[PJ-Comix]

"The backlash against Playboy was expensive. Hefner and the magazine were marginalized. By mid-decade he suffered a stroke."

This proves that Lauer mindlessly recites whatever his earphone tells him to say. The fact is there was NO backlash against Playboy since it was softcore in a sea of hardcore pornography. The reason for Playboy's decline has to do with the rapid growth of other, more explicit magazines such as Penthouse as well as the introduction of Video players. Also by the 1980's, Playboy Clubs were considered to be tacky, not hip. It was competing market forces, NOT Ronald Reagan that caused the decline of Playboy. In addition, as the 1980s progressed, the quality of the Playmates declined since they all started to look like identical blondes with similar implanted bodies that were stamped out of a cookie cutter machine. In a last Hoorah, Playboy did end the decade with the most fabulous Playmate of all time, Petra Verkaik (Miss December, 1989), with natural wondrous hooters. But she was the great exception in a sea of robotic Playmates.

[Bikers4Bush]

The today show is nothing more than tabloid journalism.

[KellyAdmirer]

It must be comforting to blame one's illnesses and setbacks on others. Of course, Playboy's problems began in the 1970s when circulation started down and the clubs started closing and continued on through the 1990s, but we can't let facts get in the way of blaming a convenient scapegoat and political nemesis, now can we, Hugh?

[madison10]

What a stretch!! I don't recall any backlash against Playboy. I don't recall any McCarthy-like anti-sex campaigns. Hefner needs to look to himself & his own screwed up life, not ill, unconscious, honorable Ronald Reagan.

[joesnuffy]

Of course 50 or 60 yrs of debauchery had nothing to do with his poor health.....

[My2Cents]

Hef should consider himself lucky. Had it been Clinton who was after him, he would have shown up dead at Ft. Marcey Park.

[TheMole]

Hefner may have had a stroke during the reagan Administration, but his real problems aren't physical. Ever read The Prodigy and the Playmate by Ben Wallace, published in Philadelphia Magazine a couple of years ago? It's about a fraudulent investment manager of the dot-com era who spent millions on hookers, particularly some from the Hefner stable.

It's a great read, but insofar as the stroke-convalescent Hefner is concerned, let me cut immediately to the critical information.

From page 4 of the online version

...Hefner and the twins flew across the country to promote the May cover of Playboy, barnstorming from The Daily Show to Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Flanked by the twins in matching hot-pink cowboy hats, Hefner swaggeringly maintained the facade of a relationship, gushing about the power of Viagra. (The heterosexual icon, Sandy had told Yagalla, had trouble finding satisfaction through intercourse; instead, he liked the girls to pleasure each other while he masturbated and watched gay porn.)

It's absolutely hearbreaking to think that Ronald Reagan and his tyrannical theocrats could have reduced a proud progressive American to such a state.

[mewzilla]

Well, what else would you expect from a cokehead? I would love to know how Lauer excuses his illegal drug use.

[GeorgiaMike]

I thought the McCarthy era at Playboy was in 1993 or 1994, with Jenny McCarthy.

[Servant of the 9]

Chris Wallace, Fox News newest attempt to convert a Liberal, was on the tube a while ago. He said he covered the Reagan Whitehouse and that Reagan was nothing like the man portrayed in the CBS/Showtime movie.
Said a loser like the one portrayed in the movie could never have been elected Gov. of California, much less President.

So9