Posted by Rich (172.155.121.61) on June 30, 2003 at 17:26:47:
In Reply to: The Great Communicator posted by Charlie (68.9.196.210) on June 30, 2003 at 17:01:58:
> I have done some reading on Reagan. However, I wasn't around when he was president so I never got the firsthand account of him. This guy is a slippery one. Understanding him is like trying to hold water in your hand. Was there a cold, calculating force behind all that "simple guy" warmth and heart-to-heart communication? Was he just a stage puppett, the perfect image for the GOP movers and shakers to sell their ideas with? Was he that nice old man who forgot events and important notes innocently, who accidentally distorted written records on national TV, who liked to joke and tell stories about his lifeguarding days in the middle of a policy discussion? What do you think, because I can't seem to put my finger on him?
> Charlie
Hello Charlie:
Reagan was Governor Of California ,before he was president, so we got to watch for 16 years! You are very right, he was slippery. He was both an idealogue, and a politican bothered by few things. He decided to take out the USSR, and did.... The exposes of that should have some real eye-openers, when they write THAT part of history1 He wasn't afraid to play the idiot, when he got caught.... ( He did avoid Nixon's fate.... ) I believe Lou Cannon's biography of him, to be the best source on Reagan; Cannon knew Reagan from his California days. Rich