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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 12, 1980)
Viewpoint .OCi The Battalion Texas A&M University Friday Septemrer 12, 1980 uying cl Pa Slouch By Jim Earle “Frankly, Iperfer a more impersonal computer than the one we have now. Look at this note: ‘Go to class and quit rerunning your schedule. Media event carries Reagan message hint By DAVID S. BRODER WASHINGTON — The process of presiden tial campaigning has been so corrupted by “media events” — posing the candidates in set tings which convey a message on a TV tube without verbal content — that there is a ten dency to view all visual spectacles as essentially phony. At a Common Cause forum the other day, Linda Wertheimer of National Public Radio was ridiculing the “Italian market syndrome,” that seems to send every candidate who comes to Philadelphia out shopping for sausage and eggplant as a shortcut to the ethnic vote. Next Monday (Sept. 15), Ronald Reagan and George Bush will take part in what looks like an equally phony “media event.” They are sche duled to meet on the steps of the Capitol with the Republican congressional leaders, mem bers of the Congress and a sizable number of GOP candidates from the House and Senate. There, according to plans, they will announce a list of specific actions that they jointly pledge to take in 1981, if Reagan is elected with a Republican Congress. Since the odds are against the Republicans overturning the 26-year-old Democratic ma jorities in both the House and the Senate this Novemeber, the “contract” Reagan and the Re publicans are offering can be seen as a cheap promise to make —just another “media event” on the candidate’s schedule. But the ceremony has substantive signifi cance, at least in the minds of the junior House Republicans who concocted the notion and sold it to a somewhat reluctant Reagan campaign. It represents a serious and healthy departure from the norms of contemporary presidential campaigning. For the last quarter-century, most of the presidential nominees of both parties have run for office as if the presidency were the only job on the ballot and they were the only candidates. Losers like Barry Goldwater and Hubert Humphrey might proclaim their party labels. But for the most part, the successful candidates of both parties from Eisenhower through Car ter have told the American people that a change of governmental direction could be achieved by changing the occupant of the White House. That proposition has been proven false. The inertial forces in the government of the United States — the network of relationships linking the bureaucracy, the interest groups and the congressional subcommittees and their staff— are demonstrably too powerful to be turned around by any one man. What the Republicans are attempting to say with their Capitol steps theatrical is that Amer icans who want to change directions have to change control of the whole government. They have to reverse the majorities in Congress as well as turn out the incumbent from the White House. It is a proposition that offers great potential dividends for the congressional Republicans. Too often their candidates have found them selves competing with Democratic incumbents who are as vociferous as the challengers in de nouncing the “mess in Washington.” The Republicans hope, by the Monday spec tacular, to drive home the point that the Demo cratic Congress is as much responsible for the record of the last four years as is the Democratic President — and that individual Democratic senators and representatives must be held to account for their party’s record. But it is a strategy with obvious risks for Reagan. It will be fascinating to see how far he really goes in expounding the message the sponsors hope to communicate. From Eisenhower on. Republican presiden tial candidates have known that they have to run well ahead of their party to have a chance of winning. Most often, that has meant running far away from their party. Ever since the Demo crats took over Congress in Eisenhower’s second year. Republican Presidents and pres idential candidates have been content to seek accommodation, not revolution, on Capitol Hill. In Reagan’s case, there is a special risk in the Monday event. His own strategists say that most voters believe that Reagan is stronger ex ecutive than Carter, a man more likely to get things done. But, these strategists concede, there are still grave reservations about the direction that Reagan would move the country. Many voters — women in particular — are nervous about Reagan’s talk about a bigger, more bristling defense, a tougher line toward foreign governments, and a greater reliance on private industry to furnish the jobs and energy the country needs. Many of those voters who are fed up with Carter but nervous about