Page 2
Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
June 1, 1977
Wednesday
Carter wooing press, bureaucrats?
By DAVID S. BRODER
WASHINGTON —The man who signs
himself, almost cryptically, T. McN.
Simpson, III, is a Virginia-born southern
chauvinist who so far violated the detach
ment of his academic profession as to tell
Georgia Political Science Assn, early this
year, “We ought to dance in the streets”
over the election of Jimmy Carter.
Simpson, who teaches at the University
of Tennessee, is the leading student of
Carter’s term as governor of Georgia and
the author of a forthcoming book on that
subject. The other day, he was in Wash
ington, inspecting his man in the new set
ting and testing his own impressions
against those of other Carter-watchers.
His views are worthy of note, not be
cause this reporter necessarily agrees with
them all but because they come from an
admirer who has thought harder than most
of us about what manner of man this Pres
ident is.
an ambitous legislative program even if he
enjoyed cordial relations with Congress.
Second, he believes that he can cushion
the adverse political effects of any retreats
or defeats on Capitol Hill by launching a
barrage of new iniative elsewhere — in
diplomacy, in the bureaucracy and even in
matters of personal style.
Third, Simpson says. Carter believes
there is yet more political mileage in the
campaign-period depiction of himself as
the public-spirited outsider, fighting the
citizen’s battle against a Congress whose
members tend to represent narrow sec
tional or special-interests viewpoints.
Much of this analysis is close to the
somewhat cynical speculations many
members of Congress voice about Carter’s
approach to them. But Simpson goes be
yond this to make another point which dif
fers sharply from the conventional Wash
ington wisdom about Carter.
If Congress is Carter’s natural an
tagonist, Simpson says, “his natural allies
are the bureaucracy and the press. . . One
reason Carter deals in a rather crude, eal-
eulatedly abrasive fashion with Congress is
to send a rather subtle message to the
bureaucracy that he wants to run the coun
try together with them. He is saying to the
bureaucracy by these tactics that he will
allow no inroads in the administration by
Congress, no patronage and no catering to
special interests.”
In Simpson’s view, the tactic is likely to
“draw a very affirmative response from the
skilled and conscientous people in the
bureaucracy. ” He sees Carter working
hard to reinforce this alliance by positive
steps. “He is being very careful to create
the impression that he reads everything
they (the senior bureaucrats) send him,
that he is very attentive to what is going
on in the departments.” *
As he did in Georgia, Simpson says,
Carter is using the devices of reorganiza
tion and zero-base budgeting to dramatize
a concern over the quality of public admin-
istration.
As for us ink-stained wretches of the
press, Simpson says he believes Carter
will continue to be “unfailingly courte
ous.” There may be occasional shows of
pique with various reporters and even a
healthy feud or two, just to highlight his
good relations with the journalists as a
group.
But overall, Simpson says, reporters
should be a lot happier with Carter than
congressman are — and maybe even as
happy as the bureaucrats will be.
These are the views, let me repeat, of
Carter scholar T. McN. Simpson III, and
they do not necessarily reflect the policy of
this station or its sponsors.
(c) 1977, The Washington Post Company
First off, Professor Simpson says, he
finds Carter significantly changed from the
years of his governorship (1970-1974) and
“much more skillful” in the political arts.
Particularly that is true, he says, in his
handling of three of the great institutions
that any new president must master —
Congress, the bureaucracy and the press.
Simpson rejects as absurd what has be
come almost a cliche among Carter critics
on Capitol Hill — the assertion that Carter
does not know the difference between
Congress and the Georgia legislature.
Carter not only recognizes the power of
Congress and the assertiveness it has de
veloped in recent years, but he has a
strong belief in the value of the separation
of powers, Simpson says.
This belief, Simpson says, is somewhat
camouflaged by what he calls Carter’s
“calculated abrasive” approach to the
legislative branch. But he sees Carter as a
man who is quite willing to risk the an
tagonism of the lawmakers and even lose a
number of battles with Congress — so
long as he gains more than he loses in the
overall scheme.
Simpson thinks Carter will stay on the
plus side of the equation for several rea
sons. First, the President knows that
realistically, given the inflationary pres
sures and budgetary constraints under
which he is operating, he could not pusji
Judge’s statements founded in myth
Decision denies violence of rape
By GLENNA WHITLEY
Battalion Campus Editor
A 15-year-old boy sexually assaulted a
16-year-old girl in a stairwell in Madison,
Wis. County Judge Archie Simonson
ruled the boy was reacting “normally” to
prevalent sexual permissiveness and wo
men’s provocative clothing.
