I should have also mentioned that since Reagan's departure we have had several people show-up that I put into “The Light That Failed” category. Fred being one of them. When he first went to Washington, I really thought this is the guy that's going to do it. I guess he just got tired of all the BS, or maybe just lost interest in trying to straighten out the mess.
Another one I put into that category was a guy from Oklahoma named J.C. Watts. I heard him absolutely electrify an NRA convention. But the liberals were determined to make sure a conservative black Republican got nowhere and poured money into his opponents. He finally got tired of it all and left politics.
In terms of raw communicative ability, Fred had it and still does. He’s the only one I could think of that could carry the Reagan message in the way that Reagan did, which in itself was key.
It is too bad Watts left politics. With proper support, he could have gone far. Obviously he was too conservative for today’s GOP.