Nancy Reagan 'Very Impressed' by Obama, Ron jr Says

[sabra]

Source: ABC News

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan is not attending this week’s Republican convention but her son, Ron, is. Newsweek.com’s Tammy Haddad and her TamCam caught up with the son of the Republican icon. You can watch it HERE and hear Reagan describe his mother’s fondness for the current Democratic nominee.

“John McCain and my mother have known each for years and years. Her parents, and Cindy McCain’s parents go way back in Phoenix, Arizona. She’s grateful to John McCain for standing with her on the issue of stem cells and, of course, has officially endorsed him. She’s fine with John McCain, as I said, they’ve been friends for a long time."

“I can tell you though that she’s also very impressed with Barack Obama...she’s just impressed by his demeanor, is not just that he’s an eloquent guy and a guy who gives a good speech, a lot of people said that about my father too. But she sees through that. She’s been around a long time and she looks at Barack Obama and she sees the words, hears the words and she perceives character there. She thinks this is a good guy, a guy who means well and is a strong character,” Reagan said.

And Ron, who has rarely shared the political perspective of his parents, had this to say about Sarah Palin, “Sarah Palin is in no way qualified to be vice president or certainly president. John McCain is a 72 year old cancer survivor, not just any cancer, melanoma. Not just any melanoma, melanoma above the neck. It was his obligation to choose somebody who could realistically step into the big chair and Sarah Palin is not that person.”



Read more: http://blogs.abcnews.com/liveblogging/2008/09/nancy-reagan-ve.html

[grannie4peace]

1. well , shut my mouth!!!!!!!

[LittleClarkie]

2. I have a soft spot for Nancy

I cried for her during Ron's funeral. I didn't expect to, but I did. I had just lost my dad, and when they couldn't get her off the coffin for a minute, I lost it. My Republican friends turned to me and asked what I was crying for, since they knew I was a Dem. I may be a Dem, but I'm also a human being, and human emotions sometimes reach across the aisle.

[Hekate]

31. Me too. She was so little and old, and she loved him with all her heart and soul.

That reached right out through the tv screen and grabbed my heart.

Hekate

[ChazII]

41. Make that three. n/t

[yodermon]

38. do you remember how cheney kind of dissed her in front of the casket?

if i'm remembering correctly he just kind of turned away from her while she clearly could have used a hand to take a step down, or some such.

link, on edit: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x59029

[AndyTiedye]

3. KicketyKicketyKick!

:kick::kick::kick:

[sasquatch]

4. Outstanding news

:woohoo:

[d_b]

5. and thats when I knew Obama would win

[secondwind]

6. WELL, blow me down! I am soo glad I came across this thread!

now, back to watching Mittens make a fool of himself in front of a few thousand other fools.



:puke:

[progressivebydesign]

7. And I love what Ron, Jr., had to say about Palin. priceless! N/t

[Kittycat]

8. I don't think really likes McCain at all - just towing the party line.

Didn't the whole McCain divorce thing burn Nancy?

[musette_sf]

12. yes, Nancy is a friend of Carol McCain

and thought that He Done Her Wrong.

[crickets]

9. Boom, there it is.

Endorsement, schmendorsement. Nancy Reagan, widow of sainted Ronnie, has spoken. Yowsa.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

10. Is McNasty still "standing with her" on the issue of stem cells?

Somehow I think not, since Dobson is now pulling the strings. Norquist. Rove. Whomever.

[Love Bug]

14. He may say he is, but his party's official platform does not

[Doremus]

11. Wowza!

[BigAnth]

13. Did he say what Nancy's astrologer thinks of Obama?

[JimDandy]

15. I'VE been "Very Impressed" with Ron Jr. for the last few years.

IMHO the phrase 'fair and balanced' fits him like a glove.

[mzmolly]

16. I wish he had his own show.

I very much enjoy Ron Reagan.

[tblue37]

19. He did have a talk show during his father's presidency. Ron has always been a libeeral. n/t

[wisteria]

17. This is something coming from Nancy Regan.

She had to endorse McCain, but she can she real class and leadership qualities in Senator Obama. I never liked Regan's politics, but he did have class, could give a good speech and was a leader.

[ProfessorPlum]

18. Nancy and Ron were very good friends with John McOld's first wife,

it should be noted, and they came to her rescue along with Ross Perot when Saint John dumped her (after her bad accident) for snake-eyed Cindy. So maybe there isn't as much love between Nancy and John as there might otherwise be, you know what I mean?

[SleeplessinSoCal]

20. Come on Ron, get her to endorse Barack and plead for Stem Cell Research!

[Baby Snooks]

21. She may have endorsed him but...

All the niceties aside, reality is Nancy Reagan rescued the first Mrs. McCain when she was dumped for the second Mrs. McCain. And despite the family ties, they are not ties that bind. Particularly where the two Mrs. McCains are concerned. Most described her endorsement of John McCain as a "hesitant" endorsement.

Nancy is a political animal and will remain polite and Republican to preserve the Reagan legacy but then you never know. She never did deny telling gossip columnist Cindy Adams that George W Bush reminded her of the Village Idiot. Which Cindy Adams printed.

She probably is wondering why on earth anyone would advise John McCain to choose Sarah Palin. But then time was she was wondering the same thing about George HW Bush as well.

[Jennicut]

22. Nancy is the only class left in the Republican Party

It is sad too see that is true.

[Sick Of Their Lies]

23. Ronald Reagan would endorse Obama

He is spinning in his grave with what the republicans have done.
So would Barry Goldwater.. Heck I hear Bush Sr wants his son impeached and Obama elected

[Lindsey]

26. I also have never minded Nancy. My understanding is that she didn't

speak to McCain for years after he dumped his wife while having an affair with the Stedford wife. Nancy's endorsement was VERY lukewarm.

