"Killing" Reagan, Patton, Books

Killing O’Reilly’s Reagan | Power Line:

I've read two of the Bill O'Reilly's "Killing" series -- Patton and Reagan. Both are pretty much "National Enquirer" / "People" / made for TV kind of fairly lurid, sensationalized and highly fictionalized works that are extremely light and easy reads. Apparently O'Reilly and his ghost author are highly interested in sexual dalliances -- both works were rife with them, shoestring coincidental connections, rumors, gossip, etc. -- or they merely believe that is what sells, which I guess I would be an example of ( I borrowed one, got the other as a gift).

I DID find them entertaining -- which there is nothing wrong with in its place as long as people don't start believing that what they are reading is in any way "real", just because it purports to be.

Sometimes people that read my blog assume that I watch a lot of Fox News. I don't -- I watch very little of it because in general, it is PRIMARILY concerned with ratings and making money, which I and Steven Hayward believe that Bill O'Reilly is as well. Again, I'm fine with that -- until the Bernie Sanders way completely takes over, private business needs to be concerned with finding a niche and making money. NPR would be concerned about that as well if they didn't feed at the public trough and rely on lots of left wing donors to support their coverage for the left and the far left view of the world.

A lot of the Reagan books assertions we have heard before -- primarily from Kitty Kelly, Nancy and astrology, Alzheimer's while he was in office, affairs for both of them, etc. -- and as Hayward points out, they have all been solidly debunked before from real sources rather than rumors.

If you don't read much history, you may actually learn something from the books, but like pretty much anything (and more in this case), be pretty critical of the most titillating stuff. Kind of like the fishing lure that really achieved it's purpose once you bought it (catching a fish is purely optional!), the book is entertaining and people are buying it. That is what counts in the game that O'Reilly is playing here -- think of them as a male version of a "Romance Novel" and enjoy in moderation.

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