Did Reagan call G.W. Bush a ne’er-do-well?
Status: False
This paragraph supposedly written by Ronald Reagan is currently circulating widely around the internet: Direct quote from the just published REAGAN DIARIES.
The entry is dated May 17, 1986.
'A moment I've been dreading. George brought his ne're-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the political one who lives in Florida. The one who hangs around here all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I'll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they'll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work.'
The entry is dated May 17, 1986.
'A moment I've been dreading. George brought his ne're-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the political one who lives in Florida. The one who hangs around here all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I'll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they'll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work.'
Did Reagan really write this? Nope, he didn't. The quotation is pulled from an article titled "My Lunch with Reagan" by Michael Kinsley in the New Republic (vol. 237, issue 1, 7/2/07). And, not surprisingly, the quotation is taken out of context. In its original context it's easy to tell that it's meant as a joke:
The literary editor of The New Republic, Leon Wieseltier, brought the joyous news. "Guess what, Mike. You're mentioned in Reagan's diaries." The diaries were published recently by HarperCollins and were generally well-received. Edited by America's historian-on-steroids, Douglas Brinkley, The Reagan Diaries apparently reveal Reagan to be more thoughtful than he is normally given credit for. Of course, our standards in the area of presidential thoughtfulness have plummeted in recent years. Still, the fact that Reagan was writing it all down was news, and an interesting departure from presidential tradition. Traditionally, presidents use a hidden tape recorder.
But I was more interested in the me angle, frankly. And it was a puzzle. What on earth could Reagan have written? I indulged my imagination, and my ego: "January 22, 1983. Mommie [Nancy] says that Kinsley's column this week in The New Republic undermines the entire philosophical basis of my administration. O dear O dear, I had better not read it."
Or: "October 6, 1987. Why does Kinsley keep picking on me? He is the only thing standing between me and the total destruction of the welfare state. But, ha: I will destroy him--destroy him utterly-- or my name's not … not … not … . Say, they had 'State Fair' on TV last night. What a wholesome, clean-cut young man that Pat Boone is."
Or: "May 17, 1986. A moment I've been dreading. George brought his ne'er-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the political one who lives in Florida. The one who hangs around here all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I'll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they'll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work."
But I was more interested in the me angle, frankly. And it was a puzzle. What on earth could Reagan have written? I indulged my imagination, and my ego: "January 22, 1983. Mommie [Nancy] says that Kinsley's column this week in The New Republic undermines the entire philosophical basis of my administration. O dear O dear, I had better not read it."
Or: "October 6, 1987. Why does Kinsley keep picking on me? He is the only thing standing between me and the total destruction of the welfare state. But, ha: I will destroy him--destroy him utterly-- or my name's not … not … not … . Say, they had 'State Fair' on TV last night. What a wholesome, clean-cut young man that Pat Boone is."
Or: "May 17, 1986. A moment I've been dreading. George brought his ne'er-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the political one who lives in Florida. The one who hangs around here all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I'll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they'll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work."
Categories: Politics Posted by Alex on Mon Aug 20, 2007 |
Comments (28) |
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Well, it's certainly true in spirit, though not in literal fact.
Posted by Big Gary on Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 05:25 PM
I Trust that GWB is a sack-O-shite, and it's not hard to verify. There I go again
Posted by Hairy Houdini on Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 06:09 PM
No big loss...Dubya gives his critic so much ammo, one "cooked" example won't be missed.
Posted by EricW on Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 06:09 PM
"W" was good enough to keep TWO dims out of the office. Hope Fred is half as good and I think he is.
Posted by daryl on Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 06:54 PM
Hey, Daryl - if Fred Thompson is half as good as I know he is, he won't make a decent doorstop.
Posted by Maezeppa on Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 11:09 PM
Then again, most jokes start with a kernel of truth.
Posted by Todd on Mon Aug 20, 2007 at 11:24 PM
To quote Homer 'It's funny cos it's true!'
