Clay Waters can quote only so many New York Times quotes on Reagan, but I have a couple of “favorites” from all our Reagan-reviewing in the last week. From the August 27, 1989 edition, reporter Kirk Johnson forwarded the view of “some experts” (read: “Reagan haters”) that the way in which “the Reagan administration questioned the value of racial quotas and affirmative action made speaking out against such programs acceptable. [Horrors!] This, they contend, made it easier for racists to openly express their attitudes. Groups like the Klan and the Skinheads have both begun [?] targeting the young for recruitment.”
In March of 1995, Lamar Alexander was in the early months of a run for president, and the NYT’s Tom Friedman was horrified to ponder someone as president “who is such an outsider to Washington and American foreign policy.” (He seemed to have already forgotten the election of Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton.) Alexander said, “Did Ronald Reagan scare you, Tom?” Friedman replied, “He sure did.” When Alexander suggested “I thought he was the best national defense and commander-in-chief and foreign policy president we’ve had since Eisenhower,” Friedman sneered: “Ask 245 Marines in Beirut about that.”