Remembering Adlai

My comment last night about Adlai Stevenson’s phony intellectualism brought several responses. Reader Mike Hubbard reminded me that Stevenson is said to have had a copy of the Social Register next to his bed when he died. My conservative cousin from New York, who is old enough to remember Adlai well, added this:
“[Stevenson] was an intellectual lightweight whose favorite book was the Social Register. In contrast Dwight Eisenhower was a serious student of history. Gerry Ford, an outstanding athlete, was depicted as a clumsy oaf and John Kennedy, a lifelong invalid, was seen as a pillar of physical prowess. If you listen to the likes of Dan Rather long enough you might actually begin to believe that all Republican Presidents are grinning fools except of course for that evil genius Richard Nixon and all Democratic leaders epitomize the virtues of Plato’s philosopher kings.”

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