pettifogger
Footballguy
Finished At the Center of the Storm by George Tenet last week.
Pretty quick read. Tenet gives a different view of the same topics Bob Woodward covers in his books about Bush, 9-11, Iraq, etc. He takes pains not to throw Bush under the bus but it's clear he won't be exchanging Xmas cards with Cheney, Libby, or Condi Rice. One of his big points is that CIA mistakes on WMD did not lead to Bush's decision to go to war but he totally sidesteps the issue of how his NIEs led Congress to vote the way it did. The stories about meeting Arafat and participating in the Dayton negotiations re Israeal/Palestine are very interesting. His descriptions of "tradecraft" and how intelligence is processed are interesting too.
Last weekend I started the Reagan Diaries. I'm through about a quarter of it, now up to 1983.
It's really a fascinating insight into Reagan because it's obvious he was writing for history but not planning to have it published in his lifetime. Everything you like or dislike about the man comes out in the entries. He's stubborn, narrow minded and very sure of himself, and everyone who is against him is, in his view, not being honest or is just playing political games, but at the same time these personality characteristics lead to him accomplishing major changes. The press gave the impression that he was pretty lazy, kept a 9 to 5 office and vacationed a lot. That impression does not hold up when you see even a topical highlight of the events on a daily basis and the wide variety of topics he had to cover. He seemed to be far more engaged in writing his own speeches than the current president is. He spent an incredible amount of time lobbying members of Congress directly and meeting them for dinners, social events, etc.
Most interesting entries so far:
--when he talks about Saddam Hussein being a "nut" who wants to acquire nuclear weapons and take over the neigboring Arab countries, but he's not in favor of Israel's bombing their nuclear reactor;
--his frustration with the Israelis and what he sees as their aggressiveness, failure to pull out of Lebanon, etc.;
--his views on some of his meetings with Tip O'Neill, who he thinks is genial but misguided and gets his facts wrong (I read O'Neill's book and Tip said basically the same thing about Reagan; it sounds like they had a few heated exchanges and each thought they came out ahead);
--he's really devoted to his wife, frustrated by his kids on occasion, etc. Ron Jr. does not like having Secret Service protection and constantly complains, one time hanging up on RR and they are not talking for a while. Patti's like a "yo-yo", friendly at times, distant at others, calls for money when she's broke, though;
--he sees no contradiction in introducing intermediate nuclear weapons in Europe, or starting an MX missile program and stealth bomber program, while bargaining for arms limitations;
--he follows the numbers closely on his economic recovery plan which depends on tax cuts. When deficits ensue, it's always something other than his policy at fault, for example we were too good at curbing inflation so tax revenues are affected, or the Dems won't let me make sufficient further cuts, etc.
--but, he knows when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em, and will make a deal when it gets him most of what he wants. This leads to constant criticism from the right, who seem to think he's betrayed them. He finds it particularly amusing when people like Richard Viguerie (who opposed him and wanted Al Haig as a candidate) write to him expressing disappointment that he did not live up to their expectations.
Pretty quick read. Tenet gives a different view of the same topics Bob Woodward covers in his books about Bush, 9-11, Iraq, etc. He takes pains not to throw Bush under the bus but it's clear he won't be exchanging Xmas cards with Cheney, Libby, or Condi Rice. One of his big points is that CIA mistakes on WMD did not lead to Bush's decision to go to war but he totally sidesteps the issue of how his NIEs led Congress to vote the way it did. The stories about meeting Arafat and participating in the Dayton negotiations re Israeal/Palestine are very interesting. His descriptions of "tradecraft" and how intelligence is processed are interesting too.
Last weekend I started the Reagan Diaries. I'm through about a quarter of it, now up to 1983.
It's really a fascinating insight into Reagan because it's obvious he was writing for history but not planning to have it published in his lifetime. Everything you like or dislike about the man comes out in the entries. He's stubborn, narrow minded and very sure of himself, and everyone who is against him is, in his view, not being honest or is just playing political games, but at the same time these personality characteristics lead to him accomplishing major changes. The press gave the impression that he was pretty lazy, kept a 9 to 5 office and vacationed a lot. That impression does not hold up when you see even a topical highlight of the events on a daily basis and the wide variety of topics he had to cover. He seemed to be far more engaged in writing his own speeches than the current president is. He spent an incredible amount of time lobbying members of Congress directly and meeting them for dinners, social events, etc.
Most interesting entries so far:
--when he talks about Saddam Hussein being a "nut" who wants to acquire nuclear weapons and take over the neigboring Arab countries, but he's not in favor of Israel's bombing their nuclear reactor;
--his frustration with the Israelis and what he sees as their aggressiveness, failure to pull out of Lebanon, etc.;
--his views on some of his meetings with Tip O'Neill, who he thinks is genial but misguided and gets his facts wrong (I read O'Neill's book and Tip said basically the same thing about Reagan; it sounds like they had a few heated exchanges and each thought they came out ahead);
--he's really devoted to his wife, frustrated by his kids on occasion, etc. Ron Jr. does not like having Secret Service protection and constantly complains, one time hanging up on RR and they are not talking for a while. Patti's like a "yo-yo", friendly at times, distant at others, calls for money when she's broke, though;
--he sees no contradiction in introducing intermediate nuclear weapons in Europe, or starting an MX missile program and stealth bomber program, while bargaining for arms limitations;
--he follows the numbers closely on his economic recovery plan which depends on tax cuts. When deficits ensue, it's always something other than his policy at fault, for example we were too good at curbing inflation so tax revenues are affected, or the Dems won't let me make sufficient further cuts, etc.
--but, he knows when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em, and will make a deal when it gets him most of what he wants. This leads to constant criticism from the right, who seem to think he's betrayed them. He finds it particularly amusing when people like Richard Viguerie (who opposed him and wanted Al Haig as a candidate) write to him expressing disappointment that he did not live up to their expectations.
Every time I reach for this book I find another relative has borrowed it for a week or two. Definitely on my summer reading list, but I'm running out of summer days...
i'm 100% natural, #####
i'm 100% natural, #####
i'm 100% natural, #####
i'm 100% natural, #####
