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The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Friday
October 3, 1980
Slouch
By Jim Earle
rounJD
BALL
‘Did he say this is Physical Education? This is not Physics 201?
Javits on his way out
By STEVE GERSTEL
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The Senate’s ranks of
liberal Republicans, always sparse, are getting
slimmer and slimmer.
The most recent of this increasingly rare
breed of politician to move toward the exit is
Sen. Jacob Javits of New York — old, ailing
and almost out after nearly a quarter of a
century.
brightest minds in the Senate, nurses a slim
hope that he can win reelection as the Liberal
Party candidate.
But few give this desperate venture any
chance. Without the support of the Republican
Party, Javits will have organizational and
money problems probably impossible to over
come.
Javits’ loss to Alfonse D’Amato, a conserva
tive municipal functionary with no identity
quotient, follows a pattern that has now become
a fixture on the American political scene.
Conservative Republicans ignore party
labels. They care not a whit if the candidate is a
Republican or a Democrat. If he is not a true
believer, out he goes.
They did it to New Jersey’s Clifford Case in a
primary two years ago and bloodied Mas
sachusetts’ Edward Brooke enough so he lost in
the general election.
Nor do they rue getting in return two of the
most liberal Democrats in the Senate — Mas
sachusetts’ Paul Tsongas and New Jersey s Bill
Bradley.
And they did not mind forfeiting Case’s great
seniority and rank and the distinction of having
the only black senator, an eloquent spokesman
for social concerns.
After all, the Republican Party was twice
purified.
Yet Javits, a four-term senator and the rank
ing Republican on the Foreign Relations Com
mittee, was the biggest catch so far. He was a
national figure, an eloquent spokesman for Re
publican liberalism.
Although Republican conservatives un
doubtedly rejoice in Javits’ defeat and D’Ama-
to’s victory, they probably cannot claim all the
credit.
tor who would be 82 when the termeJ
has happened to healthier incumbenl|
age.
It is somewhat ironic that Javits i
help out the conservatives — despite)
long quarrel with them — in the final
political career.
Although Javits is given no chanceti
certainly is going to get votes. And tin
can come only at the expense of Rep. 1
Holtzman, the very liberal Demoeratij
date for the Senate.
The precedent is there: James Bu
Conservative Party candidate, wom|
seat when incumbent Republican(
Goodell and Democrat Richard I
carved up the liberal-moderate votej
York in 1976.
Javits is 76 and really starting to show it. He
disclosed a progressive nerve ailment that ham
pers him physically but not mentally.
It’s quite possible that New York voters —
who like him immensely — just felt enough
concern about the prospects of an infirm sena-
The day after his primary defeat,]
asked if he won, running as the Lii>
candidate, whether he would rejoin thej
licans in the Senate. Javits said ofc
would.
It seems that Javits cares more forth)
lican Party than the Republican Partyii
him. Despite what the GOP conservafij
to him.
Pennsylvania appears
to be swing state again
By SCOTT MACLEOD
United Press International
HARRISBURG, Pa.— Preaching the gospel
of jobs, Republican Ronald Reagan has chiseled
into President Carter’s support among blue col
lar Democrats in a strong bid to capture indust
rial Pennsylvania, party and labor officials say.
But the GOP is concerned that many liberal
Republicans, especially those on Philadelphia’s
fashionable Main Line, may desert to indepen
dent John Anderson and give the race to the
Democrats.
The latest polls indicate the race is dead
even, although registered Democratic voters
outnumber Republicans by 700,000.
“Pennsylvania is a classic swing state,” said
Republican Gov. Dick Thornburgh.
If there was a bellwhether in 1976, it was
Pennsylvania, a state of 11 million people,
where the results perfectly reflected the two
point margin of Carter’s victory nationwide.
Daniel Horgan, Carter’s campaign manager
in Pennsylvania, said he’s running a street-wise
operation to secure the state’s 27 electoral
votes, the third largest total among the 50
states.
“We should be able to win a squeaker, be
cause we’ve got a good get-out-the-vote opera
tion,” said Horgan.
“We ll have sound trucks on the streets on
election day and Carter greeters at the polls,
little old-fashioned things. If Mrs. Jones is in
the hospital, we’re getting her an absentee bal
lot,” said Horgan.
Horgan and Reagan’s Pennsylvania campaign
chairman, Richard Fox, agree Reagan has cut
into Carter’s support in northeast coal and tex
tile region of the state anchored by Scranton, a
largely ethnic Catholic city. Polls have shown
Reagan as far as 15 percentage points ahead
there.
“We can’t win without Democratic votes,
and we believe Reagan has strong appeal in the
ethnic communities that are fundamentally
Democratic,” said Fox, who noted Reagan is
campaigning vigorously in the state with visits
so far to Philadelphia’s Cardinal Krol and city
shipyard workers.
James Mahoney, vice president of the Penn
sylvania AFL-CIO, said the federation’s politic
al committee is holding a series of meetings
around the state with AFL-CIO leaders to
stress the need for a Carter victory.
Mahoney noted that most blue-collar sec
tions of the state, such as Philadelphia and Pitt
sburgh’s steel valleys, have remained more
solidly behind Carter than the Northeast.
“When you go to the Northeast, because of
the difficulty people have had with the coal and
needle industries, it’s jobs. It’s the issue that
always has people down in the mouth, ” he said.
