Opinion
Page 2/The Battalion/Thursday, June 7, 1984
The race
continues
Yes Ronnie, there is a Santa Claus —
and he’s bringing you Christmas in
June.
What’s more, Mr. President, it was
the Democrats, not dear old Santa who
dreamed up this new idea.
That’s right, the Democratic presi
dential candidates have decided to give
the president the best gift any incum
bent could ask for — they’ve decided to
continue their bickering another
month.
The issue of the Democratic presi
dential nomination was supposed to
have been decided Tuesday night by the
final primaries of the 1984 political sea
son.
But it seems that those primaries did
nothing more than give each of the
three candidates for the nomination a
new reason to continue the quest all the
way to the San Francisco convention
next month.
Walter Mondale won two primaries
Tuesday and has gone to work courting
the uncommitted legion of delegates.
Mondale says he now has enough dele
gates to lock up the nomination on the
first ballot.
But Gary Hart, who won three prima
ries including the important California
contest, disputes that claim. Hart says
the race is just beginning and he will go
the distance.
On top of that, Jesse Jackson, backed
by strong finishes across-the-board on
the final “Super Tuesday,” is threaten
ing a floor fight at the convention and a
challenge of more than 500 Mondale
delegates.
With Hart and Jackson prepared to
fight it out with Mondale, whichever
candidate does emerge from the fray in
San Francisco will be badly bloodied and
will bear the scars of a deeply divided
party.
Meanwhile, Reagan will have another
month to travel the globe presenting a
statesmanly image as the leader of the
free world — breakfasting on crumpets
with the Queen while the Democrats eat
crow at the convention.
The Battalion Editorial Board
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Mcmlxrr of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Rclnxa Zimmermann. Editor
Bill Robinson, Editorial Page/Assistant City Editor
Shelley Hockstra. City Editor
Kathleen Hart. News Editor
Dave Scott. Sports Editor
The Battalion Staff
Assistant News Editor Dena Brown
Staff Writers Robin Black.
Kari Fluegcl. Sarah Oates.
Travis Tingle
Copy Editor Trade Holub
Photographers Peter Rocha.
Dean Saito
Letters Policy
Letter* tit the Ediutr sltnuUl ntH esccett
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the juilHtr's intent. F.ich letter must he
tigtietl ainl must include the ut/dress anti
lelrnlntne nutnltertd'the writer.
The ll.iti.tliim it ijubli.thetl Mtnuljy
thrnngh FntUt ilunng Texas A.KrM regular
tetnettert. except hir Inditl.tx anti examina~
linn petmmls. anti Tue>tla% ihrnugh Thurs-
tla* timing summer session*. Mail uihscrijM
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Our atltlres*: The liattalitm. 'Jlti Rcetl
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Letter:
Editorial Policy
The Battalion is a nttn-pndU. self-sn/t-
/mti ling net* s/ki/mt n/teraitnl as a c mnnnimis-
set sice to Texas A AM and Jlryan-Cadlege
Slat m nt.
Of union* expresset! in The llattalion are
those ol the Fahttni.d lltKirtl nr the author,
ami tht tmt netv%s.nil\ tc/tteseni the o/tm-
ion* id Texa* A AM .tthminsti attn*. Intuits
m the Hoard.d Regent*.
The llattalion al**t seise* a* a Lthtnatot v
ne** epaper lor utitlcnl* in tepmimg. eihintg
ami /ihotitgia/dts t lasses %*ithin the De/Kiil-
ment nl (atmimnnt atton*.
I ‘inicil IS ess Inlet national i* cntitletl ex-
tins,sets to I he u*e lor tepnmlnt imn ol all
lieu s ths/Kilt he* nethietl to it. Rtghis ol ,e-
piittliM lam ol all ttther mallei hetetn te-
seisetl.
Computerization of A&M
registration processes
Editor:
Bryvo to your editorial “Registration needs
help.” If there is one thing at A&M that is old, ar
chaic and a tarnish on the administration’s hopes
of becoming a “world class” university, it is the
registration system.
Arriving at A&M last August to begin my
graduate work, I was totally surprised that such a
large, not to mention wealthy, school did not
have an on-line computerized registration sys
tem. The results would be amazing.
