The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, June 24, 1980, Image 2

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    Slouch
by Jim Earle
“I believe you’ve solved the sun problem, Squirt!’
Carter still fears threat
from Kennedy camp
by ARNOLD SAWISLAK
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The observation was made
in this space last week that President Carter’s
campaign staff “will try very hard to keep from
offending” Sen. Edward Kennedy before the
Democratic National Convention.
That was wrong. It was based on the assump
tion that the president and his campaigners
were smart politicians who would see that they
had much more to gain by being gracious than
vindictive winners.
That does not seem to be what happened.
The Carter people kept their cool for a couple of
days, actually making an appearance of seeking
accommodation with Kennedy. They spoke of
compromises on the party platform on almost
any issue except wage and price controls. They
praised Kennedy for making a good fight of it.
But when it appeared the president and the
senator might appear before the national
mayors’ conference on the same day, the in
securities of the Carter campaign boiled over.
The White House insisted that Kennedy’s
invitation be withdrawn. The mayors bowed to
the demand, making everyone involved except
Kennedy look like two cents waiting for change.
It is easy to guess what the White House was
afraid of: invidious comparison of Carter with
Kennedy, or, heaven forfend, confrontation of
the president by the senator at the Seattle
meeting.
It would be possible to see some political
sense in the Carter campaign’s concern — if the
mayors’ conference had been held last winter.
The Battalion
U S P S 045 360
MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Editor Dillard Stone
City Editor Becky Swanson
Sports Editor Richard Oliver
News Editor Lynn Blanco
Staff Writers. . Uschi Michel-Howell, Debbie Nelson,
Cathy Saathoff, Scot K. Meyer, Jon Heidtke
Kurt Allen
Cartoonist Scott McCullar
Photo Editor Lee Roy Leschper Jr.
Photographer Marsha Hoehn
LETTERS POUCY
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writer.
Columns and guest editorials are also welcome, and are not
subject to the same length constraints as letters. Address all
inquiries and correspondence to: Editor, The Battalion, 216
Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
77843.
EDITORIAL POLICY
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper op
erated as a community service to Texas A&M University and
Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are
those of the editor or the author, and do not necessarily repre
sent the opinions of Texas A&M University administrators or
faculty members, or of the Board of Regents.
Questions or comments concerning any editorial matter
should be directed to the editor.
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Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald Building,
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United Press International is entitled exclusively to the use
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reproduction of all other matter herein reserved.
Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843.
Warped
Viewpoint
The Battalion
Tuesday
Texas A&M University
June 24, 1980
Iranian Fore
Monday the ne
decide in "k
53 American
Anderson can work for Dem
Carter fears him, but party sees bene fits in his candidacy
Ghotbzadeli
was asked whal
(lie hostages, 1
At that time, Kennedy was still the beneficiary
of the myth that his very name would cause
Democrats to swoon and that his oratory could
fell full grown trees.
But this was June 1980. Carter had already
amassed nearly 2,000 convention delegates,
many more than needed to win the nomination.
He had whipped Kennedy in about two thirds
of the primaries and junked the legend of Ken
nedy invincibility.
Even if Kennedy had stretched out on the
stage at Seattle and threatened to drum his
heels until Carter agreed to debate him, it is
hard to see how he could have hurt the presi
dent.
But Carter and his brain trust apparently
suspected Kennedy was trying to set a trap of
the sort Ronald Reagan snapped on George
Bush in Nashua, N.H. So they dry-gulched
Kennedy before he ever got to Seattle.
Two conclusions are possible from this epi
sode. First, that despite the outcome of the
primaries, the president still is scared stiff of the
senator. Second, that Carter really isn’t that
eager to make peace with Kennedy. It appears,
instead, that what the president really wants is
Kennedy to give up and get out.
Even if Kennedy has privately abandoned
hope of winning the nomination, he would be
foolish to hand over his 40 percent share of the
delegates until he has won some concessions.
And the Carter campaign would be even more
foolish not to stop playing status games and
make the best deal they can to get Kennedy’s
support for what is going to be a tough battle
with Ronald Reagan.
By DAVID S. BRODER
DES MOINES — Like a good many other
Democratic incumbents who will be on the bal
lot this fall, Sen. John C. Culver has been
sweating out the civil war between Ted Ken
nedy and Jimmy Carter for the presidential
nomination.
