The Clothes Have No Emperor Part 27

2/21/88.

Jimmy Swaggart, whose visits to a Louisiana prost.i.tute have been exposed by rival evangelist Marvin Gorman (whose own adultery had been previously exposed by Swaggart), temporarily steps down from his ministry after a gasping and sobbing TV confession. The prost.i.tute, Debra Jo Murphree, soon appears naked in Penthouse Penthouse, where she supplies the seedy details of their trysts: she a.s.sumed lewd poses while he m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.ed.

2/23/88.

Was.h.i.+ngton Post: MEMO TO MEESE DESCRIBES PIPELINE PAYMENTS / WALLACH WROTE OF 'ARRANGEMENT' TO BENEFIT ISRAEL AND LABOR PARTY / ATTORNEY GENERAL TELLS FRIENDS HE WON'T QUIT 2/24/88.

The Supreme Court rules 8-0 that even though Jerry Falwell really, really didn't like it, Larry Flynt had the right to jokingly claim that the porcine reverend lost his virginity to his own mother in a drunken outhouse tryst.

2/25/88.

Sam Donaldson broadcasts excerpts from President Reagan's private schedule for the day a doc.u.ment that includes a complete script for everything he is to say in private meetings. Among the "talking points" suggested: "Bob, I appreciate you and your colleagues coming down today," "I want to thank all of you for your input," "G.o.d bless you all," and "Otis, what are your thoughts?"

MARCH 1988.

3/1/88.

George Bush attacks Congress for cutting off aid to the contras, claiming it "pulls the plug out from under the President of the United States."

3/3/88.

A two-day meeting of NATO leaders ends in Brussels with a 19-point communique that President Reagan praises. Later, asked by reporters if he is pleased with the doc.u.ment, he replies, "No, haven't read it."

"We saw it last night," says Howard Baker. "No problems and it's very good."

"Yes," says the President. "Very good. No problems."

3/4/88.

20/20 airs a Barbara Walters chat with Nancy Reagan. Does the First Lady have any thoughts on the occasion of her 36th wedding anniversary? She does: "It seems like 36 minutes." airs a Barbara Walters chat with Nancy Reagan. Does the First Lady have any thoughts on the occasion of her 36th wedding anniversary? She does: "It seems like 36 minutes."

3/6/88.

"I'll tell you something. If this country ever loses its interest in sports or ever loses its interest in fis.h.i.+ng, we got real trouble ..."

--George Bush campaigning in Missouri at the World's Fis.h.i.+ng Fair 3/7/88.

"We're going to heavy-up the speeches."

--Press secretary Peter Teeley announcing the new Bush strategy 3/8/88.

George Bush beats Bob Dole in 16 Super Tuesday primaries. Dole wisely avoids live TV interviews.

3/9/88.

President Reagan presides over the unveiling of the Knute Rockne stamp at Notre Dame, where he flubs the line he's probably recited more often than any other. "Win just one," he misreads the teleprompter, "for the Gippet." He does not correct himself.

3/11/88.

Having received 3% of the Super Tuesday vote, Gary Hart conceding that the people have pretty much decided pulls out of the 1988 race for the second time. And how will he earn a living now? "It's none of your business."

3/14/88.

On the eve of certain defeat in Illinois, Bob Dole insists that only he will decide when it's time to quit, though he adds, "If you're out there and you've been twisting in the wind for six or eight months and you start to smell a little, then then maybe somebody has to cut the rope just for your own good." Two weeks later, he decides it's time. maybe somebody has to cut the rope just for your own good." Two weeks later, he decides it's time.

3/16/88.

President Reagan who still can't understand why he's perceived as insensitive to minorities vetoes a major civil rights bill that would restore antidiscrimination laws removed by a Supreme Court decision. The veto is soundly overridden.

3/16/88.

Oliver North, John Poindexter, Richard Secord and Albert Hakim plead not guilty to charges of conspiracy, theft and fraud in connection with the Iran-contra scandal. North who calls the indictment a "badge of honor" retires from the Marines to defend himself more freely. Says President Reagan of the indictments, "I have no knowledge of anything that was broken."

3/20/88.

Michael Reagan begins the promotional tour for his autobiography, On the Outside Looking In On the Outside Looking In, described by reviewer Barbara Lippert as "a peculiar memoir that seems to include every time he vomited and wet his pants." Among the highlights (besides the previously noted child molestation): *His delight, as a teenager, when Nancy's Lincoln Continental rolled down a hill and was totaled ("I laughed and was only sorry she wasn't in it") *His taking a hammer to a bicycle given him by mom Jane Wyman ("With every smas.h.i.+ng blow I thought of that bike as my mother, hoping if I destroyed it I was also destroying her") *Nancy's response to his bad report card ("You're not living up to the Reagan name or image, and unless you start shaping up, it would be best for you to change your name") *Jane Wyman's reaction when he told her he was writing the book ("I can't believe you have anything to say at this time in your life that's worth reading") *The last words in the book ("Thanks, Mom and Dad! Love, Mike.") 3/31/88.