For example, Georgia Tech (11,000 students)
instituted an on-line system two years ago. The
registration process now procedes like this: enter
the registraton building, check the hourly-up
dated printouts on available courses, take 3 to 5
minutes to bubble in an op-scan form, submit it
to the computer window. Within 10 minutes, out
comes your schedule and fee asssessment.
Excepting computer downtime, this whole sys
tem takes 30 to 40 minutes. Entrance to the regis
tration building is based on the percentage of
credit hours toward your degree you have, start
ing with graduate students, then seniors, juniors,
... . Registration time cardsare issued to every
student.
This is just one of many on-line computerized
registration schemes being used at universities
across the country. Is it not time Texas A&M de
cided to join the computer age!
Steven C. Bahrt
Graduate student, civil engineering
Bickering killing Democrofs
1984 presidential aspirations
By DAVID S. BRODER
Columnist for The Los Angeles Times Syndicate
BLOOMFIELD, N.J. — The Democrats have
finished the marathon of the primaries notably
more dispirited than they began them last Feb
ruary. Their hopes of defeating President Rea
gan have died the death of a thousand cuts, all of
them self-inflicted.
Rita Maguire, a shopper in this Newark sub
urb, knows exactly what has gone wrong. “If the
Democrats would only stop bickering and dump
ing garbage on each other, they might have a
chance,” she said the other day. “I’m a Democrat,
but I’ll vote for Ronald Reagan. At least he looks
and talks like you expect a President to do — not
the junk you hear coming out of the Democrats.”
Twenty weeks ago, when eight Democratic
presidential candidates gathered at Dartmouth
Gollege for the first of the televised 1984 debates,
there was no such pervasive pessimism among
their followers. But things started out badly that
day and have gone generally downhill.
On that Sunday afternoon in mid-January,
Walter Mondale out-blustered then-rival John
Glenn in a finger-pointing exchange. When
Glenn accused Mondale of talking “gobbledy-
gook,” Mondale replied that was “baloney.” Gary
Hart, then just one of the pack, warned that
“quarrels between you two are not going to en
able this party to lead and govern again.” Jesse
Jackson, then an untested political novice, chided
the front-runners, too, cautioning that “We Dem
ocrats have to conduct our affairs in a serious
vein.”
George McGovern suggested that all of Mon
dale’s rivals resist “the tendency to clobber the
front-runner,” observing that “sometimes front
runners get nominated.”
But all of that common sense and caution has
been cast away in the overlong struggle for power
that is now blessedly drawing to an end. From
Hart’s Vrdolyak ad to his New Jersey joke, from
Mondale’s “Where’s the beef?” to “I’ll pay back
the PAG money,” from Jackson’s “Hymietown”
to his snubbing of McGovern last week, all three
of the surviving Democrats have done severe
damage to their own reputations — and each oth
er’s.
The campaign is ending on a sour note, with
the candidates looking wearied, scarred and tar
nished. None of them is as formidable a political
figure as he was five months ago.
Jackson’s idealism did not prevent him from
using crude ethnic labels or welcoming the sup
port of a man who uttered threats against Jack
son’s critics. Hart’s energy and self-confidence
too often impelled him into verbal and political
indiscretions. Mondale’s professionalism did not
prepare him for, or spare him from, the rude up
set at Hart’s hands in New Hampshire. Even
when he battled back with a display of political
stubbornness and stamina, he was not able to sus
tain his own cause except by attacking Hart.
✓
In the end, Mondale has had to exhaust him
self, his staff and his financial resources in the
struggle for a prize that was supposed to fall into
his hands more than two months ago. The Demo
cratic nominating system this year was designed
to favor the front-runner and to produce an
early consensus nominee. Even in such a system,
Mondale will probably limp across the finish line
looking more like a battered survivor than a bat
tle-toughened champion.
Some Democrats reading these words will
surely object that they draw too harsh a picture of
the nomination campaign and portray too bleak
an assessment of their party’s chances of defeat
ing Reagan. Gompetition is normal and healthy,
they will maintain, and the rhetoric of the prima
ries is often forgotten when the general-election
campaign begins. Just look at the Republicans in
1980.
