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Mike Deaver, Reagan Aide, RIP Age 69

Over at RedState [1], we hear that Mike Deaver has passed away. [2]

deaver015.jpgApparently,  Mike was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last fall.  Frankly, I hadn’t even heard that, so was something of a surprise when I stumbled across the Red State posting.  He was 69.

Deaver is pictured here with Mr. Reagan.

I don’t think it’s too much of an exaggeration to suggest that Mike Deaver was Ronald Reagan’s Karl Rove.  The Democrats certainly seemed to think so.  So did the mainstream media.  Consider this article from Time magazine, back in 1986.   [3]

Perhaps it’s a measure  of how closely we get tight in the current events, to the exclusion of history, that I had never considered that comparison, previously. Certainly, Deaver was with Reagan through all that Rove went through with Bush. I think some might argue that Deaver was not the political genius Karl Rove is, but frankly, I think Rove gets entirely too much credit, from both his friends and his enemies.

The point of the comparison,  however, is the degree to which Deaver provided the Democrats with a lightning rod.  Indeed; I think Deaver where the Democrats
learned their “indirect attack” approach.  It’s not easy to attack a popular president, head on, and it’s usually suicidal, politically speaking. So, the preferred method becomes attacking the popular president’s aides.  It’s happening with Karl Rove, now, (and the fact that Rove no longer occupies an office in the White House as of the end of this month, that was standing) and it happened with Michael Deaver, (the fact that as of when the Time article  I linked above was written, he also was no longer operating from within the White House.)