Bing, bing, bing, we have a winner.
I spent much of the 80s saying, “Well, maybe Ronnie’s an idiot, but then his advisors are geniuses.”

I also gotta admit, I’m with Goldstein on this one.

The 1970s versions of Krauthammer, Will, Noonan, et al, all hated Reagan.

I lived through the 1970s and 80s, and during the 70s I thought Reagan was a lightweight – superficial and intellectually vacuous. Even in the 1980s I did not really change my opinion. By 1984, I decided that he was lucky rather than particularly smart, and that lucky beat smart.

It was not until the 1990s, when the fruits of Reaganism began ripening that my opinion of him began shifting, and really until his letters were published that I finally realized that he had an extremely shrewd intellect hidden by a genial facade. Yup. I misunderestimated the man in a big way.

Now I hear the same type of rhetoric that was aimed at Reagan by Beltway conservatives about Sarah Palin. They may not be wrong, this time, but then again, they may again be just as correct as they were 25 years ago about Reagan. Only this time, I plan to reserve judgement, and base my views on Palin’s actions in the future rather than pundit nattering. I think three years will give enough information for us to tell whether she is a Ronald Reagan or a Jack Kemp.

It won’t surprise me if Palin starts getting trashed by beltway Republicans.

It kind of reminds me of High School actually, which really makes me sad that some of our “side” can act this way. On the other hand, as long as the sane people keep speaking up, hopefully most will calm down before its time to get down to the business of planning for 2010 and 2012.