What would the Duke have done - The laughable side of the Laffer Curve

A person I have reason to trust writes to a mailing list I'm on:

I was flying home from the inaugural W3C meeting at MIT, December 1994. I happened to be seated next to Arthur Laffer, famous for the Laffer curve and supply side economics. He told me about the time he presented his supply-side ideas to Reagan. He had 15 minutes for the presentation, after which Reagan whole-heartedly endorsed his ideas.

Laffer asked Reagan, "Excuse me, Mr. President, but what about this presentation made you decide to accept these ideas?"

Reagan replied, "Well, I just asked myself, what would John Wayne do in a situation like this."

This anecdote is apprently reported also by
Dinesh D'Souza in "Letters to a Young Conservative."