Small Business Owner of Any Repute
Mr. Moderate
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« on: December 23, 2012, 04:23:01 PM » |
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Reagan had to prove to the public that he was capable of leading -- remember, he was old even then -- and that he was not a terrifyingly conservative hardliner. Doing well in the debate was a requirement for a Reagan victory. The election would be significantly closer had Reagan not landed some good soundbites as he did, and if he had performed poorly, he'd have straight up lost.
And as much as I've grown to dislike some of Reagan's policies, I still see him as a far superior administrator to Carter. At least in the pre-Alzheimers era of his first term. Things really came off the rails post-1984.
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