Happy Reagan Day!

I noticed this in today's Tribune-Review.

It's a chummy, feel good tale from the pen of Paul Kengor (Poli Sci professor at Grove City College and beneficiary of much Scaife funding), of President Ronald Reagan and how easily the Gipper connected with the common man, in this case an African-American limo driver named Joe Bullock. It begins thusly:

Today marks the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birth. In a telling development, Republicans around the country have been holding Reagan Day dinners as they've long done every February for Abraham Lincoln. This is yet another spontaneous display of affection for Reagan.

Having written so much on the man, I get lots of questions about Reagan this time of year, running the gamut from his domestic achievements to his historic foreign-policy triumph: peacefully ending the Cold War.

And then a few paragraphs down:

I'd like to take the opportunity presented by Reagan's time of year -- not to mention the month of Presidents Day -- to share an anecdote that was told to me by Bill Clark, Reagan's close friend and most significant adviser.

At the time this happened, Clark was serving as Reagan's national security adviser. He had previously been deputy secretary of State and would later be appointed secretary of the Interior. His driver all this time was a man named Joe Bullock, a Georgia native who had moved to Washington during the Great Depression. Joe was a victim of the cruel Jim Crow laws that afflicted the South. He went to Washington for a better life.

I wanted to look into this story a bit - it's a good story.

Know what I found?

This - National Review Online February 6, 2010 (one year ago):

Today marks the 99th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth. In a telling development, Republicans around the country have begun holding Reagan Day dinners, as they’ve long traditionally done every February for Abraham Lincoln. This is yet another spontaneous display of affection for Reagan.

Having written so much on the man, I get lots of questions about Reagan this time of year, running the gamut from his domestic achievements to his historic foreign-policy triumph: peacefully ending the Cold War.

While this is NOT PLAGIARISM (as it was written by the same person) you'd think that for something as important to conservatives as Ronald Reagan's birthday, Professor Kengor could actually write something, you know, new.

Am I wrong about this? Talk about your spontaneous displays of affection.