Personally and politically, Culver is a lot clos
er to Kennedy, a Harvard friend who first
brought him to Capitol Hill as his legislative
assistant. But Carter has a loyal following in this
state, so Culver was studiously neutral in the
Carter-Kennedy battle, knowing he would
need support from both sides in his re-election
battle with Rep. Charles E. Grassley (R), a
formidable challenger.
Neutrality was still the Culver policy as he
addressed the state Democratic convention. In
his speech, Culver decried Ronald Reagan’s
penchant for “high-risk international adven
tures,” adding that, “It should be a matter of
pride to every Democrat that both President
Carter and Senator Kennedy, while believing
in a strong America, are forthrightly committed
to the quest for world peace.”
That innocuous and impartial pat-on-the-
back drew only a smattering of applause from
the 2,500 delegates, all of whom sympathized
with Culver’s awkward position.
What got cheers was Culver’s declaration, a
few moments later, that the Democratic Party
“has higher missions ... than to waste time and
funds in legal efforts to keep independent can
didate John Anderson off the ballot. The Demo
cratic Party has nothing to fear from the respon
sible advocacy of candidates of this kind. ”
As if to demonstrate that Culver had read the
mood of the convention correctly, the rules
were suspended later in the day to pass a re
solution formally criticizing the widely publi
cized effort by Democratic National Committee
lawyers, operating at the direction of the Carter
campaign, to challenge Anderson’s petitions for
ballot access in many states.
Iowa papers made Culver’s defense of Ander
son’s right-to-run the lead on their convention
stories — which was probably just what he
intended.
There is more at work here than a spirit of fair
play. What the Culver incident reveals is a
fundamental difference between the tactics that
serve Carter’s political interests and those that
will help many of the other Democrats running
for office. It is a difference which will become
increasingly obvious and important in coming
weeks.
It is hard to exaggerate the threat the Carter
strategists see in Anderson’s candidacy. The
President’s game plan is to paint Reagan as such
a bogeyman that the divided Democratic con
stituencies come back home, whatever their
misgivings about he record of the past four
years.
Anderson spoils the strategy by providing the
dissident Democrats another alternative. Car-
terites fear Anderson could cost them such
states as Iowa, Oregon, Massachusetts, Con
necticut, New Jersy, Pennsylvania, Michigan
— and even New York. Losing any two of the
big ones might doom Carter’s chances.
But for the Democrats like Culver, Anderson
could well be a political asset. The maverick
Illinois Republican has his strongest support
among the well-educated and the young vo
ters. They are so turned off by the Carter-
Reagan choice that they might well boycott the
election if those were the only alternatives.
If they come out to vote for Anderson,
chances are they will also voteforalibe
Culver over a conservative like Grassley
backed by many of the same groups-
abortionists, gun-owners, etc. —thatAi
delights in baiting.
Thus, it is no more accidental that
defends Anderson’s “right” to run th
whimsical of Carter to put obstaclesia
son’s path.
What is true of Culver is trueofmani
Democrats. Sen. Tom Eagleton of Mi
also running in the fall, has written
protesting his party’s efforts to derail And
Indeed, the advantage to Democratic!
dates from the Anderson candidacy
reason that Senate Majority Leader Rolf
Byrd, who is no liberal ideologue, hasp;
rebuked White House efforts to treati
son as an imposter.
Byrd understands that chances ol retai;
Democratic majority in the Senate are pc
better with both Carter and Anderson
ballot than they would be if it is Carta,
facing Reagan.
The situation is developing in a w
almost decrees that Carter will be mnnii!
more as a “loner” in 1980 than heras
1976 campaign. Then, it was Cartel
seemed deliberately to keep his distant)
Democratic congressional candidates
United Pre
, , ,, j .mshingk
year, it is likely to be those candidates™ diately thoug
the other way when Carter’s name
tioned.
John Culver is not the only Democct
finds it preferable to link himself in ties Aground mu:
state headlines with the Anderson caul f ^ began 1
than with either Carter or Kennedy
(c) 1980, The Washington Post Cn}
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White Russians:
They're fleeing a system
they don t understand
by PAUL LOONG
United Press International
HONG KONG — They fled Russia to escape
the Bolshevik Revolution more than half a cen
tury ago and made their way to China. But then
the Chinese revolution caught up with them,
and today they are still on the move.
