Tom Shales of the Washington Post and I must have lived through different decades:

Reagan’s time in the White House was a virtual love affair with the press, whom he charmed as infectiously as he charmed the whole country.

Uh, whatever. It’s a throwaway line in a largely admiring review of Sarah Palin. I like his ending:

Nobody could watch that speech and still consider her a joke, no matter how flimsy her credentials and qualifications may seem on paper. The joke, it seems, is on those who’d been laughing at her. Last night the laughing ended — and the cheering began.