wearing those POS baby blue helmets that say "UN" on them and taking orders from somebody named Jacque or Viktor. If RR didn't come into office, there's still be a wall in Berlin; and you wouldn't be able to cruise down the Danube through former commie countries on a groovy vacation.

You can continue to run with your ultra-lefty mindset, but at least respect what the dude did for our country. And before you say "Reaganomics" I'll trump you with "Obamanomics." Let's wait a couple years and see how it all plays out.

[I Am Right]

Happy Birthday to the best President this country ever had.

[Okla-homey]

I didn't read about it in some self-aggrandizing and circle-jerking journal article. I experienced it.

Ronald Reagan bought and fielded the Army's "Big Five" (Abrams MBT, Bradley IFV, Blackhawk helicopter, Apache attack helicopter and Patriot air defense system, not to mention digitized artillery fire direction), the B-1, the F-117, ground-launched nuclear cruise missiles for the USAF, and built a 600 ship Navy. He was also on the way to developing an ICBM shield for this continent. The Soviets couldn't hope to counter that sort of combat power, as evidenced by the horrible showing of their clients employing their systems in the wars of the late 20c. demonstrated.

That, combined with a firm hand and a resolute spirit drove the nails in the coffin of the USSR. Notwithstanding what revisionists with a neo-marxist axe to grind or folks with a hard-on for RR would have us beleive.

[KC//CRIMSON]

You couldn't be more wrong John. I know you like to ride the liberal wave like a bonzai pipeline surfer dude gone wild, but this comment is bull**** of the highest order. If RR didn't come into office all of those Iran hostages would be dead. If RR didn't come into office, our military would all be wearing those POS baby blue helmets that say "UN" on them and taking orders from somebody named Jacque or Viktor. If RR didn't come into office, there's still be a wall in Berlin; and you wouldn't be able to cruise down the Danube through former commie countries on a groovy vacation.

You can continue to run with your ultra-lefty mindset, but at least respect what the dude did for our country. And before you say "Reaganomics" I'll trump you with "Obamanomics." Let's wait a couple years and see how it all plays out.


The Soviet Union imploded owing to economic reasons. The Soviets de-funded and bankrupted themselves into obscurity. Communism is an economic ideology which is fundamentally untenable. To say Raegan was the sole conqueror of communism is well, off base.

[JohnnyMack]

Happy Birthday to the man who as KC noted was in the right place at the right time. And for that will forever be romanticized by the right as some sort of deity.

[85Sooner]

WELL THATS THE TAKE FROM THE SOCIALIST SIDE OF THE BOARD.

[KC//CRIMSON]

WELL THATS THE TAKE FROM THE SOCIALIST SIDE OF THE BOARD.


No, that's the take from REALITY.

[85Sooner]

Reagan was not even in office when the USSR went down. His military spending ( the economic reasons you speak of)forced the communist regime to respond and they simply could not. Remember Star Wars. The defensive missle system that Reagan said he would share with the whole world? It took a few years but it was His efforts along with a few allies Thatcher among one who initiated the pressure that opened up the USSR to the west and increased internal pressures that,in the end sent the wall crumbling.

Thats not revisionist, that was called being there and being with alot of former Russians who had been able to get here.

It would be Bush 41 that was in the right place at the right time. 89 is when the wall went down.

I Agree that Communism is an economic ideology which is fundamentally untenable. To say Reagan was the sole conqueror of communism is well, off base. Maybe a bit but no one else did more to bring about its occurance. That in and of itself is worthy of his reputation.

[Vaevictis]

If you want to lay their collapse at Reagan's feet, then you're essentially arguing that communism is a tenable system. If you find that argument palatable, by all means, make it.

What you do have to give Reagan is that he hastened their demise, and most importantly, he had an impact that resulted in their demise being relatively contained and graceful.

The way the USSR fell could have been much, much uglier than it was, and you have to give full credit to Reagan (and subsequently Bush) for that.

The relatively graceful fall is much more important than the fall itself, and I think everyone is selling Reagan and Bush short when they neglect it.

[soonerhubs]

I love all the absolute statements made by some members of the board, as if THEY were deity or something. :D Come on folks. At least be honest enough with yourself to admit that it's ONE perspective. Have you learned nothing from the liberal Post-Positivistic ideologues we listen to whilst getting edumacated?

[soonerhubs]

If you want to lay their collapse at Reagan's feet, then you're essentially arguing that communism is a tenable system. If you find that argument palatable, by all means, make it.

What you do have to give Reagan is that he hastened their demise, and most importantly, he had an impact that resulted in their demise being relatively contained and graceful.

The way the USSR fell could have been much, much uglier than it was, and you have to give full credit to Reagan (and subsequently Bush) for that.

The relatively graceful fall is much more important than the fall itself, and I think everyone is selling Reagan and Bush short when they neglect it.
Agreed.

