Reagan Tapes

Maybe it was just a historical blip. But I can remember when such books as “Profiles in Courage” and “The Best and the Brightest” were widely read. It was also a time when competence in public life actually counted for something, or seemed to.

Contrast that with Admiral John Poindexter’s case and the vehicle for former President Reagan’s testimony: videotape. His competence to give evidence in open court without inadvertently disclosing classified information isn’t reassuring. The steady hand of a tape editor is.

What it comes down to is this: Ronald Reagan was our tall-in-the-saddle commander in chief for eight years, yet this video gambit was required to protect the country from him--and his mouth.

They should have started taping in 1981.

DICK LEWIS

Balboa