There He Goes Again

Image: tiki_kiliki

Quotes from Paul Slansky, The Clothes Have No Emperor: A Chronicle of the American '80s—

[1981] 2/6 "It's just the 31st anniversary of my 39th birthday."
—President Reagan on turning 70

[1983] 2/4 During a difficult point in her husband's press conference, Nancy Reagan barges on stage carrying a birthday cake, instantly turning a news event into entertainment. Observes the President erroneously of his upcoming 72nd: "It's just the 31st anniversary of my 39th birthday."

[1984] 2/6 President Reagan celebrates his 73rd birthday—"the 34th anniversary of my 39th birthday"—in his hometown of Dixon, Illinois. "It's great to be back home," he says. "And, you know, if our old house on Hennepin Avenue looked as good in 1924 as it does now, I might never have left." Everyone laughs.

[1985] 2/5 "Birthday? Oh, you mean the 35th anniversary of my 39th birthday?"
—President Reagan on his upcoming 74th

[1986] 2/6 President Reagan turns 75, prompting not just the familiar joke about the "36th anniversary of my 39th birthday" but the additional insight that 75 is "only 24 Celsius."

[1987] 2/6 Walking into a roomful of aides assembled for a surprise 76th birthday party, President Reagan seems startled until his wife whispers to him, "It's your staff."

"Of all the 38th anniversaries of my 39th birthday," says the President incorrectly, "this is about the nicest."

[1988] 2/5 At a surprise party for the President's upcoming 77th birthday... Reagan observes that the event is "the 38th anniversary of my 39th birthday."

Now that the big year has arrived, Roy Edroso reports (hilariously) on the "hilarious birthday tributes" by wingnut bloggers

... who see a second Reagan in Sarah Palin. (Reagan's actual son? They hate him plus he's gay!)

Many rightblogger Reagan reminiscences were free-associative, perhaps in formal tribute to the Oval Office's most famous Alzheimer's sufferer.