NewsMax.com Wires
Wednesday, June 9, 2004

Speaking at a Republican fund-raiser, Reagan proudly defended his conservative legacy in a tone that reminded his cheering supporters why he was known as the Great Communicator.

No one could predict that just nine months later, Reagan would pen a letter to the nation revealing he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and would never appear on the public stage again.

Reagan told the crowd that President Bill Clinton's 1994 State of the Union Address reminded him of the correlation between imitation and flattery. "Only in this case, it's not flattery, but grand larceny - the intellectual theft of ideas that you and I recognize as our own."

Reagan defended calling the former Soviet Union an "Evil Empire" and mocked those who criticized his military buildup, which he said hastened the demise of communism. He said Democrats, who often cite the soaring budget deficits during the 1980s, "will never forgive us for our success" and accused his critics of trying to rewrite history.

"Listening to the liberals, you'd think that the 1980s were the worst period since the Great Depression, filled with suffering and despair," he said. "I don't know about you, but I'm getting awfully tired of the whining voices from the White House these days.

"They were claiming there was a decade of greed and neglect. Well, you and I know better than that. We were there. Although the political landscape has changed, the bold ideas of the 1980s are alive and well," Reagan said.

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