Ronald Reagan and Mark Warner: Something in Common?

Well, now it turns out that they have something else in common: astrologists.  Seriously, did you know that Nancy Reagan employed an astrologer named Joan Quigley in the White House from 1981 until 1988?  That after the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981, "Every detail about the timing of the White House schedule that could be manipulated was under the direct influence of the First Lady and her astrologer for the next seven years?"  Here, for instance, is the astrological chart for Reagan's oath of office in 1985:

Not only that, but according to Wikipedia:

Quigley fixed the times for the public signing of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF Treaty, and Reagan's debates with Walter Mondale. She set the time of the nomination of Anthony Kennedy to the Supreme Court, instructing the White House staff to use a stopwatch to make the moment perfect. Nobody has ever explained why she never got Robert Bork's nomination pushed through successfully.

Quigley's major achievements included transforming Nancy's image from one of derision to one of an esteemed conservative activist, diffusing the Bitburg crisis- where the president visited a German cemetery that contained Nazi graves in 1985, and most especially helping Reagan successfully complete negotiations with Mikhail Gorbachev, where Reagan- after years of trying- convinced the Soviet leader to bring freedom and free enterprise, called Glasnost and Perestroika, to the USSR. Reagan's change from hardened Cold Warrior who talked of an "Evil Empire", to supportive ally who helped Gorbachev to end Soviet militancy, thereby freeing Eastern Europe and causing the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, was partly coordinated by Quigley.

In other words, Quigley was a MAJOR advisor to President Reagan from 1981 through 1988, for better or for worse.

Now, fast forward two decades, and we've got 2008 Presidential contender Mark Warner with an astrologist as one of his key advisors as well.  Of course, the right wingers are having all kinds of fun with this (see here, and here, for instance).  Perhaps they've forgotten that their all-time hero, Ronald Reagan, was extremely fond of astrologers?  Or, could it be that they're simply out to get Warner's netroots guru Jerome Armstrong, and through him Mark Warner, who obviously scares the bejeezus out of Republicans as the possible 2008 Democratic nominee for President? 

Now, let me just state for the record that I think astrology is a crock.  On the other hand, I'm an atheist and don't think much of superstition or religion of any kind.  My attitude is that people can believe whatever the heck they want, although I personally prefer it when my leaders act on hard fact rather than charts of the stars or, as in the case of George W. Bush, a belief that God speaks through Bush and tells him what to do.

So what's more dangerous, a blogger who likes astrology, or right-wing Republican Presidents who make decisions based on astrology (Reagan) and "Millenial" (apocalyptic) Christianity (Bush)?

Personally, I'll take the blogger any day.  But I've got to go check my astrological charts first before I can be sure. Ha.

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