Jab at Nancy Reagan In Article on Supernatural in Thailand
Reporter Thomas Fuller filed from Bangkok on Saturday on the durability of superstition in modern Thailand, "When the Spirits Talk, As They Frequently Do, Thais Are Eager to Listen - Traditional Beliefs Fit Into Modern World." Late in the piece, however, he worked in a musty jab at a Republican personality.
West and East, many people enjoy a good ghost story or a peek at their horoscope now and again. What sets apart Thailand and other countries in Asia is the prevalence of fortune telling and other supernatural-related activities at the highest levels of government (Nancy Reagan's astrologer notwithstanding).
A 1988 book by former Reagan chief of staff Don Regan revealed that Nancy Reagan consulted an astrologer about her husband's schedule. But Fuller skipped a more recent and more relevant example: Former First Lady Hillary Clinton communing with the spirit of Eleanor Roosevelt, as recounted in a 1996 book by Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward. If one must use an American political anecdote, that one would better serve a story that opens with a description of "spirit houses" devoted to "protective ghosts."
