S LO UC H By ,im Earle
“I think your participation in Earth Day might be a little
to the left of the mark, but you might be on the right
track. ”
Opinion
Olympic Committee made
difficult, responsible decision
Delegates to the United States Olympic Committee who
voted not to send a team to the summer games in Moscow
deserve praise for their patriotism and good sense.
It was a difficult decision; nevertheless, the committee
hardly could have decided otherwise.
It would have been unthinkable to defy their president
and ecnourage communist traps by insisting on fun and
games as usual in Moscow.
It also would have damaged the Olympic movement’s
future in this<country. The committee depends on public
£ support and financing, which,,would dry up if it thwarted »
the president on a question involving national security.
But above all the sportsmen faced a moral question. One
simply should not engage in friendly games with people who
invade a helpless neighbor, murder its president, continue
to execute prisoners nightly and use poison gas against
backward tribesmen.
It will be instructive to see if the allies in Western Europe
and Japan follow Carter’s lead.
If they do not, they will send two messages to Moscow:
the democracies are divided in their response to aggression,
so it is safe for the Kremlin to strike again. And they are so
cowed by Russia’s arms they can be forced to shake a blood
stained hand.
It is better that Americans find out now than in some
future crisis, closer to home and more dangerous than
Afghanistan.
Scripps-Howard Newspapers
the small society
by Brickman
W&z UNH/APFY WlTM THe
WH<? WAMTS
The Battalion
U s P S 045 360
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MEMBER
Tem Freei Anoriation
Southwest ]ounuliim Con*resi
Editor Roy Bragg
Associate Editor Keith Taylor
News Editor Rusty Cawley
Asst. News Editor Karen Comelison
Copy Editor Dillard Stone
Sports Editor Mike Bunichter
Focus Editor Rhonda Watters
Viewpoint Page Editor Tim Sager
City Editor Louie Arthur
Campus Editor Diane Blake
Staff Writers Nancy Andersen.
Tricia Brunhart.Angelique Copeland.
Laura Cortez, Meril Edwards.
Carol Hancock, Kathleen McElroy,
Debbie Nelson. Richard Oliver,
Steve Sisney. Becky Swanson.
Andy Williams
Chief Photographer Lynn Blanco
Photographers Lee Roy Leschper.
Ed Cunnius. Steve Clark
Opinion! expressed in The Battalion are
thote of the editor or of the tfritrr of the
article and are not necestarilt/ thote of the
Univernty A dmtnitl ratten or the Board of
Regentt The Battalion is a non-profit, telf-
tupporting enterprise operated by students
as a unnernty and community newspaper.
Editorial policy is determined by the editor,
Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Friday
April 25, 1980
Conservatives go for the kill
in contests with liberal Senators
By STEVE GERSTEL
United Press International
WASHINGTON — As expected in the
spring of a political year, the scent is in the
air and the hounds are in full bay.
The prey is on the run and well it should
be. When rightwing conservatives go on
the hunt, they are after a kill. The chase
does not end until the animal is treed.
For this year s elections, the conserva
tives have targeted five senators, all liber
als, for elimination.
The intended victims are Alan Cranston
of California, Birch Bayh of Indiana, John
Culver of Iowa, Frank Church of Idaho and
George McGovern of South Dakota.
These five are, without the possibility of
dissent, ultraliberals. No matter what they
say or do during their campaigns to ease the
image, they are branded by their voting
records.
McGovern, the arch-dove, can come out
for selected military strikes in Iran to put
pressure on the Ayatollah, but he is not
going to fool any hawks.
And Church, very liberal in foreign
affairs, can express his new-found horror at
additional Soviet troops in Cuba, but no
one is going to believe that he is any less the
internationalist.
In other times, an assault from the right
could be viewed as nothing more than an
inconvenience. But the conservative hit
squad can no longer be dismissed as an
impotent tool.
The concept of targeting specific candi
dates for extinction is a relatively new phe-
nomonen for the conservatives. Organized
labor and some liberal special interests
have used it with varying degrees of suc
cess.
In 1978, the right-wing conservatives
targeted two Republicans, Clifford Case of
New Jersey and Edward Brooke of Mas
sachusetts, both members in standing of
the small liberal enclave of the GOP.
