THE NEW YORK TIMES 6/7/04
" ... Looking back now, we can trace some of the flaws of the current Washington mindset - the tax-cut-driven deficits, the slogan-driven foreign policy - to Mr. Reagan's example ... Mr. Reagan's decision to send marines to Lebanon was disastrous, however, and his invasion of Grenada pure melodrama ... The flawed theory behind the Reagan tax cuts, that the ensuing jolt to the economy would bring in enough money to balance the budget, is still espoused by many of the Republican faithful, including President Bush ... Today, we live in an era defined by (Reagan's) particular kind of simplicity (that if only Americans believed in themselves), which expresses itself in semi-detached leadership and a black-and-white view of the world. Gray is beginning to look a lot more attractive."
THE WASHINGTON POST 6/6/04
" ... Mr. Reagan's inattentiveness to detail, as well as to some fairly major goings-on, was well known, and in at least one instance - what came to be known as the Iran-Contra scandal - it hurt him, his administration and the country ... Many regarded his trait as evidence of his naivete or linked it to his frequent use of dubious anecdotes and his occasional confusion of reality with movieland myth ... His determination to dispel the specter of nuclear weapons probably stemmed more from his reading of the Book of Revelation than from any briefings or position papers. It lead to his insistence on creating a shield against ballistic missiles, which many thought simply preposterous ... In the land of the quick, articulate and thoroughly briefed, Mr. Reagan seemed out of his depth from the day of his first press conference as president - obviously not conversant with the subject matter that was being thrown at him from all directions, evasive, fumbling, off-balance ... The (tax) cuts, combined with the defense buildup that was also a major item on the Reagan agenda, led to growing deficits, which inevitably struck hard at services for the poor, especially during the deep recession of the early 1980s. A lot of people were hurt by these policies, a fact that in our view did not weigh heavily enough on this president ... "
LOS ANGELES TIMES 6/6/04
" ... He put a happy face on even the grimmest realities, often relying on dubious anecdotes and statistics ... As president, Reagan was genial, ever-smiling - ignoring unpleasant facts, idealizing hopeful fantasies. He was supremely suited to take advantage of the electronic media that now dominate and shape modern political dialogue, placing image over substance ... (Reagan) succumbed, as Bush has, to the fallacious 'supply-side' economic notion that government revenues rise if taxes are cut ... Hero though Reagan was to so many Americans, his legacy is marred ... the affluent got more affluent and the poor got poorer. The number of families living below the poverty line increased by one-third. The Reagan administration's zeal for deregulation of industry helped create the savings and loan debacle, which left taxpayers holding the bag for billions of dollars in losses. All of this presaged a recurring malaise among American workers, who continue to see jobs lost to corporate downsizing and outsourcing ... His administration's resistance to federal hegemony in social issues led to significant retreats in civil rights. And Reagan's political caution on the AIDS scourge ... allowed valuable years to pass before the federal government took an assertive role in researching and preventing the disease ... "
