I Never Knew There Was Such A Thing

Washington agog: Who took Carter's briefing book ?

The New York Times called Ronald Reagan "evasive and sanctimonious about the ethical issues." The Washington Post concluded that "something not quite cricket happened." Even the conservative New York Daily News complained that Reagan had "bobbed and weaved and waffled."

The episode that inspired such editorial dudgeon last week was the notice given to an anecdote offered in passing in a book on the Reagan presidency by TIME White "House Correspondent Laurence Barrett. He recounted that advisers had prepared Reagan for his Oct. 28,1980, debate with...

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