“Reagan made a mistake agreeing to take on GHW Bush as his VP, that led to what he built being dismantled. He should have insisted on Paul Laxalt, the guy he really wanted.”
You bring up a very good point.
From what I understand, you can thank Karl Rove for doing that to Reagan. Rove is and always has been a slimeball.
“From what I understand, you can thank Karl Rove for doing that to Reagan.”
I doubt it. I’ve got a copy here of ‘The Reagan Diaries’, a record of his daily meetings as President, and Rove’s name doesn’t appear in the index at all. If Rove had been enough of a player to have a role in the VP selection he surely would have had some contact with Reagan during his Presidency.
Reagan was a seasoned politician with a serious California based kitchen cabinet when the VP decision was made. Rove would have been in his late 20s and no one in Reagan’s inner circle would have given his opinion a second thought assuming that they had even met him.
I’m pretty sure that it was Dubya alone who inflicted Karl Rove on us. Rove has been called “Bush’s Brain”, meaning Dubya, for his role in Dubya’s career.