Mahoney said if Pennsylvania, with its large
electoral vote, is decisive in the presidential
race nationwide, then it may well be Scranton
that throws the race to Carter or Reagan within
the Keystone State.
The hitch for Reagan in a close race is the
attitude of independent-minded liberal Repub
licans in the Philadelphia suburbs who have
never shown enthusiasm for Reagan and voted
for his opponent in the state primary April 22.
“Reagan is a product of the conservative
movement, and he’s not a product of the East
ern Establishment. Well, the Main Line is the
Eastern Establishment,” said Faith Ryan Whit
tlesey, a political leader from suburban Haver-
ford.
It’s your turn
In Pennsylvania, polls show Anderson taking
away as many votes from Reagan as Carter in
the GOP-rich Philadelphia suburbs.
And annoying to both parties is the high
number of undecided voters in the state —
ranging from 20 percent upward depending on
the poll.
Letter writer lacks understanding
Jane Fowler, Anderson’s campaign manager
here, said the large undecided vote, combined
with the fact neither Carter nor Reagan won the
state’s primary, give the Illinois congressman a
chance in Pennsylvania.
However, Mayor William Green Jr. of Phi
ladelphia, the state’s leading Kennedy suppor
ter, is leading the dissidents into line behind
the president.
And Reagan has picked up the enthusastic
support of the relatively liberal Thornburgh, a
very popular political figure in the state, in
hopes of keeping the liberal Republicans in the
party.
In another major election, Democrats have a
good chance of recapturing a Democratic seat in
the United States Senate. Former Pittsburgh
Mayor Pete Flaherty is leading the GOP’s
Arlen Specter, ex-district attorney in Philad-
lephia, in the race to succeed retiring Sen.
Richard Schweiker, R-Pa.
Editor:
This is in response to Russell C. Halvorsen’s
letter, published in the Oct. 2 Battalion.
For lack of a more subtle approach, Mr. Hal-
vorsen, your letter clearly exhibits your deci
sive lack of an understanding of Aggie tradi
tions, and an even more warped perception of
what it means to be an Aggie and go to Texas
A&M. I found your letter an affront to Texas
A&M, the Corps of Cadets and all Aggies,
In case you are unaware, Mr. Halvorsen, two
of the characteristics which separate the aver
age Aggie from students at other schools are
friendliness and patience. You demonstrate
neither characteristic in your letter. The abra
sive tone your letter assumes when you refer to
one of the older traditions at A&M (that of
wearing no hat in Kyle Field) is both unneces
sary and unAggielike. Evidently somebody has
heard of removing his hat at football games, Mr.
Halvorsen. Peruse the pages of any old Aggie-
land and you will find no photographs depicting
Aggies with their hats on at Kyle Field games.
Your lame attempt to excoriate the Corps by
referring to C.T.s as persons out “to prove their
special supremacy’ underscored your lack of
understanding as to the Corps role at A&M.
Our motto says we are “The guardians of tradi
tion and the keepers of the spirit. ” In no way
does this imply that we alone keep “the spirit, ”
or that we alone are the “good Ags“. If you want
substantiation, ask the men of Davis-Gary who
shined Sully recently; ask the literally
thousands of non-regs who pour out to help in
the building of bonfire; go to another football
game, Mr. Halvorsen, and count how many
people aren’t in uniform! Your approach is
short-sighted at best.
The segment of your letter that is most in
furiating, Mr. Halvorsen, is your asinine ques
tion “How can you yell your heart out for a team
that loses?” If you would be so benevolent as to
research some A&M history, you will see that
our Twelfth Man tradition finds its roots back in
1922, when an Aggie demonstrated the lengths
to which he would go to support the Aggie team
y ^-^z.
Randy I
the rem
Aggie
weeken
Fo
ini
by coming down from the stands and suitini
That lone Aggie’s readiness remains a sym|
the wholesale devotion of the A&M stii
body to the football team. Win or lose,!
Halvorsen, that is our football team outti|
and if you haven’t the pride to stay an
twenty minutes and yell your heart out,
your problem. If you don’t value Texasij
enough to make the trite sacrifice of re®
your hat, then why even bother to got t(^
games? You’re right in one respect, Mr. I
vorsen, we re no longer a military school ’
dammit, Mr. Halvorsen, the people whof
Texas A&M aren’t “ordinary people”—' 1 ®
Aggies, and damned proud of it. Mr. *
vorsen, you’d do well to remember that
Buzz Steind
Editor’s note: This letter was accompany
105 other names.
Four
national
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N- J., *
Ruvai
son wer
College
Texas A
spot on
Erlan
Colic;
have a li
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Texas
Harvarc
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Pauli
up to th
and a h;
“The
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selected
The I
A&M t€
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693-4750
Warped
By Scott McCullar
X JUST WANT TO REMIND
Everyone to have the
"proper" SPIRIT around
HERE*
GOOD AG'S HAVE THE BEST
ADVICE IN THE WORLD FOR
"BAD AG'S* AND "a%'£R'S," A/VP
THAT'S THAT HIGHWAY 6 RUNS...
UH...{let's- see now, it
goes THAT WAY, AND THAT
WAY TOO SO...)
,. BOTH WAYS!
4*
The Battalion
U S P S 045 360
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