Reagan would like to hedge their bets by keeping the Democrats in control of Congress — a sort of check-and ba lance strategy — as they did when they elected Eisenhower and Nixon three times with Demo cratic Congresses. The implicit message of Monday’s ceremony is that there can only be one government in Washington at a time, and that if voters want Reagan to lead it effectively, they have to go all the way with the GOP. That is an honest statement, and it is as com mendable for the Republicans to dramatize it as it is risky. Warped First ladies rely on friends By HELEN THOMAS United Press International WASHINGTON — Presidents have often said you do not make friends in the White House. They rely on old steady and true friends. So do first ladies. Pat Nixon’s closest friend was Helene Drown, who lives in Rolling Hills, Calif., but when she was needed, she came to the White House and spent days. Bess Truman, Mamie Eisenhower, Jac queline Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson and Betty Ford also had their small circles of friends — not many, and only a few who were confidantes. The same is true of Rosalynn Carter, whose good friend and relation, Edna Langford, has written a book about her in collaboration with Linda Maddox, wife of presidential aide Robert Maddox. It’s entitled “Rosalynn, Friend and First Lady.” Langford is the mother of Judy Carter, wife of Jack Carter, the president’s eldest son. A native of Calhoun, Ga., she has known Mrs. Carter for years and has been her constant traveling companion during past political cam paigns. Her book is about their friendship, and Langford says she bristles when the first lady is described as “the steel Magnolia.” “I keep thinking if only they knew her the way I do,” Langford writes. “She is strong. She’s a woman of deep convictions. When she has a purpose, nothing deters her, no matter how unpopular her actions appear. But she is not that unfeeling caricature the media has sometimes presented.” Somewhat apologetic over her flattering por trayal of the first lady, the author wrote, “Be cause we are close friends, it is hard to be objective about her. Friendship has a way of cluttering up a person’s point of view. ” The separation of Chip Carter and his wife Caron (they’re divorced now) was “very pain ful” for the entire first family and especially Mrs. Carter,” Langford wrote. “It was like a death in the family.” “For a long time, Rosalynn hoped against hope that the marriage could be saved. But as in other times when her children had problems she did not interfere, giving them room to work them out in the best possible way.” “The day Caron and little James (Chip’s baby son) left the White House, no one wanted to be around. Annette and Jeff went out of town. Other family members scattered. A waiter who had grown quite close to James became so emo tional Rosalynn sympathetically suggested that he go home. It was a time of suffering for all. “Because one is famous or in the limelight is no guarantee of immunity from u«.uw— dauehter £] of what many onlookers think, Mr* for thev mav st by Wh n parents ughter to live ir the idea is to 'arents may re dents and thei Or they may se Wr .?* C jypay for the i “Although she is as famihar to the Bpcky Rogers, i any movie star, few people knim res with two otl Rosalynn Carter. ” pe in Bryan th; Langford said that the first ladviBosing mone “from the obscurity of being a farmeiK^ 65 - south Georgia” to becoming one o( “It s become a recognized women in the world H,” she said. She said that she had ' matureda$;ifiPK ers said hej and had become a "political strategy®' )ou 8ht a hot White House, but she has “not chaiigjB en s ^ e ^ rac cantly. I me people £ Langford also said that she canreiltHjng roommaU stand why Jimmy and Rosalynn and families thoroughly appreciate” Cam| The accommodations, she explains, luxurious, but they are extraordinarih able with a pool, sauna, tennis, h Vf ntei i V? "Korgcous walking and hiking tait I|X sa,d She quotes Mrs. Carter as saying,’H* Camp David is a good place to geU pressures, from the clamor of the Wij press corps, and just to be alone withn I have a chance to think about whati' and about this country, to focus generally to en joy the beauty and ptij mountains.” i.pay rent that nit. But th er game,” h economist :h Center in “Why do we need, to spend more money on more and more Sophisticated, electronic, audio -visual teaching aids? Because of mom and twit Sophisticated, electronic, audio-visual teachers. Close encounter of the too close kin My STEPID Battaliu In loco amici. is “Being a\ friends.” bcently a pro Iniversity set its an available f st fall 18 pre ;ram they n; program w£ students at ince, if a str had a probl members v pm, would b fith the studer dm with his pr< During the fi ;ram s deve changed to fined, “a tr d“. Not