Slouch
By Jim Earle
“You’re absolutely right! They were fifty-yard line tickets,
and I’m sure that you would have had the seats that are
listed, but next time, don’t buy tickets when we play ‘Open
Date.’”
Opinion
Iran students here
can’t be blamed
For the first time in the lives of most college students,
Americans are united in their feelings of outrage toward
another country.
They have good reason: More than 60 of their countrymen
are being held hostage in Iran by a group of people who seek
the extradition of the shah.
But many who are upset have misdirected their anger.
They have failed to concentrate their fury where it belongs:
at those who are performing and supporting that act.
Sunday’s Houston Post quoted a woman as saying what a
lot of people are thinking: “He (Carter) should get every
Iranian student rounded up and put in jail.”
Students in Sbisa Dining Hall led a “Beat the hell out of
the Iranians” yell Friday night.
The flaw in that kind of reasoning should be obvious.
“Every Iranian” is not responsible for the situation. “Every
Iranian” does not support the holding of hostages.
It is also ridiculous for Americans to rough up pro-Iran
protesters, as people in Houston did last week.
Those who demonstrate peacefully in support of the Ira
nians have a right to do so. Americans treasure their free
dom of speech and should remember that visitors to the
country share it.
General hatred of a nationality because of the actions of
some of its members is frightening.
It can lead to genocide.
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The Battalion
US PS 045 360
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Editor Liz Newlin
Managing Editor Andy Williams
Asst. Managing Editor Dillard Stone
News Editors Karen Cornelison
and Michelle Burrowes
Sports Editor Sean Petty
City Editor Roy Bragg
Campus Editor Keith Taylor
Focus Editors Beth Calhoun
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Opinions expressed in The Battalion are
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Editorial policy is determined by the editor.
VIEWPOINT
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Monday
November 12, 1979
Broder
Kennedy and Brown must do more
than say ‘My name is not Carter
By DAVID BRODER
WASHINGTON — At the peak of the
presidential announcement season, it
helps to remember that if this is Wednes
day, it must be Ted Kennedy, and if it’s
Thursday, the calender says it’s Jerry
Brown.
The young senator from Massachusetts
and the younger governor of California en
ter the Democratic presidential race in
vividly different positions. Kennedy is
strongly favored over Jimmy Carter, lead
ing the incumbent by a margin no other
challenger in history has enjoyed over a
President of his own party. Brown, who
beat Carter badly in the late primaries of
1976, is scrambling for a toehold in this
year’s contest, fighting to avoid being
squeezed out in the Carter-Kennedy com
petition.
But despite the difference in their popu
larity polls, Kennedy and Brown shared a
common challenge — how to make clear to
the public what kind of alternative they
represent in leadership for the 1980s.
For now, the ABC sentiment — Anyone
But Carter — fuels their campaigns. But if
either of them is to be elected a year from
now, he will have to do more than say, “My
name is not Jimmy Carter.’
It is a fallacy to think that the Democrats
can disown their own record simply by de
nying renomination to the President. It is
even more of a fallacy to think that any
Democrat nominated next August will
have an easier time in November. The
combination of high inflation and meager
economic growth has proved fatal to left-of-
center that combination could not prove
fatal here ought to talk to Jim Callaghan or
Pierre Trudeau.
It will take an exceptional Democratic to
win in 1980. And that is where Brown and
Kennedy share a burden of proof.
Jerry Brown is never at a loss for words.
The words pour from him like a mountain
spring, shimmering and sparkling. Partly
for his own amusement and partly for poli
tical effect. Brown juggles words and con
cepts that are on the frontiers of public
discourse and national consciousness,
probing a future of holistic medicine, re
newable resources, solar power.
Because he is future-oriented, he sees
conjuctions in policy stands that others be
lieve contradictory — exploring space
while cutting spending, for example. His
embrace of seeming opposites looks in
novative to his followers; but to others, it
appears as contrived and self-serving as his
celebratedly unconventional life-style.
The idea of Brown as a prospective Presi
dent plainly makes many people ill at ease.
Kennedy is both a man and a myth, a
magnificant orator in full cry, who has yet
to prove that he can communicate much
more than his name when addressing the
American people at less than a shout.
His vision is rooted in the simplified ab
stractions of the Sixties: a world in which
wise economists planned economic growth
which brought bigger cars and wider TV
screens to every family, fresh revenues and
new programs to every agency fighting
soical problems and discrimination, while
the profits of greedy big-business were
held in check by the fear of the President’s
displeasure.
That vision has been badly battered by
the past decade’s experience. But it lives
again — at least briefly — when Kennedy
pours his full-throated scorn on those who
say the world of the Eighties will be one of
severe constraints and disciplined choices.
