Of course Brooks' column a slam on Krugman and his new book.

The oddest part to me was Brooks' claim that no one knew who made the decision to announce the candidacy there, it was happened. The campaign was "famously disorganized". And that when a pollster urged Reagan to not go through with it, Reagan would not back out because he was determined to honor the commitment that had been made.

So Reagan's handlers were incompetent, the venue was an accident, and Reagan's choice to stick with that location was an example of his stellar integrity.Brooks is naive, or perhaps disingenuous, or both.

Brooks is not naive.