The following is a great example of journalism today.  Jim Meyers reports on somebody else's interview of Haig in Newsmax.  The http is:


http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/haig_obama/2008/12/14/161751.html?s=al&promo_code=7478-1
    
I guess I am most interested in my initial reaction to this piece and I have just pulled out a few tidbits to demonstrate my conflicting reactions. I mean, look at this paragraph:

"After leaving the White House in 1974, Haig was appointed supreme allied commander in Europe and led all NATO forces until 1979. Two years later he was named secretary of state by President Ronald Reagan, and he was instrumental in keeping the White House running after Reagan was wounded in an assassination attempt in 1981."

If anybody recalls General Haig's service during this period, within an hour of the shooting, he said at a full press conference: 'Don't worry, I'm in charge.' We already a constitutional amendment that made sure HW was in charge, and he was indeed.

And for all of his efforts, General Haig was promptly flushed down the toilet following this guffaw.  It sounded like Seven Days in May and Lancaster was going to take over the country in a military coup. I cannot remember who played Kirk Douglas in this fiasco, but since the General had only been appointed in January of 1981, he did not have much of a term there.

The second piece I pulled is remarkable.  General Haig is applauding the President-Elect and this is being reported in a conservative blog:


"'Look at the diversity he's imposed already,' Haig answered, 'a diversity that includes some very very proven, wise men in the economic field. He's turned to a secretary of defense who's been in the job and has been doing a fine job, in my view. He's just put in [as head of the Veterans Administration] the young fellow who I think is one of America's hidden heroes, General Shinseki, who was run out by the departing Pentagon because he told the truth" and was "slaughtered by the Bush White House."

This is amazing to me. It is very good news to me. Although the General was surely not instrumental in keeping the government going during the Reagan mix-up he certainly was during the Nixon debacle.  And I, for one, really enjoy his support for the New Administration.

The third piece emphasizes many comments made at TPM over the last week and it concerns the Gipper:

""I happen to love Ronald Reagan, don't misunderstand me. He was a sick man. After he got shot, I found him to be suffering a speeding up of the decay associated with Alzheimer's.
Ronald Reagan, had he been Ronald Reagan of old, would have been probably our greatest president. There was a good chance of it. I mean his philosophy was sound as a dollar. But he was a sick man after he was shot ... And I'm sorry to say he wasn't running the country. His wife ran it. Her hairdresser ran it. Jim Baker ran it -- especially Jim Baker -- and George Bush Senior.'"
   
This is one of the funniest depictions of the Reagan White House I have ever read.  The hairdresser ran it. Now I am thinking of Nancy's tarot cards. I have thought for a long time that the Gipper was not quite up to par before being shot, let alone after and I have discussed reports of his staring at jelly bean jars.

But finally, General Haig attacks w head on:

"Asked what Republicans did wrong leading up to their losses in the election, and what directions they should now go in, Haig declared: 'We need to get rid of the neocons, and nobody has had the courage, until recently, to stand up [to them].

'They believe you can create democracy with a bayonet. I think what you create is the exact opposite, real ideological animosity, and I'd say the Gulf Wars experiences confirm that.'"

First I wanted to laugh at the General. Then I wanted to shake his hand. And then I wanted to give him a big hug.

All this on a conservative blog. Who'd a figured?