Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/817014
ChipThompson, Editor EDITORIALBOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 Mail to: Daily News 728Main St., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS Dear Mr. President. I have some more friendly but important advice for you. It's not about your itchy twitter finger or your golf game. I'lltakethegreatErnieEls' word for it that you don't need any golf tips from me. After Els played a round with you at Trump Na- tional Golf Club in Flor- ida earlier this year, he said you were "a proper golfer" who "swings the golf club properly and hits iron shots properly." My advice is purely political and it's based on several de- cades of watching and work- ing with my father. If you want to achieve two of the most important goals of your new administration — genuine healthcare reform and real tax reform — you've got to understand and appreciate what my father knew instinc- tively: In presidential politics, per- ception is more important than reality. I saw my father put that simple truth into practice back during an international crisis in 1985. He and Nancy were plan- ning to leave the White House in June to spend a few days at Rancho del Cielo, his ranch near Santa Barbara. But on June 14 a group of Lebanese terrorists with guns and grenades hijacked a TWA flight from Athens to Rome and forced it to land in Beirut. While the world watched the news reports, the plane flew around the Middle East for three days. The terrorists beat passen- gers and threatened to kill them unless the Israeli govern- ment released about 700 Shiite prisoners. The hostages were released over the next two weeks, but an American, Navy diver Robert Stethem, was shot in the head and his body was dumped on the runway. My father could have flown out to California as he planned. His ranch was the Western White House and it had the same set up as his of- fice in Washington. The reality was that he could go there, monitor the TWA hijacking situation and also relax by cutting brush or riding his horse. But the perception to the world would have been that he had gone on vacation while an American plane was being hi- jacked and dozens of innocent people were at risk. He decided it'd be better for him politically to stay in the White House and monitor the situation from there. He un- derstood reality vs. perception. Mr. President, I offer this advice because of two things your administration has done wrong recently — not making the White House visitor logs available to the media and not showing the public your in- come tax returns. The reality is that the law backs you up on both cases, but the perception is you are hiding something. What's worse, you are al- lowing the news media to keep pushing that perception out to the public. The liberal media are go- ing to be against everything you do from now until the end of your second term, but you don't have to write their arti- cles for them. If you keep allowing bad publicity on the issues of the White House logs and your tax returns to get in the way of your agenda, you're going to be hard- pressed to get tax reform or anything else you want through Congress. If I were your chief of staff, I'd have told you it was hor- rible politics to shut off the White House logs to the pub- lic. If you must do it, do it later — after you've passed health care reform or tax re- form. The reality is, you won't get your tax policy through un- til people stop perceiving you are hiding something in your taxes. The only way that'll happen is if you release them ASAP. It's not about the law, Mr. President. It's not about real- ity. It's all about perception. And that's something you can learn from my father — and from me. MichaelReaganisthesonof President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of "The New Reagan Revolution" (St. Martin's Press). Send comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com. Follow @reaganworld on Twitter. Michael Reagan Advice for President Trump Cartoonist's take A reader from West Walnut complained birds were driv- ing her nuts, that their plaintive call, "hoo hoo, hoooo, hoo hoo, hoooo" continued all day long. I ex- plained that the bird is a mourn- ing dove often er- roneously called the turtle dove, and bird watch- ers think the male is calling to make contact with the female. This did not placate the reader, so I told her of "an al- ternative fact," that what the bird was saying was, "Beware of Trump. Beware of Trump." I hoped she would laugh, but she was not wearing her catcher's mitt, and continued her tirade against the defenseless mourn- ing doves. ••• If a local columnist were to use the word "dichotomy," he would helpfully define the word for his readers as meaning "a contrast between two things that are, or are represented as being, opposite or entirely dif- ferent." Thus defined, I will describe a strange experience I had the other day. I was viewing an old 1939 Round-Up Parade film, and noted my school chum, the late George Froome, in the pa- rade wearing a barrel held up by ropes, and little else. I could not read his hand-painted sign stating why he was so attired, but that's not the story. The di- chotomy I experienced when I much later viewed a film of our 1947 class 50th reunion, there was George, as an adult, read- ing a script describing various schoolmates as they appeared in The Bluffer, the school news- paper. Maybe you had to be there, but the scene of the 10-year-old George in the barrel, followed by him as a 68-year-old school- teacher, was mind