Like a dummy thermostat in an office where someone is always complaining it's too hot or too cold.

A wily facilities manager records the dummy thermostat settings and sets the actual thermostat to minimize complaints from his boss and most annoying co-workers.

Both Reagan and GWB were venal puppet presidents.

Reagan didn't even know who he was in the end, left only with his Hollywood experience, doing what his directors told him, carrying him through most days. He was confusing his actual World War II experiences with the movies.

I saw Reagan in person his second term, after the assassination attempt by the son of a Bush Family friend.

Reagan was a scared and tired old man who didn't know where the hell he was or what he was doing there, surrounded by handlers. But he pulled himself together for a few minutes, read his script and performed a few Presidential sound-bites for the TV news and press.

It was surrealistic. I watched the television news that evening and

The newspapers next morning were the same. Our President was strong.

I know the "mainstream" media saw what I did, but there are many career tracks in journalism that pay well not to notice the most obvious and the most disturbing things.