Howler: EXCRUTIATING story of Reagan in decline in 1986, from Cannon's bio

[BurtWorm]

Cited at dailyhowler.com today:


http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh061004.shtml



CANNON (page 631): <I>t was obvious to <Donald> Regan and <White House counsel Peter> Wallison that the president was still shaky in his recollections. Wallison drew up what Abshire called an “aide-memoire” to help the president recall what he had told them. At the top Wallison wrote, “On the issue of the TOW <missile> shipment in August, in discussing this matter with me and David Abshire, you said you were surprised to learn that the Israelis had shipped the arms. If that is your recollection, and the question comes up at the Tower Board meeting, you might want to say that you were surprised.”

The question, of course, came up...After a preliminary question about presidents and their NSC staffs, Tower asked Reagan about the discrepancy between his statement and Regan’s on the question of whether he had given prior approval to the Israeli arms shipment. Reagan rose from his chair, walked around the desk and said to Wallison, “Peter, where is that piece of paper you had that you gave me this morning?” Then he picked up the paper and began to read, “If the question comes up at the Tower Board meeting, you might want to say that you were surprised.”

Tower’s jaw went slack. It was, as Abshire put it, “a low moment.” Tower suspected that Reagan was being manipulated by his counsel, and the Tower Board’s chief of staff, Rhett Dawson, asked Wallison for a “copy of the script” when the board departed. But Wallison was even more amazed than the Tower Board by Reagan’s response. “I was horrified, just horrified,” Wallison recalled later.

[no name no slogan]

1. Not suprising at all

Before we met and married, my wife dated a guy whose father was an attorney in D.C., and worked off and on with the Reagan Administration in one capacity or another.

This guy's dad recounted stories of meetings where Ronnie was in attendance, where all he would do was sleep. The only time they woke him up was to get his signature one some piece of paper or another-- otherwise, it was his cronies that did all the work, while he slept through it all. And I believe this was happening during not only his first term, but his second term, too.

[BurtWorm]

5. And this is the "great man" we're supposed to be lionizing in death.

Mind you, Reagan was this far gone with two years left in his second term. When did this decline begin? Now that would make an interesting post-mortem story.

[IrateCitizen]

2. Yeah, that was amazing

The more I hear about this book, I really want to read it.

I forget where I heard it, but several journalists described Reagan as in a steady decline following the attempt on his life in 1981. As the years went by, he got slower, and decidedly less focused mentally. It's been hypothesized that he was actually in the grips of early Alzheimer's as far back as 1983.

This excerpt would certainly bear that hypothesis out. It is clearly indicative of a person not close to fully in touch with his mental faculties.

[BurtWorm]

6. As I said above, I'd be interested in a news story on this subject.

It's why I think we should be cautious when speaking of what "Reagan" did as a president. Reagan the man seems to have done little but mentally decline.

[Philostopher]

9. I know my family talked about it a lot from the first term on.

About whether he was 'compos mentis' or not, I mean. We suspected something -- my younger brother aptly enough described it as 'auditioning for the Animatronic Presidents display at Disney World.' Reagan looked like some kind of android most of the time he was in office, especially when he was standing still and speaking to a crowd. He was stiff, sometimes palsied. When we watched press conferences, we made mechanical noises when he turned his head -- we truly believed he was 'on the final roundup' inside his skull.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

3. that is just hilarious

you couldn't write a better farce.

[IrateCitizen]

10. I'm sorry, but I find nothing hilarious about this

I only find it tragic and frightening. Tragic, because slowly wasting away from Alzheimer's is something that should never be wished on, or made fun of. Frightening, because this was the guy with access to the Nuclear Button this whole time.

Kind of reminds you of that old Genesis video for "Land of Confusion", huh?

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

12. he didn't have alzheimer's at this time

he wasn't senile until after he left office. ask any republican.

[BurtWorm]

13. Wink wink

;)

I think he was a subject of King Alzheimer since early in his first term.

[On the Road]

4. That is Unbelievable

It's the action of something with a very tenuous hold on reality.

[Snellius]

7. I remember when Howard Baker was Chief of Staff

being asked by the press straight out whether or not he thought that Reagan was mentally fit to handle the job. Baker assured them --somewhat equivocally -- that the president was fine. People forget that in the last years of Reagan's reign it was an open secret that the commander in chief was pretty much non compos mentis at that point.

[BurtWorm]

8. And how many times has this question been raised on cable news this week?

How many times in the NYT and the WP?

[BurtWorm]

11. Makes Hastert's words today ring a little hollow

"While others worried, President Reagan persevered," Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois told members of Congress, the Supreme Court, the diplomatic corps and invited guests in the Rotunda. "When others weakened, President Reagan stood tall. When others stepped back, President Reagan stepped forward. And he did it all with great humility, with great charm and with great humor."

[redqueen]

14. OMG

I can't believe that this man was not forced out of office.

It seems Republicans would rather endanger the nation, and the rest of the world, than embarass their hero.

:grr:

[BurtWorm]

15. Reagan is a total myth, when you think about it.

He is the embodiment of this ideal they called "Reaganism" but which was actually right-wing-loonyism. Reagan himself was a shell, apparently.

I'm a person who doesn't believe in the historical Jesus. I don't know where you stand on that, but it's beside the point, really. I bring it up, though, because I see something similar among Republicans that I see among Christians, which is adoration of an idea posing as a human being.

[redqueen]

16. Oh I think many recognized that he was a puppet

Seriously, his intellect wasn't all that hot, so naturally the more machiavellian around him would take advantage.

As far as Christians, I do believe, but not literally. I think I see what you're saying, though.

The sad thing is that if even half of the nimrods that claim to love Jesus so much would do even a modicum of research on the message the man actually preached, they'd realize they're being used as pawns. Unfortunately, it's a very common human failing to succumb to thoughtless hero worship and lemmingism.

[BurtWorm]

17. The strange thing is, that even those who KNEW he was vacant

worship him as a God. :wtf:

[redqueen]

18. Doesn't surprise me

his genial vacuousness enabled the progress of their evil plans.

[BurtWorm]

19. But how does that make him worship-worthy?

I'd think it would inspire contempt. Maybe their worship is inverted contempt?

[redqueen]

20. You're right

Maybe their worship is just an act to fool the mindless lemmings, while they secretly laugh behind the scenes. Good call.