January 18, 2011, - 3:03 pm
Fairy Tales: Ronnie Jr.’s Reagan Revisionism vs. the Prez I Met
Perhaps it’s not ironic that the only classy, worth-a-damn kid of late President Ronald Reagan is his adopted one, Michael Reagan, whom I’m honored to have as a personal friend. Sometimes, the adopted kids try harder, as the natural born favored sons (and daughters) of wife #2 are spoiled rotten. As Ronald Reagan’s 100 birthday arrives, Michael Reagan is the only one worth listening to. It was that way at President Reagan’s funeral, as Michael delivered a powerful, tear-inducing eulogy, while the ballet dancer and the former Playboy model/Eagles concubine/hippie chick had nothing of consequence to say. And it’s that way now. And I know a little something about President Reagan, with whom I met several times toward the end of his Presidency.
Me w/ the Great Ronald Reagan, White House, 1987
As a national activist in Republican Party circles as a teen, I went to the White House and met President Ronald Reagan on more than one occasion, most of them toward the end of his Presidency. In the summer of 1987, I won the title, “Outstanding Teen Age Republican in the Nation,” and was photographed with the President. And each time I met with him, he was sharper than a Ginsu steak knife. He was nothing like the Alzheimer’s-stricken version his desperate-to-stay-relevant-and-sell-books son, Ron Reagan, claims. It’s a lie. Utter bunk from a do-nothing, unproductive, obnoxious First son. He should have stuck with something he was good at, which wasn’t ballet.
During our 1987 meeting with the President, pictured herein (yeah, I know–fuglyyyyy!), we weren’t given any rules, but it was understood: no questions, just hear the President speak for a few minutes, the end. But, as I always say, rules are made to be broken, and I asked President Reagan several impromptu questions, despite the fact that we weren’t supposed to–there wasn’t time. Instead of five-to-ten minutes with us, President Reagan spent the hour with us. Ultimately, after a quick handshake, I found myself standing next to the President holding his hand, as we posed for more pictures.
I asked the President when we were going to stop the reverse discrimination and racism known as affirmative action, which affected me and other fellow Jewish Americans, as well as everybody else. But, at the time, as in future Republican administrations, the Reagan administration wasn’t for eliminating race- and ethnic-based preferences. So, President Reagan, wisely (for him) avoided answering me directly. Instead, he seized on the Jewish part and told me about his time as a lifeguard when he was younger and in Illinois. He said that a fellow Jewish lifeguard was discriminated against and he defended the lifeguard. Reagan said we must never accept anti-Semitism or bigotry of any kind in America and always fight against it. Again, he didn’t answer my question, but it was clear he knew what he was doing, deftly finessing the topic like any politician of sharp, sound mind and body.
On another trip to the White House, in the summer of 1988, President Reagan gave me and those I was with, business cards with his name on them and he autographed them in front of us. Again, Reagan was as sharp as ever, answering my and others’ questions with pinpoint acuity.
Again, all of this was at the time that far-left Ron Reagan now claims he shadowed his father and saw the signs that Alzheimer’s Disease was beginning. I’m no doctor, but then, I’m not a former ballet dancer either, so unlike Ron Jr. I don’t have the unique medical diagnostic skills that come from wearing man-tights and a tutu. And I don’t have an MD from the University of Joffrey Ballet/Nancy’s Mama’s Boy Medical School. But I saw none of this stuff Ronnie’s claiming. And no one who actually knew Ronald Reagan well saw this stuff. No one. No one but the one now trying to sell books and get on TV.
And, as we all know, he saw none of it either. Ron Reagan is washed up. His MSNBC show with conservative plagiarist Monica Crowley was a dud. His attempt as a liberal talk radio host failed. And he just doesn’t have even the basic required modicum of likability that would allow any other President progeny to trade on Daddy’s name. He’s just a hack who looks like Nancy and has her mean spirit. Not much to work with. I was once a guest on Ronnie Jr.’s now-defunct radio show, which at the time was based in Seattle. The show didn’t last long for a reason–several of them. Ronnie Jr. was obnoxious, he was vile, and above all, he was frustrated that I wouldn’t love extremist, HAMAS-supporting Muslims to death the way he probably wished his father did and the way he might’ve once the man-tights came off. That’s the same guy now making up Brothers Grimm fairy tales (and his case, they are definitely fairy tales) about his late father who isn’t here to defend himself.
So, Ronnie Jr. had to make something up, some huge scandal to trade on against his dad’s name. Otherwise, there’s no hook to promote his book. And there’s still no hook. Everything he says has been disproved, not just by those who knew Reagan, but by his own words. Books of Reagan’s letters, notes, and diary entries–dating to the very time Ronnie the ballet dancer claims Ronald the President had Alzheimer’s–show a man as sharp as someone half his age. They show nothing of the vacancy of mind Ronnie Jr. is now manufacturing over two decades later. The same goes for his prevarication that the elder Reagan had brain surgery. There is no record of it.
So, you have one irrelevant man who is the son of the greatest leader in contemporary history and, maybe, he’s jealous he doesn’t have even the cache of the wedding of the homely daughter of a President known for getting oral sex from an intern. One irrelevant son of a revered, dear former President who needs to sell books and doesn’t really have a profession to speak of now that the ankles are creaky and the man-tights no longer fit. And no one cares, so he resorts to making this stuff up.
Michael Reagan has his own book about his father, which will be out soon. You can bet that ABC News won’t be promoting him the way they pimped the false Ronnie Jr. book and Alzheimer’s in the White House BS. But you can also bet, it’s the only Reagan kid’s book worth reading.
You know the old saying about “lies, damn lies, and statistics.” Now, there are lies, damn lies, . . . and irrelevant Ronnie Jr. books soon to be at a dollar store near you.
Anti-photogenic: Me & Ronald Wilson Reagan, White House, 1987
Tags: Alzheimer's, Alzheimer's disease, ballet dancer, book, fairy tales, far left, left-wing, liberal, meeting Ronald Reagan, Michael Reagan, President Reagan, revisionism, revisionist, Ron Jr., Ron Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Ronnie Reagan
Alot of people thought Nancy Reagan was a piece-of-work as she was portrayed in “the Reagans” mini-series.
Matthew on January 18, 2011 at 3:24 pm