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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 15, 1980)
Viewpoint The Battalion Wednesday Texas A&M University October 15, 1980 The MSC 1 lirman, th< ; i v 980-81 5 MMUM T#V* Reagan showing signs reminiscen t ofNixon By HELEN THOMAS United Press International WASHINGTON — President Carter’s strategists say that Ronald Reagan is “avoiding the issues” in the campaign. And it appears that a face-to-face debate between the two is not in the cards. Carter had counted on debating with Reagan on television, hoping to show the differences in political philosophy before millions. Now he is finding that it is difficult to fault Reagan without being accused of unfair tactics, and Reagan has adopted a “more in sorrow than in anger” atti tude toward Carter’s attacks. Campaign manager Robert Strauss says the press is letting Reagan “get away with murder” and not cross examining him, especially when he speaks of returning to the military “superior ity,” a policy dropped at the start of the Nixon era. Both candidates are being packaged and programmed. But after the foot-in-the-mouth gaffes at the start of his campaign, Reagan, is sticking to his “cue cards,” according to Strauss. Obviously, Reagan’s strategists feel if they can keep him in line for the next few weeks, they will be home free. The strategy is very reminiscent of Richard Nixon’s 1968 and 1972 election campaigns when he laid low, avoided reporters’ questions and had enormous amounts of money to spend. In those days, Nixon forces also made sure that the reporters were comfortable, well-fed and told little. In fact, Reagan may be learning from the master. His press secretary Lyn Nofziger told reporters that Nixon is sending “memos” on tactics to the Republican nominee. Aides say the president, whose ratings in the polls have been on a roller coaster since he took office, feels sincerely that the Reagan policies are fraught with “danger” for the country. But, Strauss has said, “maybe he doesn’t express himself clearly.” There is no question that Reagan is a com municator and a smooth speaker on the stump. He keeps his audiences with him as anyone would who has mastered the podium for more than 30 years. On the other side of the coin. Carter has not had a firm grip on the economy and it falters now between recovery and recession, hardly a happy thought for a politician seeking re- election. And then there is the one-year anniversary of the capture of the American hostages in Iran, which falls on election day. Reagan keeps saying that Carter will pull an “October sur prise” like a rabbit out of the hat and suddenly, presto, the hostages will be home in time for the president to win re-election. The likelihood of their early return now seems far fetched with the war in the Persian Gulf unabated. And so far, no one is ready to say “peace is at hand” as Henry Kissinger did in Nixon’s 1972 campaign. Warped Carter’s campaign comparing Reagan with 1967 Goldwater file MSC ( y Milton fc “Thi- respi id. “Seven ten their n Sara Morse os, has bee By ARNOLD SAWISLAK United Press International WASHINGTON — It now seems clear that Jimmy Carter was trying to do to Ronald Reagan what Lyndon Johnson did to Barry Goldwater. It remains to be seen whether he will give up the attempt as a bad idea. Those who remember the 1964 presidential campaign may recall the most striking example of the hatchet job the Johnson campaign did on Goldwater — the television commercial with the pretty little girl picking a daisy followed by a nuclear blast. The purpose was to suggest that Goldwater would start a holocaust and it worked. The Johnson campaign succeeded in making Gold- water seem to be a trigger-happy hawk and the president was re-elected in a landslide. Then Johnson went on to build up the U.S. commit ment in Viet Nam to half a million men, which resulted in more than 50,000 American deaths. Through last week. Carter repeatedly tried to plant the impression that Reagan would be too quick to shoot in the event of international trouble. He has said several times in different ways that the question of peace or war is riding on the 1980 election, and several of his commercials have had others directly questioning Reagan’s ability to keep cool in times of stress. The Democrats have compiled a long list of Reagan quotations about what should have been done in various international situations in the past to back up their claim that he might be trigger-happy. They consider their approach perfectly prop er and their ads may continue to use it even if Carter, as he told Barbara Walters, decides to take the high or “presidential” road in his own speeches. His jabs at Reagan in the first half of the campaign raised charges of “mean” and “dirty” campaigning against Carter, not only from the Republicans but from much of the news media, which expected the Democrats to try to recre ate the 1964 campaign. Interestingly enough, the first indications were that Carter apparently was not being hurt too badly by the criticism of his campaign. The CBS-New York Times poll released late in September showed 58 percent of the people did not think the campaign had been dirty, and of those who believed it was, exactly the same percentage put the onus on Reagan as Carter. Further, 42 percent of the people in thei pie said Reagan had been making “uS charges” against his opponents as company 36 percent for Carter. , ] The attack on Reagan on the war issue is particularly inviting to the Carter:^ g oarc j paign because this is one area where c jj airnian president’s record actually gives him ^Governing vantage. Hrversitie Even the Iran hostage situation, doesn’t seem like much of an asset to the. ( dent at this point, can be said to demon* ^ term that he is not one to move rashly in ce-merls- v j ce international situations. Effing Boe Reagan has no foreign policy record,® o the Democrats can seize on his statemolBy. seni<>1 . the past — such as blockading Cubatoinj^T^^, the Iranians to free the hostages — to 0 f t h’ e that he would be a disaster or bring one search Ce For the most part, Reagan’s response been to accuse Carter of underhanded: McClun paign tactics. That may not seem vei)!