They are the “White Russians,” one of the
oldest groups of refugees in the world.
With the recent massive outpouring of peo
ple from Indochina and Cuba, the silent and
orderly migration of these exiles has been going
on almost unnoticed by the world.
More than 20,000 of them have passed
through Hong Kong since 1956 when they first
were allowed to leave China, said Paulette
Tsiang, a relief officer in charge of their resettle
ment. On any given month, about 200 “White
Russians” are in Hong Kong waiting for final
clearance to migrate to recipient countries.
Now that the Chinese have relaxed emigra
tion procedures, Tsiang said, “Maybe we will
have many, many more.”
Already some 2,000 of them are known to be
waiting to leave China.
“White Russia” is another name for Byelorus
sia — one of 15 republics of the Soviet Union.
... the silen t and orderly
migration of these exiles has
been going on almost
unnoticed by the world.
by Scott McCullar
HUH!? WHAT?? ( GOOD GRIEF
I'n IN 10
How DID X-
O'CLOCK CLASS.
r here?
1
I DO/V'T EVEN REttEMBER
GETTING UP THIS CORNING.
AT LEAST I'fA DRESSED. DID
I drive p\y CAR ?
IT EVEN LOOKS LIKE I'VE
TAKEN NOTES FROM MY S AND
T O'clock classes, i wonder
IF I WAS IN THEtt ? /AAN,
WHAT A WKIRD FEE LINS...
Q
MERRITT TENNINGS HERE IS
BEING CONFUSED BY THE PHENOMENON
known as "noRNiwe", for he is
ATTENDING A CLASS IN...
THE TWILT GHT ZONE
x don't THINK
I'M GOING TO
LIKE THIS PAT . ■
But “White Russian” is a term left over from the
1917 Russian revolution when the “whites”
fought the “reds” or Bolsheviks.
The exiles were mainly traders, craftsmen,
ranchers, shopowners — the middle class.
They could not understand communism and,
when the Bolsheviks triumphed, they left Rus
sia with their families.
One of these families recently passed
through Hong Kong en route to join a relative
in the United States. Their self-exile in China
had lasted three generations, nearly 50 years.
“Andrei,” the head of the family of more than
20 people, is a hale and hearty 57-year-old with
a deeply furrowed face and slightly graying
hair. He csked not to be identified by his full
name.
Andrei was a boy of eight in 1930 when his
parents and aunt decided to leave all posses
sions in their prosperous home in Tashkent to
flee communist rule. They headed east and
eventually settled in a small town about 200
miles south of Urumchi, capital of China’s Xin
jiang region.
The family had some money and bought a
ranch on the windswept grasslands, keeping a
herd of 2,000 sheep, 150 horses and 80 cows.
Andrei met his Tashkent-born wife in 1940. The
wholesome-looking woman with dark, deter-
:x' :
mined eyes bore him 11 children.
“We were a big family, and we
together,” Andrei said. “We world
morning to night. But it was a
The rest of the world was embroiledin*
the time.
The success of the Chinese commucj
volution in 1949 took a few years to rei!
remote ranch in Xinjiang. But when
Andrei could not comprehend its 0
“They took the animals, but
money,” Andrei said, still with amazec-
Not realizing that the order of tlil
changed, Andrei’s family used all its sa''
build a three-story inn, hoping to goii
hotel business. But that, too, was na®
and confiscated.
Andrei was instead given a job in a
tory.
A few years later, the government
granting exit visas to “White Russians
their Chinese spouses and children^
mixed marriages also were allowed
once they had been accepted by aJ
country.
Most at first migrated to South Amfl 1
farm workers. But since 1971 Australia^
taking in the majority of the emigrant;
United States accepts those with closer?
in America, and some elderly Russian;
been admitted by Switzerland and Ne*’
land.
All “White Russia” resettlement
are handled by the Hong Kong Christ
vice. The Intergovernmental Commit#
European Migration helps the migrant;
passages once all immigration procedure;
been completed.
Andrei’s family left Xinjiang last Derr'
and arrived in Hong Kong after a threr
train journey that cost the family $0
“When we reach America, we hope
finally settle down,” he said.