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Opinion
Creative listening:
a dangerous game
A mother makes her weekly phone call to her child at
college. “Are you coming hoine this weekend?”
“No, Mom, I’m going to study.”
“Oh good, you’ll be home ’til Sunday.”
That’s creative listening.
Another instance — dangerous on a national scale — was
explained by a pollster at a national convention of college
students last week. In his example, the country and the
companies involved were losers.
Nicholas Tortorello, who worked for opinion researcher
Lou Harris during the first oil crisis in 1974, said he was
involved in polling for General Motors and Ford Motor Co.
Gasoline lines in parts of the country were long, and
people were concerned about their gas-guzzling cars. Tor-
torello found Americans wanted small cars, but were scared
of them. The cars couldn’t survive a crash, they thought.
So the polling firm advised GM and Ford to push their
economical cars and stress safety features.
But GM refused to believe the poll, Tortorello said, and
continued the same ad campaigns — for big cars. GM also
dropped Harris as its polling firm.
Ford, on the other hand, heeded the advice. The com
pany changed its advertising for the Pinto — but didn’t
change the fuel system.
Thousands of Pintos were sold on the advertised safety
features, but then one exploded on the “60 Minutes” TV
show in living, dying color.
And Ford, like GM, lost out to imports in the small car
market.
Creative listening didn’t work.
the small society
by Brickman
The Battalion
U S P S 045 360
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Editor .Liz Newlin
Managing Editor Andy Williams
Asst. Managing Editor Dillard Stone
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Focus Editor Beth Calhoun
Staff Writers Meril Edwards, Nancy
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Opinions expressed in The Battalion are
those of the editor or of the writer of the
article and are not necessarily those of the
University administration or the Board of
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Editorial policy is determined by the editor.
Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Monday
November 26, 1979
Broder
George Bush gaining politically
by imitating part of Jimmy’s style
By DAVID S. BRODER
ORLANDO — Ronald Reagan won the
Florida Republican convention straw-vote,
and John Connally finished second. But it
was George Bush who surprised and im
pressed the political professionals by
finishing a strong third, only 74 votes be
hind Connally among the 1,326 delegates.
It was the latest demonstration of what
may be the most under-reported signifi
cant fact of the GOP presidential race. As
almost every strategist for the ten Republi
can candidates would affirm, George Bush
has made better use of 1979 than any of his
rivals.
Indeed, the only two GOP contenders
who have done what they set out to do this
year are Bush and Reagan. It would not
surprise many astute Republican insiders if
they proved to be the finalists in next year’s
competition.
Reagan accomplished his goal simply by
staying out of trouble, holding his lead dur
ing a long period of noncandidacy, and
broadening his already impressive base of
support.
Bush did what he said he would do on the
day he announced, namely, “do better than
you (in the press) expect me to do in every
test that comes along.”
He has done that by building the best
non-Reagan organization in New Hamp
shire, Iowa, Maine and other early dele
gate-selection states, winning the conven
tion straw polls in Iowa and Maine, and
showing strength rivaling Connally’s in
Florida — where Connally had concen
trated his campaigning and Bush had not.
Connally has raised more money and
drawn more publicity than his fellow Hous
tonian, Bush. But Connally has failed so far
in his big test — overcoming the suspicions
of Republicans about his party-switching
and personal character. An NBC-
Associated Press poll of Florida Republi
cans shows Connally’s trust-to-distrust
ratio is 2-1, while Reagan’s is 9-1 and Bush’s
almost 7-1. Private polls show the same
high “negative” elsewhere for Connally.
As for Sen. Howard H. Baker, Jr., who
still leads Bush by a wide margin in the
public-opinion polls, his neglected cam
paign organization switched managers
again last week. He is so far behind organi
zationally that there is growing doubt
whether he will challenge seriously, or fall
back into the overcrowded category of
short-term Republican also-rans.
Bush did what he did by copy-catting the
tactics Jimmy Carter employed four years
ago. He has worked full-time, out of the
glare of national publicity, at organizing the
states that choose their delegates early.
Like Carter, he has used living-room meet
ings, where he, his wife or one of his sons
have been present, to build a network of
volunteers whose commitment is not les
sened by the fact that most of them knew
nothing of George Bush when 1979 began.
Bush has pursued that strategy, because
he understands, as Carter did, that making
such living-room conversions is the key to
success in this kind of nominating system.
But if his tactics ape Carter’s, there is
one basic difference in their status. George
Bush is as much of a respected insider in
the Republican establishment as Jimmy
Carter was a skeptically viewed stranger to
the Democratic power-structure.
As a former congressman, national party
chairman and official in the Nixon and Ford
administrations, Bush has a network of per
sonal friendships that spans the ideological
range of the GOP from Rep. Pete McClos-
key of California, who challenged Richard
Nixon as a “liar” in the 1972 primaries, to
Dean Burch, who defended Nixon from the
White House until the last days of 1974.
It was Burch who introduced Bush to he
conservative Floida convention delegates
as “a man of universal acceptance and un
sullied reputation, a man in his physical
prime, a man for the Eighties.” Bush him
self is conservative in his economics, hard
line in his foreign-policy views, but is link
ed by family background and education
(Greenwich, Kennebunkport and Yale) to
the party’s affluent, progressive eastern
wing as well.
