Posted on 06/14/2004 2:28:43 AM PDT by kattracks
Edited on 07/12/2004 4:16:20 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
"It's so American," Margaret Thatcher is said to have remarked, watching from Bill Frist's Senate office as Ronald Reagan's casket was brought to the Capitol and 21 jets flew overhead in missing-man formation.
She's right. Serious nations have serious ritual, but each in its own way. From this last extraordinary week, the memorable images have been spare and simple -- the overhead shot of the caisson in the Rotunda -- or small and human: Nancy Reagan running her finger along the broad stripes of the flag-draped coffin. Two years ago in London, when Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother died, the memorable images were more elaborate and regal -- the Prince of Wales and the three other grandsons standing vigil as thousands silently trooped past to pay their last respects.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
"One day even the network anchors and Ivy League professors will get it. "
Nope. That would involve admitting error.
Some will never get it because they refuse to see , much less admit they were wrong.
They get it allright.
They hate Reagan for destroying their beloved Evil Empire.
They hate Reagan because he gave hope to the US, when their "blame America" ideology was catching hold (or so they thought).
If anything is laid to rest with him at the end of this remarkable week, it should be the lazy condescension of the elites.
"...Some saw it then. More see it now. One day even the network anchors and Ivy League professors will get it."
Its too bad Steyn blew a great column with an obvious error in his last line. The shithead league at the alphabet networks and the Ivory Towers will NEVER get it! They NEVER HAVE! Why expect that they EVER WILL?
Carolyn
"No, hang on, I must be thinking of Professor John Kenneth Galbraith, who in 1984 marveled at 'the great material progress' of the Soviet Union."
Galbraith has been a liberal establishment icon for nigh on 60 years now, but I can't think of another well-known public figure who has been so consistently wrong for so long.
Right after World War 2, he was a member of a US commission examining the economy and industrial production of defeated Nazi Germany. He reported coming across "curious aircraft without propellors" and theorized that this was the result of some planning error that had allowed the construction of whole airplanes but overlooked the provision of adequate numbers of propellors.
The planes were, in fact, jets; as everyone in that part of the world except (apparently) Galbraith knew by that time.
During the early 1960s, he was JFK's ambassador to India, where his arrogance, condescension, and hand-wringing weakness played a role in driving Nehru into the arms of the Soviet Union.
Much more recently, in 2001, Galbraith predicted a military disaster in Afghanistan, citing the invincible Pashtun Mountain-Man myth and declaring that American soldiers would be as "befuddled there as they were in Vietnam."
He is the quintessential eastern establishment intellectual, many credentials, great influence, and profound ignorance of the real world.
Perhaps. But our grandchildrens granchildren will be long dead before that happens.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.