Posted by Nona on Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 06:35 AM
Nona's quoting Homer from London. I wonder which of the cartoons clowns the Brits like better, Homer or GDubya?
Posted by Henk on Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 07:57 AM
Fabrication never stopped B#%h-Rove-Cheney from telling it as gospel... The only contribution they've ever made is to the lexicon: the word "swiftboating"
Posted by Bumpa on Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 10:06 AM
Posting about George Bush seems to have triggered google ads for Ann Coulter to appear on the front page. Good grief!
Posted by The Curator in San Diego on Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 10:34 AM
I am on the edge of my seat to see what Fred Thompson's shirt is stuffed with. I hope he brings his rented red pickup truck to our town.
Fred, the lazysackofshit, couldn't even rise to the level of incompetence shown by the Bush Crime Family without getting winded.
Fred is half as good as Reagan, and Reagan's DEAD!
Posted by Mike Flagg on Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 07:58 PM
Fred, the lazysackofshit, couldn't even rise to the level of incompetence shown by the Bush Crime Family without getting winded.
Fred is half as good as Reagan, and Reagan's DEAD!
Dubya gives his critic so much ammo, one "cooked" example won't be missed.
yaa thanks
Posted by oyun oyunlar on Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 05:16 PM
yaa thanks
So how does this prove that the quote is a fake?
Posted by Oregonryan on Mon Sep 10, 2007 at 11:12 AM
I am a smart liberal. You can tell how smart I am by my ability to call people names. See how smart I am!
Bush bad. Me good.
Posted by Mike on Mon Sep 10, 2007 at 05:28 PM
Bush bad. Me good.
Oregonryan -
Kinsey states "What on earth could Reagan have written? I indulged my imagination, and my ego", thereby alterting readers that it is fiction.
You are one smart liberal! Kudos to you on your intellectual superiority!
Posted by Mike on Mon Sep 10, 2007 at 05:33 PM
Kinsey states "What on earth could Reagan have written? I indulged my imagination, and my ego", thereby alterting readers that it is fiction.
You are one smart liberal! Kudos to you on your intellectual superiority!
Mike,
Perhaps it takes a "smart liberal" to miss one line, but a real brain dead horse's behind to support Bush. As far as I am concerned, the blood of our "War on Terror" is on the hands of POS's like yourself.
Posted by Oregonryan on Mon Sep 10, 2007 at 06:00 PM
Perhaps it takes a "smart liberal" to miss one line, but a real brain dead horse's behind to support Bush. As far as I am concerned, the blood of our "War on Terror" is on the hands of POS's like yourself.
I really appreciate your website. An interesting website with an interesting design. A lot of interesting info. Thanks.
Posted by Shopis on Thu Sep 20, 2007 at 03:52 PM
truth+pain=comedy
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Posted by Autoscopy on Tue Nov 06, 2007 at 03:52 PM
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Posted by Mofinger on Fri Nov 23, 2007 at 11:21 AM
A credible tale... As for the "Smart Liberal" what a contradiction in terms.
Posted by John Hughes on Tue Nov 27, 2007 at 10:44 AM
Almost as big a contradiction as Compassionate Conservative. 😉
Posted by Charybdis in Hell on Tue Nov 27, 2007 at 02:53 PM
Great page I will be a return visitor!
Posted by Dominic Monaghan Star on Fri Nov 30, 2007 at 11:13 AM
My old man sent me this quote and it sounded like something a liberal would say (i.e. a LIE). Having read the Reagan Diaries, I was pretty sure it wasn't in the book. So I Googled it and found your website. Good job.
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Posted by Noahadine on Fri Aug 29, 2008 at 04:03 AM
the link to the article the quote is supposedly really from is dead. better fix that if you want it to be credible.
Posted by kermit on Sun Aug 31, 2008 at 10:18 AM
Hello admin, nice site! Good content, Beautiful design, thanks! Greetings
Posted by Torkel on Mon Apr 20, 2009 at 03:04 AM
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