His is a message of hope, but it remains
to be seen whether he can make that hope
real or have it proved counterfeit. His per
formance as a candidate will be measured,
not just against Jimmy Carter’s and Jerry
Brown’s but aganist a Kennedy myth which
he himself has helped perpeti
It is the legend of a family v
can move a nation, a traditionoftl
stretching from John Kennedy's!
to Ted Kennedy’s own addressto|
tured audience at the 1978
mini-convention. It is going toU
myth to sustain.
On the night of Nov. 4, inRoj
exemplary interview on CBS, t
ican public got its first viewofall
nedy that only the Washingtoij
have known.
The emotional focus was on l!
standable anguish of his halting]
tions of Chappaquiddick andthcst
marriage. But more revealing]
stumbling inarticulateness
why he wanted to he President,!
differed in policy from Carter,*
had failed to sway Congress on]
chosen issues.
Jerry Brown would smothertl
tions in his California coni
cliches. Kennedy left them uncovej
rocks that could be exposed if tl
the coming compaign melts then
reveals the man.
(c) 1979, The Washington Post C
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The resur
Analysis
PLO could shake its terrorist image
by helping to free hostages in Iran
a substance
ing applic
So far, I
oured fron
loulter Dri
A. hot-mi>
laterials, B
By ALVIN B. WEBB
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The PLO’s dis
patching of a delegation to try to save the
lives of up to 65 American hostages in Iran
could cap the diplomatic success story of
the year.
By injecting itself into the stalemate that
has stymied an American crisis team in
Washington for five days, the guerrilla
group could gain international respectabil
ity and shed its terrorist image.
The stunning diplomatic initiative of
Yasser Arafat also could chip away at U.S.
policy of not dealing with the Palestine
Liberation Organization directly because
of a commitment to Israel.
U.S. sources in Washington Wednesday
confirmed there had been indirect contacts
with the PLO concerning its diplomatic
effort the PLO stressed was humanitarian
and was not prodded by anyone.
“We would welcome help from anyone,’’
a State Department said as the embassy
drama dragged into its fifth day last week.
In Beirut, speculation swirled that the
Carter administration had called on the
PLO and its leader for help because of
Arafat’s warm relations with Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini.
But a more solid reading indicated the
PLO, increasingly alert to score diplomatic
points, seized an opportunity for minimum
risk and maximum gain — saving Amer
icans and earning the thanks of Washing
ton, which some day might be translated
into talks with Washington.
Arafat authorized a two-man delegation
to go to Tehran and “use all possible means
... to secure the safety’’ of the Americans.
Western observers, sensing a diplomatic
triumph in the making, believe if there is
one organization the increasingly erratic
itlif
Khomeini might listen to, it is
which has an office in Tehran.
Playing a role — perhaps theihl
— in freeing the Americans hel
lem students might be the PLO
ticket into the ranks of legitimacyait
Carter under strong domestic pre®
talk with the organization.
A CBS-New York Times poll
last week showed 42 percent of Atf
who have heard of the PLO say tfei
States should negotiate with it
objections of Israel, which calls the®
zation a terrorist group.
jioarse aggn
sphalt.
The coai
ve frictioi
Letters
Off-campus coordinator wants ideas
on ways to meet day students’ needs
Editor:
We feel that many off-campus students
are unaware of the numerous services
available to them. One of these services,
designed especially for off-campus stu
dents, is the Off-Campus Center in the
Department of Student Affairs. Our pur
pose is to meet the needs of the off-campus
student. Obviously, with 23,000 people,
this is a difficult task; therefore, we are
asking for your suggestions on ways to
accomplish this goal.
Some of the services we now provide:
— listings of current housing vacancies
— a roommate locator service
— information on leases
— help in resolving tenant/landlord
conflicts (including repairs, maintenance,
security deposits, etc.)
— a system for voicing legitimate com
plaints regarding housing-management
— roommate counseling
— car pool referral service
— general information and tips on living
off campus (including costs, transportation,
security, etc.).
Since it is impossible to know the needs
of every off-campus student, we would
appreciate any suggestions on irapr
our services to you.
We feel that every off-campus sti 1
can benefit in some way from tliesEf'
we offer. We are located in
Lounge (directly across the street fe'
YMCA Building). So, please stop)’
— Jan Win:
Off-Campus Coord'
Writing the editor
The Battalion welcomes letters to
the editor on any subject. However,
to be acceptable for publication these
letters must meet certain criteria.
Thev should:
V Not exceed 300 words or 1800
characters in length.
V Be neatly typed whenever
possible. Hand-written letters are
acceptable.
V Include the author’s name, ad
dress and telephone number for
verification
Thotz
by Doug Graha
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