June 9, 2004 -

REMEMBERING REAGAN.

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And more.

I'm 64 and have no doubt Reagan was, and will remain, the greatest president of my lifetime. One memory is of a long-ago Sunday TV interview of Senator Bob Dole, when the Reagan Revolution was in its early years. The discussion involved strengthening the military against the Evil Empire and Dole said, "Just having him rattling around in the White House is worth two divisions." Yep. That was Reagan.

One reason the left HATES Reagan so deeply is that he put a friendly face on conservatism. It was no act. He was friendly, intelligent, perceptive and unswervingly optimistic. Conservatives weren't supposed to be like that – or at least that was the conventional wisdom.

The only possible diminishing factor on Reagan's enduring greatness is the fact that he succeeded a fool in the toughest job on the planet. You remember the guy. He is known as Jimmuh Who? We can hope that historians won't punish the legacy of a giant simply because he followed a midget.

Speaking of midgets, Jimmuh Carter summoned no eloquence and only a perfunctory expression of grief for Reagan, the man who sent him back to the peanut patch. Jimmuh said, "This is a sad day for our country...I probably know as well as anybody what a formidable communicator and campaigner that President Reagan was. It was because of him that I was retired from my last job." Jimmuh didn't make a formal statement, but spoke to a handful of reporters and about 300 people at his Sunday school class. In his Sunday school lesson, Carter said, "We go through ups and downs. I was distressed when we lost (to Reagan). But I think it's important to ask, 'What am I in the eyes of Jesus Christ?' " Since Christ is all-knowing He might reply, "You're still an idiot, Jimmy."

In other news of the peanut-brained, the Navy commissioned the USS Jimmy Carter, a Seawolf-class nuclear submarine and said to be one of the most formidable ships in the world. Gordon England, Navy Secretary, said, "Only nine people have had ships named after them while they are still alive in modern times." Being a nice man, England didn't mention that Jimmuh was the only brain-dead person to be so honored. Jimmuh got a submarine named after him. Ronald Reagan's name is on an aircraft carrier. That should tell you something.

Sen. John Kerry brought us hope there might be some residual class in the Democratic party. Kerry said Ronald Reagan "...shaped one of the greatest victories of freedom. Today in the face of new challenges, his example reminds us that we must move forward with optimism and resolve. He was our oldest president, but he made America young again." I have to confess that I didn't think Honker John had it in him, but I'm happy he did.

Kerry outclassed former President Bill Clinton, who got into the Poh Baby File by letting it be known he was angry that neither he nor Jimmuh Carter had been asked to speak at the Reagan service. (Monica Lewinsky also has not been sought as a eulogist.)

Not all Democrat interns are irredeemable. Two at the Democratic National Committee were lowering flags to half staff after word came of Reagan's death. A senior Democrat stopped them, saying to leave the flags alone until lowering them became an official necessity, by order of George W. Bush.

One downside of life today is the decline and fall of formerly respectable organizations – such as Amnesty International. For reasons that Jimmuh Carter, Teddy Kennedy, or some other fool, might explain, Amnesty International recently compared President Bush with Osama bin Laden and Pol Pot. AI secretary general Irene Khan said America's war on terror is the most sustained assault on human rights in 50 years. Wow! Irene was asleep, maybe, when Pol Pot murdered somewhere north of 2 million of his own people. Maybe she didn't notice that Bush liberated around 50 million Afghans and Iraqis. But if she's a Pol Pot fan, she'll note that Pol Pot didn't make fun of his victims' genitalia. He killed them.

For those too stupid to understand written words, there was a movie about it. It was known as "The Killing Fields." Irene could check it out at Blockbuster.

My friend Juan Walte remembered this wonderful Reagan quote from the campaign against Jimmuh. "A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose your job. And recovery will come when Jimmy Carter loses his."

I caught a commentary from ABC NewsMangler Baba Wahwah on the radio. I believe she called it "Wemembering Wonald Weagan."

QUESTION FOR THE DAY: Shouldn't Bill Clinton (or Teddy) be the ones to put their names on submarines?