For example I spent a lot of time with Reagan both before he ran for governor and when he was running for president. As a print reporter without the cameras I was able to really test the quality of their minds and their knowledge base.

President Reagan was a leader at a time when the American people most needed leadership. He outlined a vision that captured the imagination of the free world a vision that toppled the Communist empire and freed countless millions.

While many of us never knew Ronald Reagan personally we felt close to him because we shared his lighthearted sense of humor admired his uncommon virtue and were moved by his remarkable wisdom.

From Jefferson to Jackson to Lincoln to FDR to Reagan every great president inspires enormous affection and enormous hostility. We'll all be much saner I think if we remember that history is full of surprises and things that seemed absolutely certain one day are often unimaginable the next.

I think Ronald Reagan was one of the great presidents period not just recently. I thought he had the demeanor. I thought he had the bearing. I thought he had the thought process.

The words spoken by the leader of the free world can expand the frontiers of freedom or shrink them. When Ronald Reagan called on Gorbachev to 'tear down this wall ' a surge of confidence rose that would ultimately breach the bounds of the evil empire.

Ronald Reagan's well documented final battles with Alzheimer's disease were fought with the same conviction and courage that his many public battles were fought.

I have three favorite politicians: Reagan Truman and Bobby Kennedy - Bobby for showing remarkable political courage despite being loathed by many on both sides.

I think that Obama is very cool. And I think he's clever and I think he can be witty. But I don't think he's funny in either the way that Reagan was funny - or John McCain and Dick Cheney are both funny in that ruthless kind of mean way.

Maybe that first gigantic deficit the Reaganites piled up was an accident just a combination of deluded 'supply side' tax cuts and a huge bag of good stuff for the Pentagon. But pretty quickly conservatives discovered that deficits when done correctly did something really cool: deficits defunded the Left.

If we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday at a time of presidential inaugurals this is thanks to Ronald Reagan who created the holiday and not to the Democratic Congress of the Carter years which rejected it.

The day before the anniversary of D-Day we lost a man who was equaled by few and surpassed by none as a leader in the cause of freedom: Ronald Reagan.

I think we need one recognized respected public figure to make a tough blunt statement on just what Reagan's record is and what he might do to the country let alone the Republican Party before Christmas.