They backed young Jeffrey Bell against
Case in the New Jersey GOP primary and
pulled it off.
But Bell was beaten by the Democrat,
Sen. Bill Bradley. Strangely, that did not
seem to depress the conservatives. They
would have liked, very much, to have Bell
— one of their own — in the Senate but it
was almost as sweet to get rid of Case who
was much, much too liberal for them.
There were many reasons for Brooke s
defeat and one of them may have been a
bruising primary against a conservative
challenger. But the seat went to a Demo
crat, the very liberal Paul Tsongas.
No matter. Two liberal Republicans,
Case and Brooke, had been purged from
the Senate.
But 1978 really was only a taste of what
the conservatives are capable of doing.
This year—for the first time — the effort
against the five senators is being coor
dinated by one committee.
The committee’s name is the National
Conservative Political Action Committee
and the campaign against the five is known
as “Target ’80.”
It is well-financed with an active fund
raising campaign and is taking out ads in an
LETTERS Bait is in error on Clements’intelligence
Editor:
I take exception to the statement in your
Opinion column that Governor Bill Cle
ments is “as stupid as he is obnoxious.” He
is twice as stupid as he is obnoxious. What
you meant to say was he is as stupid as he is
incompetent.
Mark Matthews ’80
Alan Martin ’82
Vote 3rd party
Editor:
I would like to reply to Monday’s "Opin
ion" column in which you stated that a vote
for Ed Clark of the Libertarian Party or
Barry Commoner of the Citizen’s Party
would be a “waste.” The article implied
that instead of voting for Clark or Common
er for president, we should vote for a Re
publican or a Democrat instead.
I disagree that a vote for a third party
candidate is necessarily wasted. Obviously,
most people wouldn’t bet on Clark or Com
moner being elected this year. However,
third parties have greatly influenced Amer
ican politics.
A prime example of this is the election of
1972. With Nixon in the White House, the
liberal wing gained control of the Democra
tic Party (partially because of the
“McGovern rules,” an election reform of
1969). This alienated the "conservative"
Democrats, who found a leader in George
Wallace, the Democratic governor of of
Alabama. McGovern was nominated by the
Democrats. Wallace and a substantial num
ber of conservative Democrats defected to
the American Independent Party, which
broke the traditional Democratic hold in
the South. After McGovern lost in Novem
ber, Wallace and the conservatives re
joined the Democratic Party, which
nominated a centrist (Jimmy Carter) in
1976
Other third parties have had similar suc
cess. The Democratic Party has absorbed
the ideals of the Progressives and the
Populists. The GOP likewise absorbed the
ideals of the Bull Moose and Abolitionist
Parties. It is clear that a large third party-
vote (Wallace got 14 percent of the popular
vote in 1972) indicates to major party-
leaders that voters consider both major
candidates unacceptable.
Politicians tend to ignore the most im
portant issue in politics — government
interference with individual liberty. Gen
erally, “liberals” advocate hampering the
economy (through price controls, axation,
and regulation) while paring lip service to
civil liberties. Conversely, conservatives
tend to advocate intrusions of civil liber
ties (with wiretapping, etc.) as well as a
relatively free market. Only the Liberta
rian Party consistently advocates personal
freedoms.
L. Alam Pyeatt, ‘81
Greed hurt Casino
Editor:
On April 18th I attended “Casino ’80”
sponsored by the Residence Hall Associa
tion. I payed three legal tender dollars each
for myself and my date, and we were each
issued three thousand play dollars. We
then proceeded to struggle from crowd to
crowd looking for a place to wager it. Surely
a turnout of that kind is commendable of
the Aggie student body, but the appalling
mismanagement of the event led to many a
discouraging moment. I feel they were too
concerned about taking your money out
side and not about what was happening
inside. Surely the dealers and casino girls
did a commendable job, hut when the man
agement staff sold at least twice as many
tickets as there were places to wager, not to
mention stand or even breathe! There is
bound to be difficulties when greed, even
for a good cause, plays this large a part.
Enjoyment is bound to be crowded out.
Christopher H. Meakin, ‘83
Vote conservative
Editor:
In regards to the letters of John Cherry
III and Ted Arnold, they must be as liberal
as I am conservative.
