The Louisville Sluggin'

I already wrote today about October 7 being the anniversary of the premiere of Cats on Broadway, and, as it turns out, today is also the anniversary of another disastrous show.  It was 28 years ago today, October 7, 1984 - a Sunday like today - that President Ronald Reagan faced off against Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Walter Mondale in their first of two debates in Louisville, Kentucky.  Those who remember that debate will recall that President Reagan gave a bad performance not unlike President Obama's performance against Mitt Romney this past Wednesday.

Democrats point to Reagan's performance in this debate as an example of how Obama can come back in the next two debates this year, and that Reagan only had one more debate to provide him an opportunity to recover.  Well, this morning on NBC's "Meet The Press," Chuck Todd suggested that Obama did worse against Romney than Reagan did against Mondale, and thus, an Obama comeback is doable but much less likely to happen than Reagan's comeback at his second debate with Mondale.

Todd seems to remember Reagan's debate performance 28 years ago today not to be as bad as it seemed then.  I'm here to set the record straight and tell you that it was as bad as it seemed - in fact, it was worse.

Item:  In explaining his failure to attend religious services as President, Reagan talked about how he had started going to church "here in Washington" when he took office in 1981.  He was not in Washington; as noted, he was in Louisville.

Item: Later in the debate, Reagan criticized a law he himself had signed as governor of California as if it had been signed by Pat Brown, his Democratic predecessor.

Item: Reagan hoped to put Mondale away by by reprising his line "There you  go again" against him, but when he used it, Mondale threw it back in his face.

"Mr. President," Mondale said, "you said, 'There you go again. . ..'  You remember the last time you said that?"

"No," Reagan said, somewhat flustered.

"You said it when President Carter said you were going to cut Medicare," Mondale replied, "and you said, 'Oh, no, there you go again, Mr. President.' And what did you do right after the election? You went out and tried to cut $20 billion out of Medicare." Reagan didn't have an answer ready for that.

Item: Reagan conceded that poverty had gone up in the previous four years, but he insisted that it was at a lower rate of increase than it had been under President Carter.  In fact, it was higher.   

Item:  Reagan seemed distracted and befuddled by basic statistics and facts, and he admitted at one point to being "all confused" as he was giving his closing statement.  

Item (I saved the best for last): In defending his administration's military budget, President Reagan explained that much of the military spending went to feeding and clothing service personnel, which was a reasonable and defensible point.  Except for one thing: He referred to military uniforms as "wardrobe," as if a possible war with the Soviet Union were a big movie he was preparing for.  (Robin Williams would later joke that if Reagan were to ever start a nuclear attack, he'd say, "It's a wrap, everybody!")

Reagan bombed, and he knew it. Immediately after he walked off the stage, he turned to an aide and said, "I was just awful."

Look, I remember that debate.  I was a freshman at Drew University then.  I remember that Dan Rather had a fellow Drew student, Mike Tesoro, in a CBS studio with him as part of a panel of undecided voters after the debate, which was a big deal for the Drew campus (except for the fact that Rather referred to Drew as "a university in New Jersey" and never mentioned it by name).  Trust me, Obama did not suck as much on Wednesday in Denver as Reagan did in Louisville in 1984.  Voters were asking if Reagan was too old, dulled, and tired to run the country until he came back in Kansas City at the presidential debate that followed two weeks later.

Okay, the economy was doing much better in 1984 than it is today.  But there are plenty of opportunities for President to make the case for how the economy will get better in a second Obama administration in the next debate and to go after Romney on his lies, and besides, Reagan never suggested he'd get rid of "Sesame Street."

And what did Chuck Todd remember about the 1984 Louisville debate? Probably not much.  Todd was twelve years old at the time.

I want you to know also that I will not make age an issue in this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for journalistic purposes, Chuck Todd's youth and inexperience. :-D