The boy was one of three accused in the
case. He received a sentence of one year
of court supervision at home. Another boy
was put in a group home and the third was
released in exchange for his testimony.
“This community is well known to be
sexually permissive.” Simonson said.
“Should we punish a 15- or 16-year-old
boy who reacts to it normally?”
He said revealing female clothing con
tributed to this atmosphere. At the tune of
the rape, the 16-year-old girl was wearing
blue jeans, tennis shoes, and a blouse over
a turtleneck sweater.
The remarks brought angry protests
from men and women who paraded out
side the Dane County Courthouse last
week demanding his resignation. School
principals joined the outcry, demanding
the judge retract the statement or quit the
bench.
After the demands for his resignation,
Simonson claimed his remarks had been
“distorted. ”
“I was speaking in generalities,” he
said. “In the adult world there is sexual
permissiveness and provocation. We have
sex shows and movies, nude bars and
taverns. ”
“Even the mode of dress is provocative.
It’s just normal for a 15-year-old boy to
respond normally to sexual provocations,”
he said.
Simonson defended his remarks and
claimed nation-wide support for his views
on rape.
“Whether women like it or not, they are
sex objects. I’m trying to say to women,
Stop teasing. I think I struck a nerve.”
Simonson has indeed struck a nerve,
one that produces a cry of pain and horror
in the realization that the violent crime of
rape is so misunderstood by a man in such
a position of authority.
Provocative clothing, sexy movies, and
bra-less fashions are not the causes of
rape. Rape thrived in Victorian times,
when women were tightly corseted and
covered with layers of clothing.
document research that supports this
theory.
“Forensic psychiatric experts consider
the rapist a potential murderer whose
primary purpose is humiliating and physi
cally assaulting a woman, the sexual act
being secondary to the wish for violence
against women. ”
Gager and Schurr say other experts
agree that rape is basically an expression of
inner rage and violence, not the outcome
of thwarted sexual desire.
Women are seen as sex “objects,” espe
cially by those trying to sell things like
magazines, after-shave, automobiles and
lipstick. Rape myths perpetrate this idea
that women are “fair game,' deper
sonalized things to be possessed by men.
And their victimization is thrown back in
their faces with “old sayings” like:
“No woman can be raped against her
will.”
As the protestors outside the court
house chanted, “Rape is a crime, not a
normal reaction. ” It is the violation of a
woman’s or a man’s body intended to
humiliate and degrade.
In “Sexual Assault: Confronting Rape in
America,” Nancy Gager and Cathleen
Schurr, feminists and professional writers.
Denver activist Shirley McDermott is
quoted as saying “Rapists are not just poor
sex-starved bastards.’ Many of the men
who rape women are married, have girl
friends, and some even have apparently
happy families with charming children and
doting mothers. Rapists come from every
life situation. Take the eighty-one-year-old
woman who was raped in southwest Den
ver. As a sex object, she is over the hill,
but this old, frightened woman is in her
prime as a humiliation object.”
The myth that females invite rape by
their mode of dress and behavior is just
that, a myth. “She was asking for it” is the
excuse the rapist uses to shift the blame
from himself to the victim. The common
belief that a woman seduces or teases a
man into rape is a screen to protect the
male from his own actions.
“She was asking for it.”
“All women secretly want to be raped. ”
“If you’re going to be raped, you might
as well relax and enjoy it.”
Sex offenses are the fastest-growing
crime of violence against people in the
United States and nearly all the victims
are female. In the Gager-Schurr book,
they point out that the social institutions
responsible for handling and reducing
rape — police, hospitals and courts — by
and large exhibit a cultural, behavioral and
psychological sexism that condones and
even encourages rape, as shown in the de
cision by Simonson.
There are changes occurring however.
The hue and cry raised against Simonson
is indicative of forces that do want the sys
tem changed.
SKY... ISN'T THAT THE GUY WE GOT BOMBEP WITH LAST NOVEMBER?"
The Madison Association of School
Principals said in a weekend statement,
“It’s deplorable that you (Simonson)
suggest meaningless supervision by the
court in the youth’s home when a well-
designed and administered program is
clearly indicated. Please be reminded that
permissiveness in our society has been
largely brought about by court decisions
that have evaded school disciplinary action
and control.
