Horsefeathers. Will was an early and enthusiastic supporter of Reagan. He came out of National Review which was a major kingmaker in the day which had helped clear the way for Reagan. Will went so far as to help prep Reagan for the Carter debates. He was an unabashed supporter.
Seems like every time I turned around Will was bipolar at best on Reagan. He was critical of his foreign policy, critical of his trade positions, and critical of him being too closely aligned with elements of the “religious Right.”
Will was one of the earliest critics and one of the first out of the gates to criticize the Reagan presidency after he left office. He is, and has always been, a big supporter of Gerald Ford. I have seen 100 criticism of Reagan from Will, yet I have never seen a real criticism of Ford from Will - then or now.
Yes, he helped Reagan prepare for a debate with Carter after the Primary. What does that prove?
“Big-goverment conservatism is Ronald Reagan's legacy.”-— George Will
George Will complained in 1985 that Reagan “is painfully fond of the least conservative sentiment conceivable, a statement from an anti-conservative, Thomas Paine: ‘We have it in our power to begin the world over again.’ ” Will objected: “Any time, any place, that is nonsense.”
When Reagan left office in 1989, George Will remarked, “Reagan has accelerated the moral disarmament of the West … by elevating wishful thinking to the status of political philosophy.” The Soviets collapsed shortly afterwards.
“Nostalgia for Ronald Reagan has become for many conservatives a substitute for thinking”-—George Will
“Unabashed supporter” my rear end. He was out to defeat Carter, that's it. I didn't just learn about George Will yesterday. Bipolar at BEST.