How Reagan Fooled Us (His Fascinating Letters)

Andrewsullivan.com ^ | 9/30/03 | Andrew Sullivan

[joesnuffy]

Thanks for the article
I didnt appreciate him enough at the time either....

[Poohbah]

That someone was his correspondent, a man still throwing rhetorical bombs anywhere he can. But Reagan never sent the letter.

Wow. TLBSHOW was pulling this stuff back in 1981? (c8

[Poohbah]

Pat was working for Reagan as a speechwriter at the time, IIRC...

[CheneyChick]

Wow - great find, CP.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

.

[L,TOWM]

Thanks for the ping CP. I still go with the BrigadenFeuhrer. IIRC, he did not last long in the Reagan Administration.

[twigs]

Pat was working for Reagan as a speechwriter at the time, IIRC...

I'm not sure about whether or not he was Reagan's speechwriter, but I think he was Nixon's. But I know for sure that at some point during the first Reagan administration, he had a radio show, a point/counter-point format, called Braden and Buchanan. I used to listen to it while driving to work. Enjoyable show.

[Wolfstar]

I'd vote for Reagan NOW, even in his present condition, over ANY Democrat ever born.

[APRPEH]

pat was not speech writer for RR. he was in charge of the WH press office.

[twigs]

Thanks.

[Robert_Paulson2]

alan?

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Take your pick - Weyrich, Viguirie, one of the other hangers on....

[proud American in Canada]

bump! Thanks for posting this. It's an excellent article.

[Question_Assumptions]

Ronald Reagan fooled the people who wanted to be fooled. George H. W. Bush fooled the people who wanted to be fooled. Bill Clinton fooled the people who wanted to be fooled. George W. Bush fools the people who want to be fooled. If you really want the truth, it's out there. A lot of people don't want the truth.

[katana]

I think he picked up that saying from Eisenhower, another president who was a thousand times better and more successful than the press will ever admit, even to themselves.

[tophat9000]

I loved this opening sentence to an angry woman in 1977, when he was recovering from his failed first run at the presidency: "I have been informed of your complaint about my broadcasts and your suggestion that they be taken off the air. I'm sorry you feel that way and hope you won't mind my writing a few words in my own defense." Why didn't he just throw the hate-mail in the dust-bin? Or in another missive, he could find a gentle way to inform a correspondent that his idea was preposterous: "I found your suggestion very interesting and yet as I turned it over in my mind it had a drawback - at least in my opinion." How's that for letting someone down gently?

So does this paragraph

[nutmeg]

.

[Ronin]

That's right. I forgot about that.

[My2Cents]

Reagan bump!

[My2Cents]

To a critical teenage girl who was president of her school, he concludes the letter, "We presidents must stick together."

I love this man!