boggling, hence a dichotomy. ••• Clever remark critical of the meat industry: "You work in the meat industry? I've heard there are two things you never want to see being made: laws and sausages." However, I can tell you there is far more oversight of sau- sage-making than the law mak- ing of Congress. Inspectors are in sausage plants every day checking to be sure plants are clean, products are wholesome and properly labelled. Every- thing used to make sausage has to be declared on the label and the USDA approves the labels to make sure they are accurate. ••• Margaret Atwood is a pro- lific writer and best selling nov- elist. In a recent New Yorker in- terview she explained her fear of someday developing demen- tia, and if giving a speech to a group, as she often does, "ap- pear to be unreeling from her mouth a very long spool of blank paper." Wow. What a met- aphor. She also offered another thought for the day: "The pen is mightier than the sword... but only in retrospect. At the time of combat, those with the swords generally win." ••• Billionaire Mark Cuban ap- peared on CNN and his assess- ment of why Trump's platform won him the Presidency was right on. Cuban said, "I call it 'political chemotherapy.' Trump convinced his supporters that this country was suffering from a terminal illness...and only a radical treatment could save it. However, sometimes chemo kills the patient." Political chemotherapy is a brilliant way to think about Trump's solution to his prede- cessor's form of government. ••• Plumbers generally have a good sense of humor, and some have found clever ways to ad- vertise they can repair various appliances we use daily. I re- cently noted a van with only 3 items painted on the sides: a commode, a pipe wrench and a phone number. This told ob- servers all they needed to know if they were looking for the ser- vices of a plumber. Other humor related to plumbing: "Not only is there no God, but try finding a plumber on Sunday," Woody Allen. "In Cleveland there is legislation moving forward to ban people from wearing pants that fit too low. However, there is lots of opposition from the plumber's union," Conan O'Brien. ••• Time magazine's latest issue is titled "The 11 most influential people." I recognized 16 out of the 100, which says a great deal about my being in touch with influential folks. I already knew I was not in touch with 65 per- cent of Tehama County voters in the last Presidential election. Sigh. ••• In the much publicized Wom- an's March recently, were 3 women singled out by Time magazine to personify it. One was named Bob Bland. She is the CEO and founder of Manu- facture New York, a social en- terprise that is rethinking the fashion ecosystem. I've known a lot Bob's in my day but never a woman. ••• This week B. Cornelius, in his critically acclaimed "William Tells" column, discussed the Te- hama County Concert Associ- ation. In my day it was simply "The Community Concert Asso- ciation," and I had time on my hands to be the local president of same. In so doing I was ex- pected to get on the stage in the old RBUHS Auditorium and in- troduce the performers of the evening. One memorable time I was introducing a group of four men singers called "The King's Men" and I concluded with "...and after their perfor- mance there will be a reception in which the group will dis- cuss their affairs." A titter went through the audience and I, red of face, realized my gaffe. ••• In a Alabama church one Sunday morning, a preacher said, "Anyone with 'special needs' who wants to be prayed over, please come forward to the front by the altar." With that, Bubba got in line, and when it was his turn, the Preacher asked, "Bubba, what do you want me to pray about for you?" Bubba replied, "Preacher, I need you to pray for help with my hearing." The preacher put one fin- ger of one hand on Bubba's ear, placed his other hand on top of Bubba's head, and then prayed and prayed and prayed. He prayed a "blue streak" and the whole congregation joined in with great enthusiasm. After a few minutes, the preacher removed his hands, stood back and asked, "Bubba, how is your hearing now?" Bubba answered, "I don't know. It ain't 'til Thursday." Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red Bluff, former columnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine and author of the "The Knocking Pen." He can be reached at rminchandmurray@hotmail. com. I say A message behind the call of the mourning dove? If you keep allowing bad publicity on the issues of the White House logs and your tax returns to get in the way of your agenda, you're going to be hard- pressed to get tax reform or anything else you want through Congress. Robert Minch Michael Reagan StateandNational Assemblyman James Gal- lagher, 2060 Talbert Drive, Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 895-4217, http://ad03.asmrc. org/ Senator Jim Nielsen, 2634 Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424, sena- tor.nielsen@senate.ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown, State Capital Building, Sac- ramento 95814, 916 445-2841, fax 916 558-3160, governor@ governor.ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug LaMalfa, 507 Cannon House Office Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202 225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Fein- stein, One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415 393-0707, fax 415 393-0710 Your officials OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, April 28, 2017 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6