Ronald Reagan's Way

The behindthescenes study did not remain behind the scenes, but erupted in front of the cameras. Reagan to a faultk the mike and declared angrily that "I paid for this microphone, Mr. Green." He went on to insist that all candidates be allowed in the turn (Cannon, 1982, p. 253).

It was by and large at that moment that Ronald Reagan won the republican presidential nomination. It was a great piece of free or nearspontaneous television. More than that, it may be suggested that  before a republican audience in the hall, and a television public whose close interested members would be Republicans (this being during the primaries), Reagan summed up the underlying attitudes of Republican activists and voters. This audience, more affluent and therefore likely to pay high taxes under the thenexisting tax structure, resented taxation. More than that, they resented stipendiary taxes and then being ignored by the Democratic establishment. They were " compensable for the microphone" of the national government, then being cut let on of a chance to use it. Reagan's words struck a deep chord among them, even though the issue had zipper at all to do with governance of the nation. The overt meat that Reagan gave that evening in Nashua had to do with an internal Republican move matter.

The implicit message had to do with a root practise of Republican voters' frustrations.

There is a saying among doctors that "the important thing is sincerity; when you can interpolate that, you've got it made." Reagan has sometimes been characterized as a sincere hypocrite (Blumenthal, 1988, p. 107).

genuinely central to his political strengths. His "need for showmanship" thrived on shake up settings (Harwood, 1980, p. 291).

Reagan's handlers understand that in the eyes of

and action. Given that the networks might show still five seconds of a Reagan rally, the important thing then was to base them a good five seconds  a good Reagan line or quip as sound bite, backed up by a visual of cheering crowds and waving flags.

Seen that way, a fivesecond coverage of a rally became the similar of a fivesecond Reagan ad presented during the news, as a news story, with no disclaimer.

Thus, for example, the conventional assumption among Reagan's opponents was that he was too illinformed and his ideas too poorly thoughtout to survive a debate. In a debate, they thought, he would be exposed as shallow and ignorant. In the first debate with Mondale in 1984, this in fact happened; Reagan was "overprepared" and confused. In other debates, however, he shone: it was an ideal chance to perform in front of the public. In 1980, Reagan wanted debates (against the views of many of his own advisers) as a execution opportunity (Harwood, 1980: 301). Reagan was right and his advisers were wrong. In Nashua, and against Carter in 1980, debates gave Reagan his best campaign lines (e.g., "There you go again"). In 1984, the second debate gave him a chance to reverse the age issue by quipping about "making a campaign issue of my opponent's jejuneness and inexperience."

e was not planned by the Reagan campaign, but it could not have worked better if it had been. It worked because it allowed Reagan to play to his greatest strength: his capability to use the media to identify himself with a popular implicit message. In both 1980 and 1984, the delib
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