[GrapevineSooner]

Folks, there's a reason the Soviets committed nearly three times as many troops to the effort in WWII as the Germans.

Eight million dead Soviets.

Safe to say from that point forward, they never felt secure against an equal power unless they vastly outnumbered them. Yes, KC's right in that the Soviets defunded and bankrupted themselves into obscurity. It was called 'we need to keep up with the Americans...and then some.'

Just MHO, of course. ;)

[Chuck Bao]

My grandfather thought Reagan was a communist, as he once headed that actors' union and publicly told other unions that he was one of them later as he was campaigning. I'm not sure how the right views Reagan's early years or his unionist ideas.

Against my granddad, I was a Reagan supporter and now looking back I have to re-think it. He did not support any AIDS research or awareness campaign when he should have and would have saved lives.

In terms of the collapse of the Soviet bloc, I think that it was largely economic. That is a pretty clear lesson for us today.

[85Sooner]

Reagan was originally a democrat and stated thatthe democratic party left him. He believed in the true ideas of The United States of America and was able to communicate those ideals. He was a strong leader

Unions originally were a good thing. Now they are blood sucking urchins. The Democratic party used to be for the blue collar guy (kennedy even knew lowering taxes was the way to envigorate an economy. Not until the Great Society and the time when communists in the US had to go into hiding where they now reside, in the environmental, animal rights, et al groups did the democratic party start becoming what it is today.

[Chuck Bao]

Reagan was originally a democrat and stated thatthe democratic party left him. He believed in the true ideas of The United States of America and was able to communicate those ideals. He was a strong leader

Unions originally were a good thing. Now they are blood sucking urchins. The Democratic party used to be for the blue collar guy (kennedy even knew lowering taxes was the way to envigorate an economy. Not until the Great Society and the time when communists in the US had to go into hiding where they now reside, in the environmental, animal rights, et al groups did the democratic party start becoming what it is today.

Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild. Maybe he was just acting, but that is a pretty liberal group.

[85Sooner]

Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild. Maybe he was just acting, but that is a pretty liberal group.

Yes he was but you have to look at the zeitgeist. He was a hell of a politician but as he said, the Dems moved away from him not the otehr way around. JFK would be a conservative by todays standards.

[KC//CRIMSON]

Reagan was not even in office when the USSR went down. His military spending ( the economic reasons you speak of)forced the communist regime to respond and they simply could not. Remember Star Wars. The defensive missle system that Reagan said he would share with the whole world? It took a few years but it was His efforts along with a few allies Thatcher among one who initiated the pressure that opened up the USSR to the west and increased internal pressures that,in the end sent the wall crumbling.

Thats not revisionist, that was called being there and being with alot of former Russians who had been able to get here.

It would be Bush 41 that was in the right place at the right time. 89 is when the wall went down.

I Agree that Communism is an economic ideology which is fundamentally untenable. To say Reagan was the sole conqueror of communism is well, off base. Maybe a bit but no one else did more to bring about its occurance. That in and of itself is worthy of his reputation.


Remember that Reagan was in office for over four years before Gorbachev came to power, and Thatcher for six years, but in that period of time nothing of any significance in the way of Soviet reform took place despite Reagan and Thatcher.

I believe there were just way too many variables to give Reagan the full nod for being the one who defeated communism.

[mikeelikee]

Happy birthday, Mr. President. Ronaldus Magnus to me. One of our best presidents, IMO. Morning in America. Believe in yourself.

We live in perilous times today. England needs a Churchill, and probably has a Chamberlain. We need a Reagan, and it looks like we have a Carter.

[olevetonahill]

Had he lived, he'd be 98 today. Lord, I miss him.

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/6510/ronaldreagan1985rs1.jpg

Can we not even say a belated type HBD to a dead president without going into the ****ing gutter about politics ?:mad:

[Chuck Bao]

Can we not even say a belated type HBD to a dead president without going into the ****ing gutter about politics ?:mad:

Who went into the ****ing gutter? We are debating history and his legacy. If you think that is irreverent during his birthday, I'll step back.

[olevetonahill]

Who went into the ****ing gutter? We are debating history and his legacy. If you think that is irreverent during his birthday, I'll step back.

I thot we wuz wishin him a dead HBD :P
then the Far to either side started in . ;)

[Chuck Bao]

I thot we wuz wishin him a dead HBD :P
then the Far to either side started in . ;)

Yes they (we) did.

And I posted that I'd step back and I mean it sincerely. Sometimes I don't need to post in some threads - for example the big boobie thread. Most posters are going one way and I'm not a troll.

A former president of the US that affected some many of our lives should still be a topic open for healthy debate. I don't see it as speaking ill of the dead. But, since you mention that the intent of the thread is happy birthday, I see your point and will excuse myself. I'm sorry.