Look, indeed! In 1980, Ronald Reagan was up
against a field of rivals at least as tough as this
year’s Democratic entrants, and probably a good
deal tougher. Remember that it included George
Bush, who had been the party chairman and a se
nior government official; Howard Baker and
Bob Dole, two of the Senate heavyweights of the
past decade; John Anderson, who developed
such a stron personal following that he became
an independent candidate for president; and
John Gonnally, a man the Democrats once con
sidered one of their best and brightest.
Reagan so dominated this cast of non-slouches
that by the Illinois primary in mid-March his
nomination was assured. Not long thereafter, he
was left without a challenger. From New Hamp
shire onward, Reagan did two things with con
spicuous success: He displayed a personality that
disarmed his critics while continuously sharpen
ing his indictment of the failings of the party in
power.
Gan anyone seriously maintain that any of the
men now remaining in the Democratic race has
done either of those things — let alone both?
The Democrats have done one thing and one
thing alone in this excessively long and frequently
trivialized campaign: They have exposed each
other’s glaring weaknesses.
All that remains to be seen is if the Democratic
convention of theoretically free-thinking dele
gates nominates one of these demonstrably
flawed aspirants, or summons the courage to act
on its own in the party’s and country’s interest.
TF
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By ART BUCHWALD Cde'pem'l
Columnist for The Los Angeles Times Syndicate | Morenc
Everybody is in a snarling mood thesedat
Washington. The latest hassle seems to bt
television coverage in the House of Represtt
lives. A group of Republican conservativesk;
using TV as a method of attacking liberal Dt
crats when they weren’t there. While the Hi
was not in session, the conservatives appearet
the podium and launched into vitriol againsi
Lee
Un
opposition. Since House rules demandedthai: [state she
cameras stay on the speaker, the C-Span
viewer had no idea the Democrats beingattaa LU ‘‘‘V^
were absent. in.me.
This enraged Speaker Tip O’Neill,
dered the cameras to show that the Repubfc
were addressing their remarks to
House. This, in turn, enraged the consenaiji
who thought they had found a new wayolj
ting a lot of free TV time to sock it to theirlite
colleagues.
busim
spe
Since congressmen are now in show
many of them are putting TV scriptwriten
their staff.
I was in Rep. Sadness’s office during a “sk
conference” last week.
The head writer said, “Congressman, theln
think you should attack Rep. Steeple for his
on wanting to ban handguns in dement
schools.”
“Is that Steeple’s position on handguns?”
“We don’t know and neither does the f
so whatever you say Steeple stands for is*:
they will believe.”
“Suppose Steeple gets up after metodelt
himself?”
“You’re not going to attack him while Cora
is in session. You’ll do it after ‘legislative h«i
while no one is there, but the TV camerasarei
rolling.”
“Tip O’Neill is wise to us and has ordered
cameras to show an empty House while
speaking,” Sadness said.
“We think we’ve solved that problem. Foi
few bucks we persuade one of the night dealt
people to sit at a desk and scowl the wholec
you’re questioning Steeple’s patriotism
pointing your finger at the cleaner asyouaro
him of every dirty commie trick in the book.
“But how can the cleaning man be Steeple”
“You’re never going to say he is Steeple,
looking at him with contempt while you’res]
ing, viewers are just going to assume he is,
body knows what Steeple looks like exceptfu
few voters in his district.”
“What happens when I’m finished
Steeple below the belt? Does the cleaningt
come up and respond?”
“He can’t answer you if he isn’t Steeple,
be arrested for impersonating a congressm
But if he slinks out with his head bowed
broom between his legs, the TV audiencewff
lieve everything you said about Steeple was trt
The congressman said, “It’s a great idei
know a cleaning man who looks like an unsl®
Attila the Hun. He’d be perfect for the Stef
role. Suppose Tip O’Neill finds outwhatw
done and he attacks me.”
“We’re counting on it, because if tip
temper, his words can be ‘taken down’ford
ing House rules against personal attacks on®
hers,” the chief writer said. “Then we’ve
selves a real TV show.”
“Let me look at the script.”
“Be as mean as you want,” the writers
“When you finish, yield to your pal Vandeii
who will get up and congratulate youonfi
brilliant analysis of what the Democrats are'
wittingly doing to help sell out the country.”
“After Steeple, can I smear Congresse
Rigor for voting against poison gas?”
“That’s what the congressional TV came
are for.”
Slouch by Jim Earl
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