"I've never been on Air Force One. I've never even spent so much time with Dad alone. Being next to him on a whole flight means I'll have spent more time with him in the air than I ever have on the ground."

--Michael Reagan, heading to California with the folks on their jet 3/31/88.

Ed Meese wakes up to a Was.h.i.+ngton Post Was.h.i.+ngton Post editorial that says he "leaves a smudge wherever he goes." At the Justice Department, he is greeted at his private entrance by hostile graffiti ("RESIGN" and "SLEAZE"). In the Senate, right-wing elder statesman Strom Thurmond says of Meese, "That boy's got to go." editorial that says he "leaves a smudge wherever he goes." At the Justice Department, he is greeted at his private entrance by hostile graffiti ("RESIGN" and "SLEAZE"). In the Senate, right-wing elder statesman Strom Thurmond says of Meese, "That boy's got to go."

Meese says he sees "no reason" to step down.

APRIL 1988.

4/1/88.

"Don't vote for that f.u.c.kin' Bus.h.!.+"

--Bruce Springsteen at New York's Na.s.sau Coliseum 4/4/88.

"Hi, Bush."

--Unimpressed child greeting the Vice President at the White House Easter Egg Roll 4/7/88.

Another White House memoir appears: Larry Speakes' inevitably t.i.tled Speaking Out Speaking Out. Among the tidbits: *Nancy Reagan was "likely to stab you in the back"

*George Bush was "the perfect yes man"

*Caspar Weinberger was "a small man, a whiny type of guy"

*The President's children rarely called, even when he was seriously ill, "and he and Mrs. Reagan didn't call them"

*Preparing the President for a press conference was "like re-inventing the wheel."

Confesses Speakes, "Some of the business about his lack of attention to detail was true."

4/10/88.

Appearing on Meet the Press Meet the Press to plug his latest book, to plug his latest book, 1999: Victory Without War 1999: Victory Without War, Richard M. Nixon says the biggest mistake of his presidency was waiting too long "to bomb and mine North Vietnam." He also suggests that Henry Kissinger be named as special Mideast negotiator. "Now, Henry is devious," he says, "Henry is difficult, some people think he's obnoxious but he's a terrific negotiator."

4/11/88.

The media suddenly discovers the hidden gem in Larry Speakes' book: his confession that, during the 1985 Geneva summit, he twice made up quotes and attributed them to President Reagan, whose utterances had in fact been "very tentative and stilted." He also admits having a.s.signed words actually spoken by George Shultz during the Korean air liner crisis to Reagan, "since the President had had almost nothing to say." Speakes who notes that his creativity "played well" explains that fabricating quotes "is not lying" because "I knew those quotes were the way he felt."

President Reagan's review? "I find it entirely fiction."

4/12/88.

Sonny Bono is elected mayor of Palm Springs.

4/14/88.

New York Times: MEESE WIFE WAS GIVEN JOB BY SEEKER OF U.S. CONTRACT 4/15/88.

With his credibility in tatters, Larry Speakes loses his $400,000 a year job as chief spokesman for Merrill Lynch. He re-enters the job market with considerably less heat than he had when last there.

4/19/88.

The Senate Labor Committee is told that George Bush recently pressed for eased requirements for toxic gas ventilation in the workplace. The Bush plan which had the advantage of being cheaper was to make the workers wear personal respirators, an unquestionably less effective method of protection.

4/21/88.

Former Justice Department officials Arnold Burns and William Weld explain to President Reagan how a prosecutor more aggressive than James McKay could justify indicting Ed Meese. The President seems visibly upset one aide describes him as "gray" but he calms down when Meese comes by and a.s.sures him there's "no problem."

4/26/88.

Defending his personal style, George Bush asks, "What's wrong with being a boring kind of guy?" He says it would be a bad idea "to kind of suddenly get my hair colored, and dance up and down in a miniskirt," adding, "I kind of think I'm a scintillating kind of fellow." Later, he wins the Pennsylvania primary and wraps up the nomination.

4/27/88.

President Reagan is asked if he could imagine any circ.u.mstances that would prompt him to demand Ed Meese's resignation. "Well," he says, "maybe if he had a complete change of character."

4/28/88.

New York Times: MEESE WANTS BROADER DRUG TESTING / EVERYONE ARRESTED WOULD BE SUBJECT TO TESTS MAY 1988.

5/2/88.

Campaigning in Indiana, George Bush asks Gov. Robert Orr, "What kind of a guy is Dan Quayle?" Orr a.s.sures him the state's junior senator is "a fine, fine person."

5/4/88.

