June 05, 2004
Deathwatch
Today, The Drudge Report says it this way:
Reagan aide said that the former President has taken a turn for the worse. They don't think the end is imminent (not tomorrow). Staffers are being told to go about their business, to go on vacation if scheduled, DRUDGE has learned...After Reagan dies, streets near the house in Belair will be closed. There will be NO announcement of death from the house. Someone will call the news wires and announce where there will be an on-camera statement... Networks are preparing obits... MORE...
Undoubtedly, those who were his supporters as well as those who were his detractors are busily scouring their archives and seeking out suitable Talking Heads for the inevitable round of Media Autopsies.
I also have no doubt that the Big Dogs of Journalism have already begun their calls to the family home, to offer assistance, to give comfort, and to wiggle their way in, to stand near the death bed and be a part of the story.
Well, you know what? There is no story here. The story has been lost to us for as long as this disease ravaged first his mind and then his body. The story was lost to us when he ceased to be news and was relegated to Newsdoms Back Burner. The story was lost to us all when the media took it upon themselves to re-write his presidency and present him and his accomplishments as less then they were.
The media be damned.
But to his family, I send my hopes that his suffering and yours will end soon, quietly, painlessly, privately. I imagine Maureen is with him now, waiting to take his hand and lead him to where life is eternal and those who abide there are forever young and vibrant in the presence of God.
I want to believe that he will live with those who's lives touched and formed his, and with those who's lives he touched and made better. I want to believe that forever he will be as Baron von Lind portrayed him in the portrait below, with he sun on his face, the wind in his hair, comfortable with himself and one with the world he knew.
God Bless, President Reagan. I hope you are aware, if even just by some tiny measure, of how you are loved before you leave us all.
Posted by Mamamontezz at June 5, 2004 01:51 PM