® 35 A&1 lying, but neither is the alternative, *^ mina tU] would be to attempt to describe whathe*^ year t( do as president in the case of hypotM^^gj. 0 j He needs no introduction. Whether through his movies or the fact that he has been on the banquet circuit and on radio since the ’60s, Reagan is a household name. As president. Carter is accountable for the state of the nation, domestically and in foreign policy. In many ways, he will be getting his report card on Nov. 4. Not one to admit a mistake. Carter feels he has accomplishments he can boast about, in cluding the nation’s first energy policy that already has achieved a 20 percent drop in im ported oil. He laid the groundwork for the na tion to develop synthetic fuels to end depen dency on foreign oil, and to reap some of the revenues from the windfall profits tax. In his nearly four years in office, he has also kept the nation out of war, and he played a major role in the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. He also helped pave the way for Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) to achieve independence and rule by the black majority. And he negotiated a strategic arms limitation treaty with the Soviets although he shelved it when Russia invaded Afghanistan. He and his family have pursued ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment and he has made more appointments of women, Hispanics and blacks to high places in government and on the bench. tee by G< 1979. He v 1985. Prior to McClure assistant t Power. While a reived th( Earl Rude lent Awar he studer secretary o ic Confei Hommitte< McClun ntem in 1 ional seer lent of th America. I af the Advi aical Vocat and the I Education If ye mak The It’s your turn youi desii D( 12th Man needed leadership at Houston BE 1 local phoi Editor: Since the yell leaders take it upon them selves to lecture the student body at midnight yell practice on how we should conduct ourselves at the football games, we would like to take this opportunity to comment on Mark Outlaw’s action (or rather lack of action) at the football game against Cougar High. The Twelfth Man was ready and willing to support the team throughout the entire game, but due to a lack of leadership during the second half, we could not fully express our support. We feel that the Aggies needed as much if not more support when they were behind during the second half of the game. Apparently, Mark Out law disagrees since he could not find it in him self to start more than two yells throughout the entire second half besides the traditional yells after scoring and kickoff. We think that Mark Outlaw needs to uphold the tradition of the Twelfth Man by using a little more ingenuity in the future. After all the Twelfth Man should support the Aggie team whether it is ahead or behind. If Mark Outlaw is not capable of fulfilling his duties as head yell leader, we suggest that he resign and let a “True Ag” take the responsibility. Stacy Surles ’81 Drive champions, do hereby issue a chaEen! to the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band. We chafe We Port Tex you to give more blood than we do. E*. Blood drive challenge Editor: Aston Hall, the defending Texas A&M Blood semester, the Band attempts to match our tions, but have failed miserably in four of last five attempts. This semester we will pi once and for all that Aston is undefeatable Aston Bob Hancock ’82 Presi Editor’s note: This letter was accompanii three other signatures. By Scott McCullar The Battalion U S P S 045 360 MEMBER Texas Press Association Questions or comments concerning any editorial rM^I Southwest Journalism Congress should be directed to the editor. Editor Dillard Stone Managing Editor Rhonda Watters Asst. Managing Editor Scott Haring City Editor Becky Swanson LETTERS POLICY Asst. City Editor Angelique Copeland _ , „ , ... , . , Sports Editor Richard Oliver the E ? ,tor should not exceed 300 woM Asst. Sports Editor Ritchie Priddy andaresu % ectt0 *? n *T, / °'?S er ,™ e ”‘tfl „ c. . ta w J reserves the right to edit letters for style and length, dm ■ ocus i or . . , ‘ make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each I? 1 ,! Asst. Focus Editor a ly aa o must also be signed, show the address and phone number d I News Editors Lynn Blanco, writer. Gwen Ham, Todd Woodard Columns and guest editorials are also welcome, ajuia^^j Staff Writers Kurt Allen, Nancy Andersen subject to the same length constraints as letters. AddltH^ Marcy Boyce, Mike Burrichter, inquiries and correspondence to: Editor, The Battalion, .. Pat Davidson, Jon Heidtke, Uschi Michel-Howell, Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station 1 ■ Kathleen McElroy, Debbie Nelson, 77843. 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