Will the Real Ronald Reagan

Will the Real Ronald Reagan Please Stand Up - The Claremont Institute's Steven Hayward on Ronald Reagan's "Intellectual Rehabilitation" - from the left:

More comical is the way liberals now acknowledge Reagan as a deep thinker as a back door way of attacking George W. Bush. The Times' Keller wrote: "Reagan has been enjoying an intellectual rehabilitation. The publication in 2001 of Reagan's original, handwritten scripts for radio homilies he delivered caused many skeptics to concede that he was a better writer and thinker than most had generally imagined." Unlike you-know-who in the White House now. Keller adds: "Reagan's principles were developed over decades and fortified by a selective but extensive reading of history. [Reagan had] studied, lifelong convictions [and] arrived at the Oval Office pretty much a finished product." What happened to the charge that Reagan's only reading was Human Events and Reader's Digest? That he was helpless without his three-by-five cards, and was a creation of his handlers? It has been a cliche for almost three decades now that Reagan has exceeded expectations, and his becoming the oldest living ex-president in our history is another such occasion.

You know the world's changed when the left tries to claim a piece of Reagan.

The article is short, fascinating, and will lead me to much more reading.

Posted by Mitch at February 8, 2003 07:50 PM