As a staffer for Speaker of the House Tip O'Neil Chris Matthews had an inside view of the working of the House and the relationship between Tip and President Reagan during the six years their time in office overlapped.
There is mention of scandal and trouble (Iran/Contra) but not much deep detail. Instead the focus is on how two men with such different sets of convictions and from such different schools of political thought managed to work together, keep the government working without shutdowns, filibusters and dirty play.
Matthews talks of the respect each man had for the others office and position while still doing what they felt they needed to do to get what they felt was best for the country they both loved. They weren't always kind to each other in the press or face to face but they were never nasty or backbiting.
At the end of the day these were two men who served our country in ways they believed was for the best interest of us citizens and agree or not with their idea and ideals is not relevant to respecting their years of service.
This is really a love story about the days when politics was about getting things done. It's about a time when those in congress fought for their stance, said what needed saying and then voted. If you won you celebrated, if you lost you got up, dusted yourself off and moved on to tried to win the next fight. Governing was not about being proud of doing the most nothing.
(Finished January 19, 2014)
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