Ronald Regan Assassination Attempt - Old News But

[thefool_wa]

This morning I found myself possessed with an indescribable desire to learn more about the 3/30/81 attempt on Ronald Regan's life by John W. Hinckley JR that led to, among other things, the adaptation of the Brady Law.

I remember this incident in theory mostly as I was only 6 years old when it happened and so much of what occured is a part of our culture that I never stopped to do any reading about it. In the shower this morning I was hypothesizing about what I might find, and sure enough I found it.

These facts are small details about his life, but at the very least they show an interconnection that has implications I would really rather not explore without hearing what those of my brethren out there have found/know also.

Check these links:
Hinckley Trial Overview
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hinckley/hinckleyaccount.html

AP Article from 3/31/81
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hinckley/hinckleyaccount.html

So, the two items I find interesting are: 1) The Hinckleys were a powerful Texas oil family w/ 2) Connections to the Bush family. The AP article even says that Hinckley's brother was to have dinner w/ the Bush's the next night. Of course, we all know that Bush Sr. was VP at the time (and had been for all of 2 months), so there are a multitude of implications.

Like I said, I don't want to jump to any conclusions about this, especially since it is (for some reason) exactly what I expected to find. Help me out. What do you know? Post links and articles. Was he really insane, maybe a stooge manipulated to springboard the most strict infringement of the 2nd Amendment this country has ever seen, or worse.

[melody]

1. oh, yeah, that's already canon among my friends

John Hinckley, Sr was a good friend of Poppy Bush's. I think it's an easy leap to see who set-up Reagan. There also was a delay in getting Reagan to the hospital and Nancy Reagan refused to leave her husband's side throughout.

[Canuckistanian]

2. Was Nancy the reason for the delay?

Or was this some kind of bureaucracy?

[melody]

9. No, they were "caught in traffic"

The Secret Service and staff first drove him toward the White House before they "decided" he should be seen at the hospital. According to them, they didn't know he'd been shot. It took a ridiculous amount of time, the exact number I don't remember.

Nancy stayed with her husband in the hospital room. She was clearly concerned that someone had it in for him.

[NWHarkness]

3. You know, I remember JFK and Reagan

When JFK was shot, the whole nation stopped dead in it's tracks and wept.

When we heard that reagan had been shot, before we knew if he was alive or dead, everyone at work just sort of shrugged and went about their business.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Same here

He wasn't hurt that badly though was he?

[thefool_wa]

6. "Devastator" round to the chest

but it was a .22 for crying out loud. Donwside: it lodged in his lungs.

[H2O Man]

7. Sure he was.

If he wasn't a tough old man, Reagan would have died. That has nothing to do with liking or disliking his politics.

What I found most interesting about that episode is the "group dynamics" which occured while the Gipper was in the hospital. Though he is a strange and sometimes dangerous fellow, Al Haig was one of the very few with an appreciation of what was happening .... and he showed more respect for the Constitution, surprisingly, than anyone else in that group.

[northzax]

11. more respect for the Constitution?

Al Haig announced that he was in charge at the White House while Reagan was unconcious. I'm no Constitutional expert, but it seems to me that the Vice-President is in charge, when the President is incapacitated, then the Speaker of the House, then the President Pro-tem of the Senate, THEN the Secretary of State. So he seems to have skipped a few lines of the 25th amendment.

[H2O Man]

18. Sure did.

The reason why he did was the important thing.

[rainy]

5. And Jeb was having dinner with a bin laden, 911, go figure

did I get that right? Jeb was having dinner or Bush was smoking a cigar with a prince. I'm getting my facts mixed up?

[thefool_wa]

8. Found Something Else

Here is a link describing the events. It makes no speculation as to purpose, but definitely lines it all up as a conspiratorial hit on President Regan.

http://www.parascope.com/mx/articles/hinckley.htm

Its amazing to me that I have not done any research on this before as I am a conspiracy buff who loves this type of thing if only because it spurrs the basest of my emotions.

My take: I think this was set up to do exactly what happened, put the Brady Law into effect and limit (or shall I say infringe) upon our 2nd Amendment rights. The best part, it could be pioneered by the opposition and the Republicans don't have to flip-flop on their pro NRA stance.

The worst part: Poor Jim Brady took a bullet in the head he had no idea was coming, and probably from an American military rifle wielded by an American soldier. How sad.

[LiberalEsto]

10. I think Neil Bush had lunch with Hinckley's brother

right before the assasination attempt.

[thefool_wa]

12. It was after

He was planning to have dinner with Niel in Denver on 3/31/81. The article in the original post from the AP talks about GW, but it is unclear whether he would be in attendance.

