imkittymyers at hotmail dot com
Monday, July 12, 2004
THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING BRAT
Buckley vs. Reagan (Jr.)
By Robert Novak
Amid the spontaneous outpouring of respect and affection for Ronald Reagan following his death, a discordant note was sounded by his son. In a succession of television and newspaper interviews, Ron Reagan Jr. used the occasion to trash George W. Bush by drawing invidious comparisons between his father and the current president. Nobody knew how to respond in a time of national mourning. Nobody, that is, except William F. Buckley Jr
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With publication in The New York Times Magazine of Ron Jr.'s interview with Deborah Solomon, Buckley wrote the son with a point-by-point response.
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This is more than a wayward son, at age 46 with a career seemingly going nowhere, seeking 15 minutes of fame. He has signed with MSNBC as a "contributor" for the 2004 campaign. It is a windfall for Democratic operatives to quote the son of Ronald Reagan saying of Republicans: "I couldn't join a party that, frankly, tolerates members who are bigots for one thing, homophobes, racists."