Was Reagan ever in full command of his faculties to be a real President?

[KlatooBNikto]

Or was he mentally disabled throughout his term by incipient Alzheimer's? And Bush Sr.was the real power behind the throne?

[acmavm]

1. Reagan was an actor, someone who was good at remembering his

lines. They were written for him by someone else. I think that pretty well sums up his presidency as well.

[Lone_Wolf]

5. Exactly

He was just a figurehead that served some ceremonial purposes and gave the right wing a smiling face. There is very little evidence that he even understood what was going on in his administration or his administrations policies. In short, he was a tool.

[charlie]

2. It seemed to me

that his slide began not long after he got shot. He was never the brightest, but he sort of settled into a genial fog after Hinckley popped him. In the first debate in 1984, he was a babbling goofball, not a whole lot better than Dubya's first against Kerry.

[unblock]

3. take a look at the reagan - mondale debates

especially in comparison to the shrub - kerry debates.

reagan was still in charge of his faculties, though it was clear to all but the loyal banana republicans that he lost it during his second term.

but as to your second question, bush sr. was able to conduct some nefarious crap out of the reagan white house, not because reagan was demented, but because reagan was a hands-off, uninterested, easily manipulated manager. much of his cabinet took advantage of this, but bush sr. was just the guy to really make the most of it.

i think the bcci, savings and loans, and iran-contra messes have far more of bush's fingerprints on them than reagan's.

not to say reagan should escape blame for not paying attention, just saying i don't think he orchestrated these.

[mtnsnake]

4. Reagan epitomized less-than-brilliant people everywhere. That's

why he and Bush are so popular with the masses of stupidity in this country.

[DireStrike]

6. Bush 10 years ago

Watch this video. It's frightening.

http://movies10.archive.org/3/movies/BrainTenYrs/BrainTenYrs.mov

[Philostopher]

7. I don't think it was just Poppy, but ...

I don't think Reagan was ever intended to be anything but a charming figurehead for the GOP. He was a better performer than Bunnypants, overall, but I don't think he ever really had any control over anything. He was every bit as 'handled' and 'stage-managed' as BushII, though he was more eloquent and actually had some command of the English language, and could be counted on to bullshit during a press conference.

People accepted him because he seemed harmless -- lots of Dems voted for him -- and I think it was true, but not the way they thought it was true. King Ron never touched anything but a pen, to sign legislation the real brains behind the throne wanted him to sign. He was the original empty suit, and they kept him on a tight rein (though not as tight as BushII, because I think other than the Alzheimer's, Reagan was relatively sane).

I also believe Reagan was starting to have cognitive difficulties not long after his second term started, probably due to Alzheimer's Disease, and that they clamped down to cover it up. You could see the tremor in his neck when he stood at a microphone -- the confusion in his eyes if he didn't have a prepared script. My brother and I used to theorize what was wrong with him when we saw him on television back in the '80s, we thought he had Parkinson's or something.