Here’s a great moment from Reagan (hat tip: Dr. Sanity). The speech was given in 1961, over fifty years ago. But his words seem all too prescient, considering what’s going on today:
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Previously a lifelong Democrat, born in New York and living in New England, surrounded by liberals on all sides, I've found myself slowly but surely 
October 15th, 2012 at 3:31 pm
Reagan, after his narrow loss to Ford, spoke at the 1976 Repub Nat’l Convention. It was reported that, as Reagan moved through last half of his speech, many in the convention hall wept, openly, at what might have been.
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There is a bit of revisionism, re Reagan, which angers me, because the revisionism is used as a political cudgel with which to bash conservatives.
To wit: there is a modern day meme that Reagan pulled his punches against his opponents. Nonsense. I have listened to Reagan speeches: Reagan excoriated his opponents, and eviscerated liberals via sharp humor. Reagan, on the stump, ruthlessly criticized his opponents.
Now, it is true that Reagan was a happy warrior: he interspersed his ruthless criticisms with smiles, twinkling eyes, and folksy humor. But, make no mistake: after a few humorous stories, Reagan tore into the flesh of his opponents. The record exists: you can listen to the speeches for yourself.
It is also true that Reagan was a mature politician who understood: in a republic, you get the best deal you can get, and then you take that deal … even when it falls short of exactly what you want. However, up until you take that deal: you fight with everything you’ve got; you fight and fight and fight. Exists a current meme that Reagan, were he POTUS today, would move to the left, b/c he was such a mature and good guy, unlike current conservatives. Nonsense. Reagan would ceaselessly bash the left about the head and neck and chest and torso, and bash them and bash them and bash them. Do not doubt it.
October 15th, 2012 at 4:37 pm
For the reasons gcotharn noted, and many more; Reagan was, and will likely remain, the greatest president of my lifetime. Reagan understood in his bones what made America the most exceptional nation in all of history. Today we are on the cusp of deciding if we will begin the process of returning to those ideals that made America great or flounder.
October 15th, 2012 at 4:47 pm
Maybe the tea party can be thought of as an expression of the ideals promoted by Reagan (small government, fiscal conservatism, freedom, optimism). That is quite a legacy.
October 15th, 2012 at 8:54 pm
I was still a leftist in the 1980s, so I didn’t support Reagan at all while he was President. I’ve certainly come to appreciate him since then, though.
When he died, Bill Whittle posted a photo of him at a black-tie affair, smiling at the camera and holding up a glass of champagne as if offering a toast. I tapped my beer bottle against my computer monitor.
October 15th, 2012 at 11:05 pm
“I was still a leftist in the 1980s, so I didn’t support Reagan at all while he was President. I’ve certainly come to appreciate him since then, though.”
Too bad you didn’t realize at the time that Reagan was an extraordinary president during his 2 terms, very much to the good that you later realized what an exceptional man and president Ronald Reagan was and how blessed the country was to have him in the Oval Office.
October 16th, 2012 at 12:06 am
Parker: ” . . . what an exceptional man . . . president Ronald Reagan was and how blessed the country was to have him in the Oval Office.”
I hope you don’t mind if I change that to how blessed the world was to have him in office.
October 16th, 2012 at 8:29 am
Ronald Reagan’s speech in 1964 on behalf of Barry Goldwater made me a conservative. Being only 18 at the time, and too young to vote, I was motivated to volunteer,passing out bumper stickers, door to door, etc.
He was the Greatest President of my lifetime.
God Bless the United States.
October 16th, 2012 at 10:19 am
Wasn’t Reagan something of a “changer” also, going from liberal union leader to conservative governor then president? If I recall his history, he was a mainstream New Deal supporter who had his epiphany and subsequent conversion in the late 1950s. I’m too busy (and tired) to look it up now, but that’s what I remember.
October 16th, 2012 at 12:55 pm
waltj,
He was a Democrat. I’m not sure he was a “liberal” (in the modern sense of the word).
October 16th, 2012 at 12:58 pm
There has also been a leftist meem that Reagan was ok with deficits, given the deficits of his terms in office.
In fact, in the Reagan WH there was some disagreement on how hard they should push back against the Democrat House’s budgets, and the line item veto was supported by Republicans with the idea that it would allow Presidents like Reagan to balance bloated budgets handed to them by Congress.
October 16th, 2012 at 4:55 pm
In the two elections that Reagan ran for President, I voted third party. I had previously voted for McGovern and Carter.
While Reagan was President, I increasingly liked his foreign policy. I liked his “Evil Empire” remark, as it was a frank and truthful description of the Soviet Union.When all the libs started screaming about it, I thought to myself- you can’t ever tell the truth in political discourse?
I very much liked Reagan’s policy on Central America, controversial though it was in many quarters. I had worked in Central and South America, so my perspective was informed by experience. Contrary to the lib/prog narrative on left wing guerrillas, there were plenty of ordinary people who did not support the Gs. “Leave us alone” was one refrain I often heard in Guatemala. Contrary to the lib/prog narrative, the Gs were not saints. The Gs were as capable of thuggery as their right wing opponents. According to a prog roommate of mine, the Gs were “humanists.” Tell me another cowboy tale.
Extensive library research convinced me that Reagan’s approach on Central America was based on facts. The progs and libs who were shouting that Regan was an ignorant wignnut on Central America were themselves not aware of the facts themselves. While the libs and progs told us that the Sandinistas were”independent nationalists,” the Sandistas had signed a joint proclamation with the USSR supporting the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan. So much for “independent nationalists.”