One of the wackier sides of the media bias against Ronald Reagan was noticing how almost every social ill would at some point be connected to Reagan and his time in office. Here are just two from 1991:
“Tonight, the NBC News program Expose looks at incidences of sexual harassment in [federal low-income] housing. It’s reported by correspondent Michele Gillen….Well, I guess that’s where the problem began. Actually, it was when the budget was taken out of the affordable housing market during the Reagan years and thus, the problem came about.” — Today co-host Bryant Gumbel, September 20, 1991
Reporter Lea Thompson: “The Consumer Product Safety Commission can stop manufacturing; it can fine; it can even seize clothes right off the rack if PJs don’t meet flammability standards. None of that’s happened. So far the agency has only hoped a manufacturer will take its advice. So you can’t depend on government to police this for you. We did find this flammable sleepwear everywhere we went.”
Bryant Gumbel: “Lea, Lea, real quick. Why is the government abdicating its responsibility on this? Is this another holdover from the Reagan years and the cutbacks?”
Thompson: “Absolutely. And somebody’s gotta do something.”
– Exchange on Today, November 13, 1991.