Still, awful close connection. You would think that, when planning conspiracies of the magnitude these f*cks plan them on that they could tie up loose ends a little better than they do. It is too easy to find some of this information and too easy to shoot holes in (no pun intended) their stories.

This goes back to JFK and continues all the way through to 9/11. If these are the most powerful men in the world then they must have something going for them other than brains.

Of course they do, otherwise we would be able to actually use this information to change things.

[John Q. Citizen]

13. Here's a link to

the bush section of the retired Dean of the School of Journalism's article on the subject of the bush/Hinckley connection and the media. From Nathaniel Bloombergs web site, The Treasure State Review:

Even more dangerous for the future of our country than a conspiracy to assassinate a president is a conspiracy to manipulate and control what the American people are told by the national news media. This book—among much else—examines the official cover-up of vital information that left scores of unanswered questions surrounding the event of the afternoon of March 30, 1981. From the book, page 6:

"When it happened it was beyond the grotesque. For seconds Jonathan Blakely was stunned. John Chancellor, eyebrows raised, informed the viewers of NBC Nightly News that the brother of the man who tried to kill the president was acquainted with the son of the man who would have become president if the attack had been successful. As a matter of fact, Chancellor said in a bewildered tone, Scott Hinckley and Neil Bush had been scheduled to have dinner together at the home of the vice president's son the very next night. And, of course, the engagement had been canceled. . .

Then a peculiar thing happened: The story vanished. To this day, it has never been reported in the New York Times, Washington Post or many other metropolitan newspapers, never again mentioned by any of the television news networks, and never noted in news magazines except for a brief mention in Newsweek, which lumped it with two ludicrous conspiracy scenarios as if the Bush-Hinckley connection didn't deserve some sort of explanation.

More....
http://www.nathanielblumberg.com/bush.htm
****************************************
My own feeling is that we have two sons of the bush's close friends and business associates pulling off major crimes against the US. Poppy and Bin Ladin's daddy were hanging out together when the towers were hit, and Niel bush and Scott Hinckley scheduled to be hanging out together the night of the assasination attempt. Too co-inky dinky for my credulity.

[thefool_wa]

15. Very nice

I am headed to the library tomorrow for a copy. Thanks for the info.

[lumberjack_jeff]

14. Occam's Razor

Shave off unnecessary entries in explanations.

Sorry to be a wet blanket, but one doesn't invite the brother of the hit man over for dinner on the day after the scheduled hit.

A more likely explanation: Hinkley was a crazy bastard who thought it'd be cool if a friend of the family was president.

[thefool_wa]

16. Its more than that

The link I provided in a later post goes into a decent analysis of the video footage from the assassination attempt. Check it out, it lends credibility to the idea there was a conspiracy by analyzing injuries based on when the shots were fired by Hinckley and in what direction as compared to the "official version" of who was shot when and by what.

Plus, I just don't buy a lone whack job getting that close to the president with a gun. It is hard for me to believe that could ever happen let alone getting 6 shots get squeezed off in the span of several seconds, without someone on the inside.

Occam's Razer works for natural phenomenon and personal motivations, but it can't slice political intrigue. In fact, the exact opposite of Occam's Razer tends to be true when discussing matters of state and diplomacy, even domestic politics. The simpler the explanation we are given looks, the more complex the actual motivations and even the actions themselves tend to be.

[John Q. Citizen]

17. The very fact you have to speculate on the reasons are evidence

of the suppression of this story.

I'm amazed that news media didn't undertake to find out what was behind the puzzling fact that Neil bush was to have dinner with Scott Bush the night after the assination attempt. Sounds like a natural story. Isn't life strange, the son of friends and supporters of the VP (bush) tries to kill Reagan.

If your theory is correct lumberjack_jeff then the government let Hinckley walk almost scott free for a political crime. Hinckley claimed he did it to impress Jody Foster.

All I can say is something is fishy with the whole deal.

[lumberjack_jeff]

19. I don't disagree that the connection is interesting.

... and newsworthy. I'd also agree that discussion of the link has been consciously suppressed. I'm just suggesting that as malevolent as the BFEE is, they're not that clumsy. I don't think Hinckley had a puppet master.

[John Q. Citizen]

20. I think when you consider that we have two

sons of bush family oil friends who commit these major crimes against the US, (attempted Reagan assassination and hitting the twin towers) one has to wonder about the crazy and fanatical offspring of the people the bush's hang out with.

As far as clumsy goes, the bush's seem no more immune than anyone else. However. as far as accountability goes, the bush's seem untouchable.