Blue Smoke & Mirrors
Germond, Jack W & Witcover, Jules
BLUE SMOKE & MIRRORS Jack W. Germond and Jules Witcover/The Viking Prcss/$l4.95 Alan L. Miller I stood amidst the thousands milling around Faneuil Hall on that afternoon in 1979, expecting to...
...Germond and Witcover contrast Reagan's subtle overtures to Gerald Ford against the frenzied television coverage that saw Walter Cronkite launching a "co-preeidency," while Barbara Walters made a fool of herself grovelling for an exclusive interview with Mr...
...The campaign was anti-climactic and the authors are unable to build toward a suspenseful ending simply because there was none...
...The loser becomes a trophy in another man's career-a mere historical footnote...
...By then the voters were convinced that the job was too big for him and they turned in record numbers to the Republican Party...
...But then they didn't care for the election returns, either.n returns, either...
...Election retrospections have several strikes against them from the outset...
...Yet we are drawn to them to verify our sense of history and because we are fascinated by the crucible of power...
...Such was the ephemeral nature of Campaign '80...
...The authors, whose combined journalistic experience totals sixty-three years, are two of the best in the business...
...Reagan's stunning victory to the ineptitude of the Carter presidency and to the Democrats' own bloodletting that culminated in their tepid New York City convention...
...The moment was indelible for it was my first visit to Boston and Edward Kennedy's last hurrah...
...From the start Ronald Reagan seemed more a curiosity than a campaign presence...
...The authors, however, concentrate upon the Reagan, campaign organization that was carefully calibrated to take advantage of every situation...
...The Kennedy campaign choreography was executed with an assurance that comes with years of practice...
...Victory favors but one...
...By comparison, Jimmy Carter's renomination was highlighted by: a squeaky acceptance speech during which he honored Senator Humphrey's memory by ridiculing his name...
...They were propelled by a phalanx of secret service men and the euphoria of the celebrants-one of whom penetrated the flying wedge to press a rose into the candidate's hand...
...Yet at the time I was certain that he was to be the Democratic presidential nominee...
...Reagan's persona or his unfailing instinct for tapping the national discontent...
...According to our authors, Sears had already proved to be a campaign liability...
...The Carter people were so defensive about appearing duplicitous that when word finally came from Tehran on Sunday afternoon, the president scrupulously avoided waiting until evening, opting instead to interrupt the football games to announce that the release was imminent...
...They strode through the heavily cordoned walkway while the crowd buzzed with mounting anticipation...
...Germond and Witcover reveal, instead, a man with a keen sense of political sophistication...
...He was unwilling to cooperate with Governor Reagan's confidants and had an unnerving habit of patronizing the candidate...
...Ford after his CBS "summit" with Walter...
...Media cynicism over the president's selective use of the hostage crisis as a defense against Kennedy's challenge during the primaries allowed the Reagan campaign to condition the electorate for an "October surprise...
...The Iowa setback is a case in point...
...and finally, the pathetic sight of the president following the Massachusetts senator around the stage like a lost puppy...
...A girl to my left sighed...
...The Democrats won't enjoy the book because it highlights their foibles...
...While the Democrats were self-destructing throughout the primaries and the presidential contest, the Reagan campaign kept gaining momentum by turning momentary misfortunes into advantages...
...But as the authors remind us, there was little question Governor Reagan would capture his party's nomination when the GOP assembled for its July convention in Detroit...
...Since Teddy White cornered the market twenty years ago, most other efforts have seemed pale facsimiles...
...The candidate's appearance was preceded by a procession of relatives and confidants whose entrances bespoke their celebrity...
...And because everyone knows the ending, these political sagas have the soggy impact of yesterday's newspaper...
...So too was the resolution of the vice presidential melee in Detroit...
...Yet Mr...
...The manner in which Sears was dismissed is a study in political pragmatism...
...But the Reagan strategists had that base covered as well...
...an awkward attempt to keep the convention delegates applauding for twenty minutes after his forgettable speech while everyone wondered where in the hell Kennedy was...
...Whether it was George Bush being ambushed on a high school stage in Nashua, New Hampshire, John Anderson sputtering platitudes during the non-debate in Baltimore, or President Carter shrinking behind a podium in Cleveland, it was obvious that no one could match either Mr...
...Their acute analysis underscores the paradox of political insiders being upstaged by a congenial California gentleman who specializes in being underestimated by his electoral opponents...
...Blue Smoke & Mirrors is not definitive history but it is a fascinating narrative...
...a drunk on my right belched...
...Reagan's cultivation of Ford healed the 1976 rift, steadied the party for the coming campaign, and demonstrated a candidate clearly in control...
...To many pundits, Ronald Reagan was an innocent abroad-a nice guy who possessed neither the savvy nor the stamina for a sustained campaign...
...It is fashionable to credit Mr...
...When he stumbled in the Iowa caucuses, the media were quick to concentrate upon his Republican challengers...
...Finally, there was the senator with wife Joan...
...When the smoke finally cleared in Detroit, the "dream ticket" was quite unnecessary...
...And if Jack Germond and Jules Witcover haven't written the best account of that election year, they have certainly captured its essence in their clever title...
...For a fleeting moment it appeared that Jimmy Carter might pull the hostages out of Iran for an eleventh-hour comeback...
...Reagan waited until the New Hampshire primary victory to unload Sears and then bring Stuart Spencer aboard a campaign that was clearly back on track...
...The ease with which he dispatched his primary contenders was but a prelude to the November deluge when the Reagan juggernaut inundated Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party...
...It would have been expedient to cashier campaign manager John Sears in the wake of that embarrassing defeat...
...BLUE SMOKE & MIRRORS Jack W. Germond and Jules Witcover/The Viking Prcss/$l4.95 Alan L. Miller I stood amidst the thousands milling around Faneuil Hall on that afternoon in 1979, expecting to experience a moment of history...
Vol. 14 • December 1981 • No. 12
