Viewpoint
The Battalion
Tuesday
Texas A&M University
October J, 1980
By J
Hut
The muse
with plants.
Slouch
By Jim Earle
THANKS
toVp.
“At least there seems to be some ground for agreement in this Iraqi-
Iran mess, at least among those of us who are Aggies. ”
arter, Anderson face
debate problems
By DAVID S. BRODER
WASHINGTON — Publicly, John Anderson
is the candidate who is most unhappy about the
apparent collapse of prospects for further “de
bates” in the presidential campaign. Anderson
had counted on the joint appearances with Jim
my Carter and Ronald Reagan to sustain his
long-shot bid for the White House. Without
them, he has few cards to play.
But in traveling through the key states of
Pennsylvania and Illinois last week and talking
with some officials in both the Reagan and Car
ter campaigns, it became evident that there is a
considerable degree of nervousness in those
camps as well about the consequences of the
“no-debate” decision.
Officially, the Carter campaign would have
you believe that it is delighted to have the
debate monkey off its back.
Carter accepted last week’s bid from the
League of Women Voters to save the “debates”
by having a Carter-Reagan one-on-one followed
by a three-way match including Anderson.
Reagan said no to that, ostensibly because it
would be unfair to Anderson and would require
Reagan to prepare for three of the joint appear
ances while Carter did only two.
After taking a good deal of verbal and edito
rial abuse for boycotting the first of the League
panels. Carter was happy to let Reagan be the
fall guy.
But in the states where Carter is battling
Reagan on even terms, there were some Demo
crats who suggested that Carter is still in trou
ble on the “debate” issue.
They made two arguments. Carter’s paid
media program is more modest than Reagan’s,
in part because Reagan has the advantage of the
“independent” expenditures by conservative
groups and in part bcause the Reagan campaign
has managed to lay off onto state Republican
parties more of the costs of phone banks, direct-
mail and headquarter operations than Carter
has shifted from his budget to the Democratic
state committees.
By absenting himself from what will appa
rently be the only “debate” of the year, Carter
forfeited an opportunity to make his basic case
for re-election to the biggest free audience of
the campaign.
The second argument concerns the future of
the Anderson candidacy. With the indepen
dent challenger now declining, it is foresee
able, these Democrats say, that in three weeks
or so Carter or his emissaries might be in a
position to remind Anderson of his earlir pledge
not to be a “spoiler,” if his only effect was to
increase Reagan’s chances of victory.
But, as one astute Democrat remarked to
me, “How in hell does Carter ask Anderson to
step aside, if it’s Carter, not Reagan, who has
refused to meet Anderson in debate? I think
we’ve got another (Ted) Kennedy situation,
where Carter’s refusal to debate makes the
challenger reluctant as hell to quit the race just
to accommodate Jimmy.”
As for Reagan, leading Republicans in both
Illinois and Pennsylvania — including both ear
ly Reagan supporters and some who are very
close to running mate George Bush — express
ed real misgivings about Reagan’s decision to
shut off further “debates. ”
“I would never be reluctant to send Ron
Reagan into a debate,” said his Illinois cam
paign chairman, Don Totten. “He (Reagan)
doesn’t need to be protected,” said a senior
Republican official in Pennsylvania.
While these Republicans have great respect
for the polling data of Richard Wirthlin, which
made the Reagan senior advisory board believe
the challenger was far enough ahead of Carter
not to need another “debate,” their own assess
ment of the situation in their states is less san
guine.
“I don’t think we have this thing nailed down
near as solid as it ought to be, when you’re
facing an incumbent,” one top Pennsylvanian
said he told Bush on his swing through Pennsyl
vania. According to him, Bush indicated that he
shared the sense that Reagan could not afford to
“sit on his lead” and adopt a minimal-risk
strategy of avoiding any face-to-face meeting
with Carter.
An argument used by top Republicans in
both states is that the shaky world situation
makes a Reagan-Carter debate more impera
tive from Reagan’s viewpoint — not less.
“It there’s a date for a debate, and the Middle
East or something else blows up, then the onus
is on Carter if he cancels,” I was told. “But if
there’s no agreement, and there’s an interna
tional crisis, then he (Carter) becomes Mr.
President and Mr. Commander-in-Chief on
the news, and our guy (Reagan) is just another
bystander, watching it all happen.”
For all these reasons, the “missing debates
could undercut more than Anderson s cam
paign strategy.
Warped
Designer clothes confuse,
bring desire for label of own
Igs. Harlan
ig is a butte
pr a white
A self-tau
irted paint
even years
i, and has r
cs and air b
Shoulders
cs because
U, are wat(
nd the colo
Growing up in a family of four women, it was
considered a financial blessing that my mother
sewed. She was always wonderful about using
her trusty Singer to whiz out dresses just like
Suzy’s, formals for the junior banquet, and
mouse costumes for the Christmas skit. She
dressed us all with a new Easter dress every
year, majorette and cheerleader uniforms, and
play clothes that would go through all three
sisters with no sweat.
Though her skill was more of an art, it was
hard for me to appreciate her work at the age of
eight. All I could worry about was why I
couldn’t buy my clothes at J.C. Penney like all
the other girls in the second grade. It was a real
treat when I got a “ready-made” dress, and I
remember wanting to leave the tag on so every
one would know that this dress was store
bought. Thanks to my mother and Daddy’s
pocket knife, I was kept from entering the clas
sroom with a Sears tag dangling from my sleeve.
I learned that wearing tags on your clothes was
uncouth.