It is far too early to computethei
Bush’s winning the nomination. Hi
tests are still ahead. His viewsln
been subjected to serious scrutim
press or rival candidates. Hisspetd often.
ing — though vastly improved
year’s living-room practice —is;
which he is only now gaining persos there
fidence.
He remains an unknown to tlie
public, although that condition is
certain to change dramaticallyinj Corps
two months, when the Iowa ar( Silver
Hampshire contests will likelycalap fuesda
into prominence. But his two losiu f or
for the Senate in Texas have
the reputation — deserved or n,
being a candidate who has ahardtii
ing a lead or responding toastiffcoi
tack.
Reagan will not he easily dislodj
far. Bush has avoided challenginghi
ctly and Reagan has seen noneedl
undercut Bush. All that is sti
But Bush is on the verge of bin)
“George Who?” question, as Cartes
"Jimmy Who?” four years ago. Thai
he set out to do, and that is whatmai
— in the eyes of the party pros-
who has gained the most from 197
(c) 1979, The Washington Post Comp*
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Ayatollah ignoring legalities open to him
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Hughes
Iran and the United States are bound by
three international conventions and one
bilateral treaty that were designed to pro
tect the immunity of diplomatic and consu
lar personnel. The most explicit is the
Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Rela
tions, formulated in 1961 at a United Na
tions conference and signed by all nations.
It opens with the statement that “peo
ples of all nations from ancient times have
recognized the status of diplomatic
agents. ’’ The safety of diplomats is express
ly addressed in Article 29: “The person of a
diplomatic agent shall be inviolable. He
shall not be liable to any form of arrest or
detention. The receiving state shall treat
him with respect and take all appropriate
steps to prevent any attack on his person,
freedom or dignity.”
When a nation believes that a diplomat
has abused this protection by conduct
offensive to the hosts — when an embassy,
in the Ayatollah’s words, has become a
“nest of spies” — two remedies exist. The
host country can declare diplomats persona
non grata, and order them expelled. It can
also turn to an optional protocol to the
Vienna Convention, which obliges signa
tories to submit any disputes to the Inter
national Court of Justice at The Hague.
These legal formulas obviously meant lit
tle to the Ayatollah at the start of the cur
rent confrontation. But they were well
understood even by the Iranian govern
ment he had appointed and which resigned
when he refused to let it protect the Amer-
, Americai
ican Embassy in Tehran. RespectB i m j n j im
law continues to protect all Iranian*
mats in the United States. Audits ipposing
even nations sympathetic to Iran’srf if strikes
tion have condemned the seizure^ j
tages to press a grievance against tk hat no st
ited States. The trick now is to enc«
(the Ayatollah) to submit his A
against the Shah and the United SB
the World Court — as soon as therei
ing hostages are freed.
The New York Times
West
By DICK WEST
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Just about every
night on television this past fortnight there
have been scenes of Iranians burning
American flags in front of the U.S. Embas
sy in Tehran.
All of which has made me realize just
how much my mind has been affected by
the energy crisis.
So conditioned by fuel shortages have I
become that televised shots of Iranians
burning American flags aroused my conser
vation instincts as well as my animus.
No precise figures on the amount of
energy derivable from flag combustion are
available. I would estimate, however, the
Iranians have wasted enough this month to
heat a city the size of Cincinnati for 24
hours.
Iran is fuel-rich, of course. It exports, as
we know, vast amounts of surplus pet
roleum. Even so, it cannot completely
escape the deletrious consequences of let
ting so much energy go up in smoke.
On the tube, at least, flag smoke appears
loaded with pollutants. What those embas
sy demonstrations might have done to the
air quality index in Tehran can only be
guessed.
As I was watching a demonstration the
other night, I fell to wondering whether
Iran is a flag-producing nation or whether it
must import the banners the radical stu
dents bum.
If the latter, there must be concern
among Iranian leaders as to whether the
supply lines are dependable and whether a
flag shortage might be in the offing.
Thus far, I have seen nothing to indicate
the ayatollah has ordered any programs to
make Iran less dependent on foreign flags.
It seems unlikely, however, that so small a
country could continue to consume flags at
current rates indefinitely.
At some point soon, I look for the Iranian
government, or what passes for a govern
ment in Iran, to resort to flag rationing.
Even then, the shortage is almost certain
New energy source is being wastel
Iran may have to ration U.S. flags
to drive up the price beyond what the aver
age Iranian student demonstrator can
afford.
Apart from the pollution and inflationary
aspects of flag burning, it should be borne
in mind that the current rampage in Iran
coincides with a return to veil wearing by
many women in that country.
Cloth used to make flags obviously could
be used to make veils, and vice versa. So
unless there is a sudden outbreak of veil
burning, the supply problem is
become ever more pressing.
I’m not suggesting the United Sti
to do anything about this as longas
are being held. But if at some future
America should wish to cool therevoli
ary fervor in Iran, a flag embargo
the answer. Without some othercoi
flags to incinerate before the tele"
cameras, those student radicals mi[
come dispirited enough to go hacktO 1