"The policies that both Dukakis and Jackson are espousing would take us back to the malaise days. I'll be making that point over and over, and they'll be running for cover like a bunch of quails."

--George Bush offering an early and little-noted clue as to the direction of his vice presidential thinking 5/5/88.

With its most famous teacher, Jamie Escalante, immortalized in a Hollywood film, East L.A.'s Garfield High School gets a visit from George Bush. "You don't have to go to college to be a success," the would-be Education President says, seemingly unaware that the school sends 70% of its mainly Hispanic students to college. "We need the people who run the offices, the people who do the hard physical work of our society." It becomes known among snide aides as his "You too can be a janitor" speech.

5/6/88.

"We have had triumphs, we have made mistakes, we have had s.e.x ..."

--George Bush, meaning to say that he and the President had "setbacks"

5/8/88.

Donald Regan's memoir, For the Record For the Record, exposes Nancy Reagan's secret obsession with astrology, which led her to consult a stargazing "friend," San Francisco heiress Joan Quigley, before approving her husband's schedule. "Feb 20-26 be careful," Quigley would warn. "March 19-25 no public exposure ... April 21-28 stay home." Among the other highlights: *Nancy's comment about Raisa Gorbachev after an evening in which she held forth on Marxist-Leninist theory ("Who does that dame think she is?") *Her efforts to keep abortion out of Presidential speeches ("I don't give a d.a.m.n about those right-to-lifers!") *Her insistence that Casey be fired as he lay dying of cancer ("He's dragging Ronnie down!") *The President's reaction when fire broke out in his study ("He continued reading ... until guards asked if he wouldn't like to move while they put out the fire. He hadn't wanted to bother anybody.") 5/9/88.

"I'll be d.a.m.ned if I'll just stand by and let them railroad my wife."

--President Reagan, telling a reporter that Nancy is "very upset" about Don Regan's book, which he calls "a bunch of falsehoods" without refuting any 5/16/88.

Ed Meese fires Justice Department spokesman Terry Eastland for conducting an ineffective PR campaign on his behalf. Since Eastland is highly regarded among conservatives, his dismissal upsets a group Meese can ill afford to alienate. Claiming he has "destroyed the department," the Was.h.i.+ngton Times Was.h.i.+ngton Times joins the hordes demanding his resignation. joins the hordes demanding his resignation.

5/17/88.

New York Times: NOT A SLAVE TO THE ZODIAC, REAGAN SAYS 5/19/88.

Was.h.i.+ngton Post: MEESE SAYS RESIGNATION WOULD SUGGEST GUILT 5/26/88.

George Bush visits a New Jersey rehab. "What did you start out on, just for the heck of it?" he asks one patient, and asks another, "Did you come here and say, 'The heck with it, I don't need this darn thing'? Did you go through a withdrawal thing?"

5/26/88.

With a Gallup poll showing their man 16 points behind, top Bush aides tell a group of pro-Dukakis voters some things they don't know about their candidate: *His prisoner furlough program let a first-degree murderer out to commit rape *He vetoed a bill that would have forced teachers to recite the Pledge of Allegiance *His own Boston Harbor is really polluted.

Half of them become undecided voters, and the Bush campaign has found its themes.

5/28/88.

New York Times: ANOTHER TOP MEESE AIDE QUITS JUSTICE DEPT.

5/29/88.

While their husbands hold their first summit session in Moscow, Nancy Reagan and Raisa Gorbachev have tea and tour a cathedral. Is it true, Nancy is asked, that she said of Raisa, "Who does that dame think she is?" No, she says coldly. Then, determined to match Mikhail Gorbachev's spontaneous limo sprint in Was.h.i.+ngton, the Reagans take a surprise 10-minute stroll down a Moscow street. Unfortunately, this would-be PR coup leads to a mob scene in which their Soviet bodyguards a.s.sault reporters, bystanders and some US officials.

5/30/88.

At a state dinner at the Kremlin, the President nods off during Gorbachev's toast, then offers his own remarks, which are dominated by a long-winded synopsis of the 1956 Civil War film Friendly Persuasion Friendly Persuasion. "It has fun," says the President, who gives his hosts a copy. "It has humor. There's a renegade goose, a mischievous young boy, a nosy neighbor, a love-struck teenager in love with a gallant soldier ..." He goes on for several minutes, as Soviet eyes glaze over.

5/31/88.

In a speech to students at Moscow State University, President Reagan explains the American Indian situation: The US has "provided millions of acres" for "preservations or the reservations, I should say" so the Indians could "maintain their way of life," though he now wonders, "Maybe we should not have humored them in that, wanting to stay in that kind of primitive lifestyle. Maybe we should have said, 'No, come join us. Be citizens along with the rest of us.'" For the record, Indians have been citizens since 1924, and few would say they've been "humored" by being allowed to maintain the culture they created before their land was taken from them.

JUNE 1988.