You can certainly understand my confusion,
Offhand
By Venita McCellon
aid he rece
I became an observer of fashion, atJLtiiul bac
appalled at the number of uncouth peoj He uses r
ing around with tags all over their do lain tings, am
It was a fad that had slipped bymySjre and t<
and all of my hometown. At New Diai® am an E
School, the closest we came to designtlf t0 ac h
the little orange trademark t3»» ure ’ " e Si
then, when I came to Texas A&M University
and entered the region of designer labels.
The first labels I came to recognize were
those that were noted by an animal somewhere
on the garment. I first thought these must be
some new adult line of Garanimals, the chil
dren’s line of clothing that helps them learn to
be color coordinated by matching hippopota
mus pants with a hippopotamus shirt and hip
popotamus socks. I was sure that if the fashion
conscious wore alligator shirts, they must also
wear alligator pants to keep from accidentally
matching green plaids with blue polka-dots.
Naturally, when I saw a girl on the street with
an alligator shirt and swan jeans, I began to
investigate.
was tne little orange ... mv.... f
Levis. Alas, I was missing my chanceJj
stige and clout. » c ts, altb
Further investigation, though, sooi )U 5idi nRS ant
that any benefits I reaped from wearinMly Jove to
ner labels would be well-earned. SoirtBs, and ot
couldn’t bring myself to pay a wed tejsaid.
have Calvin Klein plastered across m\:|§bouIders:
And it isn’t just the money. I still cat!® 35
that simple rule I learned in second grw intei T stei
just isn’t nice to flaunt your brand ofciB’ should
But, since I now sew most of myowTiB ors to j_j 0
on my own trusty Singer, it may becoii J thinks Te
sary, just to keep up, you understand diool for thi
my own labels made. But, my label I Shoulders
unique, and though it may not get me leads, books,
or prestige, it will read “Only Mine- * es an d som
Rise’s. ’
animals, wl
tuny of natu
(is artwork.
Serving six
ravelled to i
he world, i
Sfoes, Hawai
apan, Kore
faiwan and ot
sast Asia. He
eadir
Be
It’s your turn
By G. P
Butt;
The small ;
waiting. The a
anversations
ren were pla
ere impati
'aiting.
Suddenly c
'Wt they bad
us. A wave
Brough the cl
A it approacl
Itwasn t an i
dndows or
oungest chih
Sat this bus
mere that th
tookmobile h
Started in
unty, the 1
nents the
Different view about life as a ‘triplet’
Editor:
I am afraid I have to disagree with the overly
optimistic view that was presented in the Batta
lion concerning three-to-a-room life in Neeley-
Hobby dorms. I am a “triplet” who is not very
happy with the “temporary” situation. The
reason I am displeased is not because I am
having trouble with my roommates, although I
do know other girls who are having this prob
lem. On the contrary, the three of us get along
fine. I would like to voice some complaints,
however, that I feel were not adequately co
vered in your article.
Not enough room is probably one of our big
gest problems. We are located on the short side
of Neeley Hall. For those of you who are una
ware of it, the rooms on one side of Neeley (the
side facing Hotard) are considerably shorter
than the other side. Our room is approximately
three feet shorter than the room across the hall,
which intensifies our lack of space. Some of the
cramped situations could have been avoided if
the Housing Office had assigned girls low on the
list to move out to the longer rooms. This was
obviously not a consideration, though, since
there are at least as many, if not more, “tempor
ary” girls still living in the smaller rooms.
The fact that the rooms are specifically de
signed for two people, not three, is also creating
problems. There are only two desks in the
room, two sets of drawers, etc. No matter how
hard one attempts to be fair, it is impossible to
give each of us 2/3 of a desk. Even if we were
able to get another desk, there would not be a
nlace to put it.
Another thing which bothers me is that we
have not, as yet, gotten any real indication as to
when this “temporary” living situation will be
terminated. The Housing Office did tell us to
expect that the temporaries would be with us
the rest of the semester. But who is to say what
will happen next semester? And what guaran
tee do we have that this over-crowding will not
happen again? Admittedly everyone, even the
Housing Office, is allowed a few mistakes, even
mistakes of such great magnitude such as this.
But it seems that we are the ones having to pay
for the Housing Office’s mistake. This is one
person who is far from pleased with the triplet
situation.
Karen Huth ’82
Editor’s note: This letter was accompanied by
14 other signatures.
ranes as a n
an Public
The Bookrr
bout 3,000 bt
chools, and a
Deal kinderga
ling centers
itation area.
Although th
|rried in the
pung readers
||ge number
This is in response to the second lettemiave been ade
day s Batt. ; Jean Muetz
Doesn t mind a remit
Editor:
It disturbs me to see that someone IP’ a< j^ e ^. ^
openly foster apathy in regards to Aggifr 100 ec 10n
tion. At times, I have forgotten traditiF
have done things like walk on the M
and wear my hat in Kyle stadium. Peopl
me and tell me I am doing the wrongthil
not look on that as “playing Joe good Ag f
that as someone who cares enough abonl
A&M to remind me so that I come to4
Aggie tradition, not loathe it. Ifbeingreffl
bothers you, perhaps you should abide 1))|
tion and appreciate it for the thing
Aggies unique instead of condemning
“Good Ags” for caring about their scW
Glenn Gardn 1
By Scott McCullar
lOV HAV£ MORE Fua/ WITH
A JAV/8KE.A1AER THA/V
AA/YOVE I'VE EVER SEEAL^
The Battalion
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