1984: Food, Wardrobe, Makeup

In quotes from Paul Slansky's The Clothes Have No Emperor, some things said and done during the campaign—

9/12 "The main difference between us and the other side is, we see an America where every day is the Fourth of July, and they see an America where every day is April 15th."
—President Reagan campaigning in New York

9/13 "The other side's promises are a little like Minnie Pearl's hat. They both have big price tags hanging from them."
—President Reagan campaigning at the Grand Ole Opry

9/19 "Only in 1984 could anyone who was part of Democrats for Nixon in 1960 go around parading himself as the new JFK."
—Ted Kennedy on President Reagan's constant quoting of President Kennedy

9/30 In an editorial signed by Walter H. Annenberg—at whose Palm Springs estate the Reagans have seen in the past quarter century—TV Guide urges its readers to re-elect the President.

10/7 In their first debate in Louisville, Walter Mondale clearly beats President Reagan, who terrifies viewers by demonstrating how he answers questions when his wife isn't standing next to him. In the course of 90 minutes, the President:

...
• Reprises his hit line, "There you go again," only to have it thrown back in his face by Mondale, who knows he won't be able to resist repeating it and is ready with a stinging rejoinder
...

• Claims that the increase in poverty "is a lower rate of increase than it was in the preceding years before we got here," though in fact it is higher

• Explains that a good bit of the defense budget goes for "food and wardrobe," becoming the first US President to so refer to military uniforms

• Admits, as he prepares to deliver his closing statement, ''I'm all confused now."

Afterward, a frantic Nancy Reagan confronts White House aides, demanding, "What have you done to Ronnie?"

10/9 "I'll challenge him to an arm wrestle any time."
—President Reagan attempting to shift the focus from his brain to his biceps

10/10 Still defensive about his debate performance, President Reagan says, "With regard to the age issue and everything, if I had as much makeup on as he did, I'd have looked younger, too." He goes on to make the surprising claim that he not only went makeup-free during the debate, but "I never did wear it. I didn't wear it when I was in pictures."

10/11 "Well, frankly, I know I made him up."
—G.E. Theater makeup artist Howard Smit, who, like Death Valley Days makeup man Del Acevedo, suggests that President Reagan misremembers the distant past

"He came by and shook hands afterward. It certainly looked like more than just a tan."
—Debate panelist James Weighart, suggesting that Reagan misremembers the immediate past

10/15 "What am I supposed to order?"
—President Reagan to an aide at a McDonald's campaign stop in Tuscaloosa

"Now, think about that for a minute. You fire the missiles. They come out of the submarine holes. They go through the water. They go through the air for several thousand miles. And then you decide you didn't want to fire them. So they stop. And then like a movie rolling backwards, the missile backs up, goes down through the water and back to the submarine holes." — Walter Mondale encouraging voters to contemplate the fact that the man with his finger on the button said nuclear missiles launched from submarines can be called back, though Reagan now claims he "never said any such thing"

10/21 At the second Reagan/Mondale debate in Kansas City, the President successfully delivers an obviously rehearsed one-liner—"I will not make age an issue in this campaign. I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience"—and thereby puts an end to fears about his recently displayed senility.

So determined are voters to ignore his flaws that not even his observation that Armageddon could come "the day after tomorrow" a comment that prompts Nancy to gasp, "Oh, no''') or his almost incoherent closing statement (something about a time capsule and a drive down the Pacific Coast Highway) can dissuade them.