[LaPera]

30. Not A Chance!!

Ronald Reagan was the father of this tax breaks for the rich and the corporations, deregulation, exploiting of our environment, pro oil - (anti-alternative energy), union busting, imperialistic wars, no universal health care, the Christian right, NRA, anti-civil rights - free speech & domestic freedoms, government only for the multi-nationals - corporations & the military.....with complete support for fascist ideology & the republican agenda!

What do you think Reagan was for?

[Zhade]

36. Uh, Iran-Contra Reagan? Sure. Uh huh.

NT!

[underpants]

42. Technically, he isn't buried

he is entombed

but I get the point and you are right.

[EFerrari]

24. Where you been, Ron? We've missed you!

:)

[mckara]

25. Let's Face It, Barack Has the Potential to Be a GREAT President!

His intelligence, judgment, and demeanor make him an effective leader!

[whistle]

27. Does Nancy Reagan even know where she is?

[orleans]

28. quid pro quo? he supported stem cells so she backs him now?

why doesn't she start a new day and endorse obama?

[LaPera]

29. Nancy will get a visit from the republican thugs to remind her, to get in step with "your" party....

And she will....Along with some statement supporting McCain.

[happygoluckytoyou]

32. DONT WORRY PALIN.... obama will have your son home from IRAQ within 16 months

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

33. Not surprised. Ron is aces and Nancy spit in the Chimp's eye

over the issue of stem cell research. Nancy is being correct, but it's an ill kept secret that she and King Ronnie shut Grampy and the Beeress out of the WH social circle. The Reagans were friends with Carol McCain and did NOT approve one little bit of her being kicked to the curb. I wouldn't be a bit surprised of Ron, Nancy and Patti all vote for Barack.

They'll be in good company, as David and Julie Eisenhower are maxed out to Obama, Susan Eisenhower is voting for O, and that is the tip of the (old school) Republicans for Obama.

Ron Reagan rocks!

[Ajaye]

34. Okay, maybe not all Republicans are evil after all....

She does have a bone to pick with McCain going way back, so that may color her opinion of Barack. OTOH, good for her for taking Carol McCain's side, I have to give her credit there. I couldn't stand Reagan when he was in office, but...compared to Bush...well...at least he didn't start any unecessary wars that couldn't be won in two days. And I have to admit that when his letters came out I was surprised that he really did have a brain. And I will say this too. I do not remember the tone of the Republican party at that time to be so nasty, divisive and despicable. I mean "there you go again..." is a a very gently, although devastatingly effective, way of mocking an opponent. So much more civilized than the vile nastiness we have just witnessed from Rudy and Sarah. I remember being pissed at the time because I knew it was so effective. I think there are civilized Republicans out there like Nancy and Olympia Snowe. Even Laura Bush seems like a decent human being, unlike her husband.

But...McCain has aligned himself with the dark side of the Republican party. Unforgiveable for someone who calls himself a "maverick." Anything to win.

[Baby Snooks]

35. Aligned?

McCain has always been part of the dark side along with so many others who rode the back and attached themselves to the pants legs of Ronald Reagan who is probably the most enigmatic president we have ever had. He believed in his vision of a shining city on the hill but it was a city without slums. Many of his programs and policies might have worked except for one thing. The basically corrupt nature of man. No president governs alone. There are always the "grey eminences" behind the throne. To understand the dark side of the Reagan administration you need only look at the vice-president who served him who promised us a "kinder, gentler" nation and whose son brought us a "meaner, nastier" nation.

Ronald Reagan was an Eisenhower Republican. But Eisenhower, like Reagan, had his own shadowy side. Richard M Nixon.

Before he left office Eisenhower warned us about the dangers of the military-industrial complex without realizing his own vice-president was part of the beginning of it. Those who remember Eisenhower are likely to vote for Barack Obama just as Eisenhower's grandchildren are simply because the Republican Party is no longer the Republican Party. It's a front for the military-industrial complex and the oligarchists who used the Republican Party to form a new party called the Republicrat Party. And there are just as many Democrats who are members of the new party as there are Republicans. They have their own table. And keep whatever threatens them off it. Both parties really are no longer the parties most remember. The lines have become blurred.

Eisenhower was an American first. A Republican second. I believe he in fact stated that at one point.

He had some really classy moments as well and one of them was when the McCarthy crowd was still demanding Lucille Ball be hauled before the committee in Washington - Eisenhower invited Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz and William Frawley and Vivian Vance to the White House. To make sure everyone knew that even if McCarthy didn't, he loved Lucy.

The reality of Eisenhower is that warning about the military-industrial complex. Which was really a warning about the Bushes.

If he were alive, he probably would have stood with his grandchildren and endorsed Barack Obama as well.

[Pavlovs DiOgie]

37. k & r!

[Vogon_Glory]

39. Nancy Reagan--Shrewd Political Observer, Operative

I was not one of Nancy Reagan's biggest fans when she moved into the White House with Ronnie. Gradually, though, I was forced to reassess my opinion of her. By the end of Ronald Reagan's second term, I was forced to admit that Nancy Reagan was not only a very shrewd and perceptive political observer in her own right, but a pretty effective behind-the-scenes political operator herself.

We're lucky she's reached a certain stage in life. If it wasn't for the fact that the Fundies have now overrun the GOP, I think that if someone spiked Nancy Reagan's ice tea with something from the Fountain of Youth, she'd probably be able to take on and BEAT most of the presidential candidates the Democratic Party could field against her.

[No Elephants]

40. Is Nancy still consulting her astrologer? Wonder what s/he says about the election.