[econnors]

Ronald Reagan made similar remarks in the hospital after he was shot. It's always impressed me how he could retain control of his emotions at such a horrible time:

"...when his wife arrived in the emergency room, Reagan remarked to her, 'Honey, I forgot to duck'... While intubated, he scribbled to a nurse, "All in all, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_assassination_attempt

[gradschool]

and according to a news article I read at the time, when speaking to the doctors who were to operate on him, he said, "I hope you guys are Republicans".

[gjm11]

While we're trading kinda-irrelevant things about the Reagan shooting ...

The secret service agent who took care of Reagan immediately after he was shot and probably saved his life was a chap called Jerry Parr. Parr was originally inspired to pursue a career in the secret service by watching a film called "The Code of the Secret Service". The secret agent who's the protagonist of that film was played by ... Ronald Reagan.