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Pundits and opinion shapers have been so prolific in honoring Ronald Reagan that we cannot possibly accommodate on this page every column that we believe is deserving. The best we could do is choose the most appropriate passages from these columns and compile them for our readers. These excerpts appear below.
** Thomas Sowell, syndicated columnist and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution:
"There are many ways to judge a president or anyone else. One old-fashioned way is by results. A more popular way in recent years has been by how well someone fits the preconceptions of the intelligentsia or the media.
"By the first test, Ronald Reagan was the most successful president of the United States in the 20th century. By the second test, he was a complete failure. Time and again President Reagan went against what the smug smarties inside the Beltway and on the TV tube said. And time and again he got results.
"Ronald Reagan left this country -- and the world -- a far better place than he found it. And he smiled while he did it. That's greatness -- if you judge by results."
** Doug Bandow, syndicated columnist and senior fellow at the Cato Institute who served as a special assistant to Reagan:
"How to remember Ronald Reagan? He was friendly and engaging, warm and concerned about even young staffers such as myself. He was bright, focused on the big picture rather than policy minutiae.
"He was passionate about achieving a free society, and convinced that a free society was the best way to achieve a just and prosperous one as well.
"Finally, he was an optimist. He believed in himself and America . And the ability of a free people to work together to better themselves and those around them. Ronald Wilson Reagan died without knowing how right he had been. We know."
** Frank J. Gaffney Jr., president of the Center for Security Policy:
"Three simple words comprise the motto of the nation's newest and most powerful aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan: "Peace Through Strength.'
"The choice of this phrase could scarcely be more appropriate, given that it captures both the purpose of the vessel and the most important legacy of the president whose name she proudly bears.
"What is more, the philosophy that guided Ronald Reagan throughout his life and whose practice made the 40th presidency one of this country's greatest -- the proposition that the competent exercise of American power is essential to maintaining international security -- remains a formula for guiding U.S defense and foreign policy in our own time."
** Ed Feulner, president of the Heritage Foundation:
"My office windows in Washington , D.C. , overlook more than half a dozen American flags, all flying at half-staff in memory of Ronald Reagan. Those flags will remain lowered as we mourn the passing of our 40th president.
"But a month from now, those flags will be back at the top of their poles, flying proudly over a powerful and influential nation. And fittingly so. Because those traits -- American pride, American power and American leadership -- are President Reagan's legacy."
** Brent Bozell, syndicated columnist and president of the Media Research Center :
"Reagan fans from coast to coast must be finding the generosity of the media obituaries gratifying, but also befuddling. Those who today acknowledge the greatness of Ronald Reagan and his mark on the world are the very same people who spent so many years trying to diminish his reputation and impact.
"When his work was done, they sought to revise the record and demean his leadership. They could have gone another generous step in their obituaries and acknowledged that Reagan's achievements came despite their own unrelenting propagandistic opposition.
"Children today have no personal memory of President Reagan, and are probably taught too little about him in school. But they also have no personal memory of the armory of slings and arrows and insults that Reagan bravely endured and ultimately obscured with his towering accomplishments. We still owe it to Reagan . . . to explain how and why he remade America and the world."
** Charles Krauthammer, syndicated columnist:
"What made Ronald Reagan the greatest president of the second half of the 20th century? Well, he certainly had the one quality Napoleon always sought in a general: luck. Luck in his looks, luck in his voice, luck in his smile, luck in his choice of mate . . . and the greatest luck that any president can have: to find a nation in trouble -- in post-Vietnam retreat and disorientation. His political genius was to restore its spirit. And his legacy was winning the longest war in American history, the long twilight struggle of the Cold War.
"He achieved all that with two qualities: courage and conviction. Conviction led him to initiate economic shock therapy to pull the U.S. out of the stagflation of the 1970s. Courage allowed him not to flinch when his radical economic policies (and those of a merciless Federal Reserve) initially caused the worst recession since the Great Depression and during a congressional election year (1982) to boot."
** Bruce Bartlett, syndicated columnist and senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis:
"It is sad that Reagan was not able to fully comprehend the magnitude of his own achievements in his last years, or even to enjoy the grudging respect of his enemies. I expect his stature will grow in future years as historians put Reagan's accomplishments into context. In the end, I believe they will conclude that he was among the world's greatest leaders, someone who changed the course of history for the better."
** Alan Reynolds, syndicated columnist and senior fellow at the Cato Institute:
"President Reagan gave the U.S. this lasting legacy of lower tax rates to improve incentives for personal effort, investment and entrepreneurship. The results have been even better than contemplated in the so-called Rosy Scenario of 1981, and have been emulated by dozens of other countries, including China , India , Ireland and Russia .
"Bewildered critics responded by spinning metaphysical theories exaggerating the costs of budget deficits and benefits of surpluses. Yet none of their predictions came to pass.
"On economic success alone -- even aside from the critical impact of that success in discrediting communism -- the facts permit only one credible verdict on President Reagan's awesome accomplishments: Score another big win for the Gipper -- and another big loss for the sore losers."
** Larry Elder, syndicated columnist and radio talk show host:
"Today, many of Reagan's critics grudgingly give him credit for the following: hastening the demise of the Soviet Union; ushering in an era of long-term prosperity (even if they don't understand the formula: limited government equals growth); showing that tax cuts produce increasing government revenues; and attempting to rein in the ever-increasing and intrusive nature of the federal government.
"Some simplistically credit Reagan's popularity to his sunny disposition, charm and optimism. But what about his policies, the decisions he made, the risks he took? . . . Reagan's critics never got it. . . . Some never will."
Copyright 2004 Investor's Business Daily, Inc.
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