While thousands paid their respects to President Reagan last night, “Nightline” was doing what it traditionally does: channeling the same old bilge about Reagan not caring for blacks and gays and the poor. Michel Martin filed all the already stale Beth Fouhy lines about how blacks felt neglected, gays thought Reagan was killing them with AIDS, and Reaganomics was all about enriching Richie Rich and family. Talking heads were Roger Wilkins, Alice Rivlin, and Gary Bauer, who did quite well for being outnumbered 2-1.
This is precisely the kind of coverage liberals are clamoring for, the “truth” about Reagan, without answering the question: Is it accurate? ABC let the Reagan-haters they found state the history of the Reagan era as if it was the definitive truth. Liberals like the dreadful Michael Wolff are whining about the networks creating a “myth” around Reagan, but as my colleague down the hall noted, this Fouhy-Koppel line is the real network myth about Reagan: black America went to pot in the 1980s, Reagan didn’t lift a finger to help AIDS sufferers, and somehow tax cuts and defense spending alone manufactured the deficit. It’s all Reagan-hating baloney.