If anything, he was holding back his true feelings. It was one thing to be skilled liars, as Dingell long believed Republicans to be. But the deep anger and bitterness that underlay the ever-coarsening public discourse was now agitated further by a roiling ignorance that truly surprised Dingell, who had figured he couldn’t be surprised anymore. He had served with President Ronald Reagan, whom the freshmen so revered. Well, Reagan was certainly a charming fellow—but Lord was he senile! Dingell had seen it firsthand, during the very first year of Reagan’s presidency, when each House committee chairman was ushered into the White House. Dingell and his staff had prepared a damned good report. He’d distilled it all down to a 15-minute presentation, including time for questions from the president.
Well, Reagan had no questions. He sat there glassy-eyed, mute as a paperweight. After seven minutes, the Energy and Commerce chairman said, “Mr. President, I’ve told you everything I can, and I believe that indicates where I can be useful.”
“Well, John, I think that’s right,” responded Reagan with a crinkly-eyed grin. Dingell took his leave.
Later in 1981, during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Dingell was present when the Gipper began to read a speech from a set of three-by-five index cards he was holding in his hands—a speech that had nothing at all to do with the purpose of the gathering. The president carried on cheerfully while the participants sat and tried not to look alarmed. Eventually an aide came into the room, furtively replaced the cards in Reagan’s hands with a different set, and without missing a beat the president continued with a new and more appropriate speech.
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