onl ged, but tf had almost of the fall s< ;ram includi What’s in rue It’s your turn rass, billtx Idings caugh when two ided just nor 6 and FM One of the tr ing 20,00 Editor: Something happened on Monday, Sept. 8, that really scared me to death but also made me very angry! I was on my bicycle at the intersec tion of College Main and University Drive wait ing for the light to change so I could cross the street. The light then changed to green and I started on my way. Cowboy resen ts imitations Editor: Suddenly, I saw some fool run the red light and if I hadn’t braked my bicycle, well, I prob ably wouldn’t have been around to write this letter! That driver of that car didn’t even see me and that really upsets me. I can tell you that I was really upset and it took a lot to keep from breaking apart. It wasn’t until I did get home that all my anger and tears did come out. When I think of what might have happened, how up set my parents would have been, and how upset my friends would have been, I still get upset. I sincerely hope that the driver of that car got a little scared and upset too. Maybe then he or she won’t be running anymore red lights. I also hope that everyone out there will always watch out for the other guy, because not everyone on this campus is “a good Ag. ” There are some out there (especially that driver) who are stupid and thoughtless! Mary Alice Tijerina ’80 An overwhelming “go western trend has swept this great land of ours and I am getting extremely tired of having to push armadillos and urban cowboys out of my way when and wherever I go. I arrived here in 1976 from deep east Texas attired in a pair of roper boots, staight legged wranglers, and a flat topped “jick” lid. Those people who joined me in my preference of “western” fashion, most of whom were agricul ture majors, were ridiculed on every corner. The bulk of the population at that at that time thought Copenhagen was a city in Denmark, the “Gotten Eyed Joe” was a disease that struck fear in the hearts of farmers, and pickups were what guys went to the discos to find. Longnecks could be found on giraffes at the zoo, chaps were what sorority girls got when they! | put on their lip gloss on cold momfe [ lizard boots were reserved for iguanas! | to keep from getting stickers in their! | The Texas legislature passed hunJ K laws in the past year. Perhaps one« I should have been designed to curtail I cowboy activity by people whohavenf i den a horse, hauled a bale of hay, or,11 forbid, stepped in a pile ofbovinees " The law should also go so far as ton tv/o-dollar straw hats, feather bands, bottom jeans, and shiny brass belt iJ The aforementioned belt buckles* better suited for melting down and mak lead chains for all the pet armadillos one While dealing with this social disease^ dreaded by the sure enough “hands, should provide for sending the urban!' to the discos, pinball parlors, and dm from whence they came. I’m mad too, Eddie. Arthur M." The C By Scott McCullar X DON'T KNOW Atfy WORE, I'A SO SICK OF /AY fAATOfl ALKEAPY, THI/YK I'/A &ONNA GXVE XT UP, FX/VD SonETHXA/& EASIER, V WICKER. S ~ 1 is The Battalion U S P S 045 360 MEMBER Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Congres Questions or comments concerning any editoid should be directed to the editor. Editor Dillard Stone Managing Editor Rhonda Watters City Editor Becky Swanson Sports Editor Richard Oliver Focus Editor Scot K. Meyer News Editors Lynn Blanco, Gwen Ham, Scott Haring, Todd Woodard Staff Writers Kurt Allen, Nancy Andersen, Marcy Boyce, Mike Burrichter, Pat Davidson, Jon Heidtke, Uschi Michel-Howell, Kathleen McElroy, Debbie Nelson, Liz Newlin, Cathy Saathoff, Jana Sims, Rick Stolle Cartoonist Scott McCullar Photo Editor Pat O’Malley LETTERS POLICY Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 mriit' and are subject to being cut if they arc longer. Thedt reserves the; right to edit letters for style and lend make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. £e must also be signed, show the address and phonenutif writer. Columns and guest editorials are also welcome, A 1 subject to the same length constraints as letters, inquiries and correspondence to: Editor, The Ba:V' Heed McDonald, Texas A&M University, 77843. The Battalion is published daily during Texas spring semesters, exeept for holiday and examinatto 1 ? Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester, $33,251?; year and $35 per full year. Advertising rates (urnii^ 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. quest. . Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald' Texas A&M University, College Station, TX TM United Press International is entitled exclusively® for reproduction of all news dispatches creditedtoit reproduction of all other matter herein reserved. Second class postage paid at College Station, TV Stl