Patti Davis: 'Defining love of country'

[mandyky]

We ought to ask our presidential candidates whether or not they love us

By Patti Davis, MSNBC

<snip>

September 11 either made me love this country or it made me realize how much I already did. I think it’s the latter. Seeing "Fahrenheit 9/11" made me think deeply about love of country—how it molds us, drives and emboldens us and how it can sometimes make us so angry we want to shout out to the world: "No, this is wrong." Many things have been said about the movie, and of course about its director, Michael Moore. But I don’t think I’ve heard anyone comment on Moore’s love for America. It seemed evident to me that the film was born from that love.

To anyone who would respond that, no, the film was motivated by rage at the Bush administration, might I point out that when you feel betrayed, when you believe that something or someone you love has been wounded and cheated and lied to, the fury that floods the heart is unstoppable.

In the '60s, most of my generation (including me) was angry at America for the distant jungle war that had also become a war at home. Fury was a rite of passage. The country was divided between hawks and doves. And we were angry doves. The Vietnam War was taking our classmates, our peers, our friends; it was taking brothers and boyfriends and young husbands. It was a war we couldn’t understand. Vietnam had done nothing to us. I remember having to find the country on a globe in the classroom just to figure out where it was.

</snip>

more at

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5462806/site/newsweek/

Those Reagan kids are doing pretty good!!

[ronnykmarshall]

1. Go Patti!

I can just imagine the hate that will be brewing in freeperland now.

[2Design]

2. thanks for posting

[kentuck]

3. Oh man! Are "they" gonna be pissed !

<snip>
I don’t think you lie to people you love. I don’t think you send them off into dangerous situations on the basis of murky, cobbled-together information that isn’t really information at all. I don’t think you keep them scared all the time. I don’t think you respond to horrors like public beheadings with cowboy slogans that sound like they came from old John Wayne movies. And I think if someone masterminds an attack on people you love and murders thousands of them, you go after that person until you find him. Osama bin Laden is six feet, eight inches tall, he wears white robes and he reportedly suffers from kidney failure, requiring him to be on dialysis. I haven’t researched this, but I assume there aren’t many dialysis machines in Afghanistan. So wouldn’t it make sense to stake out the ones that are there? He could have a portable one, which would require a generator. That should make him easy to spot, too.

...more

[Tsiyu]

4. Kick

[myopic4141]

5. It is so nice to see.

Finally, someone who interprets Moore's actions with love instead of hatred of country. I, for one, get tired of hearing how those who are against Shrubby and all his minions are haters of America and unpatriotic. Equally tired am I of hearing accusations of wanting American service personnel to die because we are against the war they are in. In truth, it is those who wrap themselves in the symbols of patriotism while embarking on a path of un-Americanism that are the haters of America for they seek to destroy all that the nation stands for.

[indepat]

6. Love our country: Hate the ideology and all actions foreign to its most

cherished ideals, values, and beliefs. But the expressed American intent for Vietnam was most noble indeed, that of giving the Vietnamese their freedom to choose the government of their choice as long as that government were not tainted by the Commie scourge. And we were noble enough to kill/maim millions of Vietnamese just to give them the freedom of choice, and laying waste to much of their land through carpet-bombing and use of Agent Orange was a price we were willing to pay for their freedom, as long as their choice were acceptable to us (not Commie-tainted nor leaning even a teeny-weeny bit to the left).

[myopic4141]

11. The road to Hell.

What are you willing to risk for the preservation of liberty and can you prove it? That is the question that should be asked of any nation's citizen who wishes to live under the umbrella of liberty. The answer will determine whether a nation's conversion to a liberal democracy will flourish or wither and die. It is a question that is never asked by a nation trying to impose a liberal democracy on a people through force. It is not asked for the invaders already know the answer; but, proceed with the use of force in any case. Such force would not be needed if the people were truly ready; therefore, the liberal democracy will not stand. When a people are truly ready, then the yoke of tyranny will be thrown off from within.

[TaleWgnDg]

7. you ROCK, Patti!

:yourock:

[mandyky]

8. Ron and Nancy must have been good parents

to raise Patti and Ron Jr.

[monchie]

9. The Reagan kids are interesting....

Ron Jr. and Patti were raised by Ron and Nancy, and both turned out to be liberals, though Ron Jr. didn't seem to go through heavy alienation from his parents, as Patti did. Listening to Ron Jr. on Al Franken's show, I got the distinct impression that he and his father had a very good relationship, despite political differences.

Patti rebelled very strongly against both Ron and Nancy, but she seemed to have come to an understanding with them around the late 80s.

IIRC, Maureen and Michael were Ron's children with Jane Wyman; Maureen was their only natural child, and Michael was adopted. After the divorce, I think both children lived primarily with their mother. Maureen died a few years ago, but I remember that she had a pretty good relationship with her father and had gotten heavily involved in Republican politics.

Michael always seemed to be looking for his father's attention and love. At Michael's high school graduation, Ron supposedly didn't recognize Michael; also, during Ron's presidency, I remember that he didn't see Michael's child--his own grandchild--until a very long time after the child was born. After hearing those two stories, I found it fascinating that Michael built a talk radio career espousing his father's politics.

[mandyky]

13. I thought one was adopted

I couldn't remember which one.

[kskiska]

14. Both Ron and Patti had issues with their mother

Ron said recently that there was a period of 5 years they were not on speaking terms, though he was her favorite. Patti has said she and her mother were on the outs, but her father played referee.

Ron Sr. didn't like Michael much – called him a schmuck. Michael had a lot of problems over the years – bedwetting, divorce, trading on Reagan's name, stock fraud, and was accused by the Secret Service of stealing knick-knacks from the White House. Once his father became ill he seems to have been released and has created a fictitious childhood for himself and has adopted his father's politics – and then some. Of course Ron Sr. can't object anymore.

Good article on Reagan children:
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/8849353.htm

[Robert Murphy]

10. Where Do They Get Their Genes?

What I don't get it is how an airhead like Reagan ended up siring such smart and sophisticated kids. Perhaps Nancy Reagan has more brains than we realized...

Robert

[BlueEyedSon]

12. kick