Reagan and the Rat
George Savage ·
Feb 11, 2011 at 8:42am
Tackling the Soviet Union, rekindling economic opportunity for hundreds of millions and do-it-yourself pest control … my kinda guy. Our own Peter Robinson explains:
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Jul '10
Re: Reagan and the Rat
Every time I hear Peter tell that story I think of that Lady. Did She get to hear that speech? Was She there when the wall fell? The ripple effects from Her talking to Peter are just mind boggling.
Also, I think that rat was one of Tip O'Neil's aides.
May '10
Re: Reagan and the Rat
I have a terrible confession. I never voted for Ronald Reagan and it's a regret that haunts me to this day. I came from a long line of California Democrats who despised RR so, without thinking, so did I. While Peter was writing Mr. Reagan's speeches I was busy smoking pot and trying to win the hearts of the girls (succeeded in the former, only limited success in the latter). It wasn't until the wall came down that I started to come around and start thinking about things in a different way. By the time I heard "a time for choosing," I was pretty solidly conservative and an admirer of Ronald Reagan. Too late to cast my vote, alas, but still, thank you, President Reagan.
Re: Reagan and the Rat
Worry not. Rob Long voted for Walter Mondale. (When, meeting Reagan a couple of years after the president left office, Rob blurted out this admission, Reagan chuckled, then replied, "Well, you were one of the few.")
Re: Reagan and the Rat
Yes and she was. Ingeborg and Dieter Elz still live in the same house in a Berlin suburb in which I visited them in April 1987. Ingeborg remains one of the most charming and beautiful women I've ever met, her husband wry, philosophical, warm. Dieter and I exchanged emails just this past weekend.
Ronald Reagan got a speech. I got two wonderful friends.
May '10
Re: Reagan and the Rat
Peter Robinson
Worry not. Rob Long voted for Walter Mondale. (When, meeting Reagan a couple of years after the president left office, Rob blurted out this admission, Reagan chuckled, then replied, "Well, you were one of the few.") · Feb 11 at 11:05am
After Reagan beat Mondale, Johnny Carson remarked that President Reagan was staying at (I don't remember specifically) some grand hotel suite somewhere, and Mondale was "in Jerry Brown's sleeping bag." I still remember my Democrat dad laughing out loud at that one.
By the way: thinking things over, I started to come around to conservatism before the end of the wall. It was the "nuclear freeze movement" that did it. I just thought how suicidal and decadent the protesters were, going after an easy target like Reagan and completely ignoring the Soviet's SS-20's. Couldn't get behind that.
Nov '10
Re: Reagan and the Rat
I'm really glad I signed up for this site when I did, so I am around to see this kind of stuff. While I was technically alive during the Regan years, I don't remember any of it (I'm 24). Pretty much all I know about his administration is from history books and bloggers. Nice to have some rather intimate first-hand accounts here.
Jul '10
Re: Reagan and the Rat
Thank You, Peter. Truly, I appreciate the story.