Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site cvl.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!seismo!rlgvax!cvl!cas From: cas@cvl.UUCP Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: Reagan's Press Conference Message-ID: <452@cvl.UUCP> Date: Fri, 1-Jul-83 13:43:56 EDT Article-I.D.: cvl.452 Posted: Fri Jul 1 13:43:56 1983 Date-Received: Sat, 2-Jul-83 07:34:30 EDT References: <146@tty3b.UUCP> Organization: U. of Md. Computer Vision Lab Lines: 28 Personally, I am rather ambivalent about Reagan and his policies. About the only view I would really feel comfortable with is that he can't be any worse than Carter. However, I do get tired of reading comments about how stupid the man is and how he doesn't know anything about the issues he is addressing. Here is a man who on a regular basis can convince the senate to vote in his favor. This is done in the difficult situations by meeting with members (of both parties) on an individual or small group basis. A person either stupid or ignorant will be quickly found out on such an occasion, and certainly will be unable to convince anyone of their cause. And if you think the members of congress are even stupider and more ignorant than Reagan, he is also quite successful when meeting with members of other governments. I suspect that the individuals who watch Reagan and claim that he doesn't know what he is talking about are suffering from a case of wishful thinking - if the observer doesn't agree with the policies of a politician, then the observer would like to beleive the politician is somehow bad or incompetent apart from the policy itself. Its one thing to totally disagree with Reagan's policies, but you won't be doing yourself any favors if you underestimate him. Maybe he is stupid, even senile. But I doubt it very much as long as he can continue to pull out victories in congress. Cliff Shaffer {seismo,mcnc,we13}!rlgvax!cvl!cas PS - Notice that he didn't try too hard to get the abortion amendment passed - a bill which was obviously doomed to failure.