When the peanut man was elected three
years ago (doesn’t it seem like thirty), our
inflation rate was 4.8 percent and our un
employment rate was 7 percent. Carter has
kept unemployment lower during his
administration than during Ford’s; howev
er, inflation has skyrocketed to a 16 percent
annual rate in the last three months. As
Cherry said, some of our inflation woes are
being caused by OPEC, but most is
caused by the liberal Democrats and Re
publicans. Sorry, but I did make the
mistake of saying only Democrats.
In addition, John Cherry delights in hav
ing the oil companies being taxed heavily
by Congress. Well, why don’t we put a
windfall profits tax on every industry that
makes “obscene” profits?
Also, in regards to Iran, Carter has politi
cized this event in order to regain some
popularity, but I dislike his weakness in not
trying to get our hostages out sooner. I
believe five months ago Carter should
have told Iran that the hostages will be
released in a week or we will bomb their
country. And yes, Mr. Cherry, even if one
of my relatives were there, I still would
believe that.
Furthermore, Mr. Cherry states that
the last balanced budget was under a
Democrat (Lyndon Johnson).” Wrong
again. That balanced budget was under the
Nixon administration. So, get your facts
straight, please.
Mr. Cherry also neglects the fact that the
budget deficits under the past two Republi
can administrations were passed by a
Democratic Congress.
In addition, Carter’s policies now are
going to lead us into a recession. But Carter
will alleviate the recession by putting the
unemployed on welfare dike most Demo
crats are fond of).
Ted Arnold was correct in saying that I
am a YAF member (now the Young Conser
vatives of Texas). Finally, I said to vote
Republican. Well, I should have said to
vote conservative because occasionally 1
will vote for a Democrat.
Richard Leonardon
Alarming situation
Editor:
This is a letter of thanks to all of you who
were in the library during the fire drill at
1:30 Wednesday afternoon. I was one of the
floor proctors and I appreciated ft*
cooperation in clearing the building.
However, the numerous false alan*
have led to a dangerous situation. W
people didn’t start to leave unhU
proctor asked them to. There won
be someone there to tell you to d
and you may end up waiting until it s
late. Leave when the alram sounds
oi & ' I
taki'il
clear out, |
Ml
effort to “educate the voters” about thes
senators.
The victims claim it is a purely negate
campaign, designed to oust them rathd
than concentrated on electing their opp>
nents.
Whatever the motive, the purpose k
clear: to strip the Senate of some of its moil
liberal Democrats.
It is not a small undertaking. Chun±,
McGovern, Bayh and Cranston are alien-1
trenched veterans who have run the gaunt
let several times. McGovern was in 1972
the Democrats’ presidential candidate and
Church and Bayh sought the same ^
four years ago. Cranston is assistant parr, I
leader in the Senate.
None of them and not Culver—finishing I
his first term — are patsies who will be ei$\
to pick off.
But if the conservatives have the musde |
to defeat one or even two of them, (lie
warning will be there for all the other liber-1
als: Move right or risk moving out.
W
I as tl
Arch
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(leavi
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who
causr
prote
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togr
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I mess
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Ev<
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Hes
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He sai
liven si
the :
(hound b
Coder
icirgo s
|«epers.
It’s n
P'eryboi
Th
40
Co
Don’t try tro use the elevators and
crowd onto the center stairs. Th er e*j®
exits along all the outer walls on all
Move away from the building 50
equipment can get in and so you don
hurt by exploding glass.
Finally, the alarm system
ing properly now, and we ve had .
one fire drill. All the other ^ m 1 es
cleared the library were the resul.
fellow Aggies. You will P r0 ^ a ^ ^
during your studying for finals, fr 1 u x ,
can stop these false alarms, be
leave — often.
If you won t leave during an
University Police may take y° ur
you see anyone pull an a i arnl , |
cause, please notify someone on
staff. We ll tell the University po®
maybe we can get this annoying ^
gerous activity stopped. The uWJIl ^
can t be everywhere, so we need
help you can give us. •? i^i
Nancy E-
Readers’ Forum
Guest viewpoints, in addiW"
Letters to the Editor, are we ^
All pieces submitted to f*
forum should be:
• Typed triple space gJ
• Limited to 60 characters
line
• Limited to 100 lines
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