Their stance should be applauded.
Victims’ basic rights need support from
public and social institutions.
Simonson was reportedly given a copy
of Susan Brownmiller’s excellent book on
rape, “Against Our Will.” I hope he reads
it carefully and begins to understand the
atrocious nature of the crime he takes so
lightly.
Readers’ forum
Guest viewpoints, in addition to
Letters to the Editor, are welcome.
All pieces submitted to Readers’
forum should be:
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• Limited to 60 characters per line
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Submit articles to Reed McDonald
217, College Station, Texas, 77843.
Author’s name and phone number
must accompany all submissions.
0
Top of the Newslji
* Unit*
State
Deputies must meet standards
Special deputies must meet the requirements of a peace
before a sheriff can appoint them, says Attorney General John HI
Hill’s opinion responded to a Groesbeck sheriffs appointment ofspt
eial deputies to patrol a fiddle festival. A Groesbeck attorney quet
tioned their right to issue handguns to the deputies without havir^
them pass state standards.
GOP chairman criticizes Briscoe
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State Republican Chairman Ray Hutchinson criticized the
legislative session yesterday, calling it the most ineffective in hi
“Texans had their own version of the energy crisis and his namet
Dolph Briscoe,’ Hutchinson said. He blamed Briscoe for the failure
of several major bills, including school finances and utility taxes.
h
McManus asks for new trial
Convicted murderer Vernon McManus asked a state district judge
to grant him a new trial on charges he killed a wealthy Baytai
couple. The judge set a June 20 date for a hearing on the motioa
McManus was convicted May 20 for the murder of a contractor and
his wife last summer. He is the first man convicted of murder under
the death by injection law passed during the latest session of tire
legislature.
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Nation
New Hampshire legalizes Laetrile
Unite
Laetrile, a drug used in treating cancer banned by the federal
Food and Drug Administration, has been legalized in New Hanijr
shire by that state’s senate. The federal ban restricts interstate saleof
the drug. But the new state law allows the drug to be given to cancer
patients at their request.
Hurricane season begins
Hurricane season begins today. The National Hurricane Center
starts 24-hour storm tracking of the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and
the Atlantic. The season runs through Nov. 30. No major hurricane
has hit the south Florida coast in 12 years and the Texas coast for
seven.
The envelope please. . .
And the new state insect for Connecticut is . . . the praying mantis
The mantis assumes official status Oct. 1 thanks to lobbying efforts of
25 fourth gr ade children from Vernon, Conn. The House had killed
an earlier bill to recognize the insect, but the children drummed up
enough publicity and news coverage to revive the legislation.
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No beauty and the beast
A New York attorney who owns “Oliver the missing link,” an
usual apelike creature, sued two magazines yesterday for reporting
he plans to mate Oliver with a Japanese actress. Michael Miller filed
suit against National Lampoon and Oui claiming they portrayed him
as immoral. Oliver resembles a chimpanzee, but walks erectly on two
legs and is balding. Zoologists have expressed doubts as to whether
Oliver is really the “missing link” his owner claims he is.
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No evidence of rape, judge says
Judge Archie Simonson, scorned by feminists and others for his
remarks on the sexual assault of a young girl, said yesterday he has
not seen any evidence that the girl was raped. The boy involved in
the case pleaded no contest to second degree sexual assault. But the
state crime laboratory report shows evidence that the girl was raped
The judge claims the boy reacted “normally” to the sexual permis
siveness of society. His comments seem to have drawn nothing but I
angry protests, though he claims to have nation-wide support for his
views.
A new bass with a lot of snap
A new hybrid bass developed by artificially crossing the largemouth
and smallmouth bass has produced what may be the “Jaws” of the
farm pond. The new bass is so aggressive they have been known to
jump into the air to bite people. Part of a project in a doctoral disser
tation, the new fish grows faster and reaches sexual maturity faster
than other bass.
World
Gem thieves all wet
Two of four gunmen sought in the snatching of $330,000 worth of
gems in Italy were later caught soaking in the famous Montecatini
Terme spa, police said yesterday. The bandits were “taking the cure’’
in the spa’s thermal springs when police surrounded them. Their
accomplices were arrested in a nearby house where police found an
arsenal of weapons and all of the stolen jewelry.
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