THE WEEK

□ Repeal the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, anyone?

□ Lou Cannon, the Washington Post’s principal Reagan-watcher, has his doubts about Reagan’s new Chief of Communications, Patrick Buchanan (see below). While he was a columnist, you see, Buchanan disagreed with Reagan on some issues: arms control, and two others we can’t make out from Cannon’s flaccid description. The obvious fact is that Buchanan and his new boss see eye to eye about nearly everything central, and there isn’t likely to be any conflict between them. Cannon isn’t spotting friction—he’s trying to create it. Why? Well, one clue is that he indignantly quotes Buchanan’s campaign remark that the American news media were acting as the “polemical and publicity arm of American liberalism” and were the “strategic reserve” of the Mondale-Ferraro campaign. Buchanan was of course right on target. Cannon is the guy who complained a couple of years ago that Reagan was getting “a fairer press than he deserves.”

Featured Tags

□ Repeal the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, anyone?

□ Lou Cannon, the Washington Post’s principal Reagan-watcher, has his doubts about Reagan’s new Chief of Communications, Patrick Buchanan (see below). While he was a columnist, you see, Buchanan disagreed with Reagan on some issues: arms control, and two others we can’t make out from Cannon’s flaccid description. The obvious fact is that Buchanan and his new boss see eye to eye about nearly everything central, and there isn’t likely to be any conflict between them. Cannon isn’t spotting friction—he’s trying to create it. Why? Well, one clue is that he indignantly quotes Buchanan’s campaign remark that the American news media were acting as the “polemical and publicity arm of American liberalism” and were the “strategic reserve” of the Mondale-Ferraro campaign. Buchanan was of course right on target. Cannon is the guy who complained a couple of years ago that Reagan was getting “a fairer press than he deserves.”