Breslin
Not really inimitable, because plenty of people have, but he's still good:
Jimmy Breslin -- Reagan should be on a $3 bill The great American news industry, the Pekinese of the Press with so much room and time and nothing to say, compared Reagan to Lincoln and Hamilton, they really did. This is like claiming that the maintenance man wrote the Bill of Rights. And almost all the reporters agreed that Reagan was the man who brought down Russia in the Cold War. Just saying this is absolutely sinful. The Cold War was won by a long memo written by George Kennan, who worked in the State Department and sent the memo by telegram about the need for a "Policy of Containment" on Russia. Kennan said the contradictions in their system would ruin them. Keep them where they are and they will tear themselves apart. We followed Kennan's policy for over 40 years. The Soviets made it worse on themselves by building a wall in East Berlin. When they had to tear it down and give up their system, Kennan was in Princeton and he sat down to dinner.
3 Comments:
We have been in an age of simple-minded government which began some time around the Eisenhower administration. There have been ups and downs since then, but the trend has been toward a face of bumbling stupidity in the White House. That is what Reagan symbolizes to me. There is a chapter in (I think) Mills' "The Power Elite" in which he contrasts the political rhetoric of the late 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. He noted a drastic collapse in the soundness and clarity of dialogue during the 1950's and 60's. I am inclined to say that things are worse today. It's as though the government was entirely taken over by half-educated haberdashers. And of all of them, Reagan is most loved because of his gripping performance as President in our government's production of "The White House," which ran for 8 years until the part was recast with another less-loved idiot.
I'm not sure I like the blogger commenting system. I don't think people should have to log in with blogger accounts in order to post. I also don't like the fact that my last comment never showed up. Perhaps I should go back to the Haloscan comment system?
Oh, there's my comment. Took it long enough.
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