Page 2AThe Battalion/Friday, April 1, 1988
Opinion
We need to treat Jackson like a real candidal
Now that Jesse
Jackson has the
Democrats run
ning scared,
maybe the media
will take off the
kid gloves they’ve
been using on this
charismatic candi
date.
Time magazine
said Democrats
are “circling the!
wagons” after Jackson’s stunning deteat
Sue
Krenek
of Michael Dukakis in Michigan Satur
day. The 2-to-l margin in the popular
vote has brought about a sort of belated
realization that Jackson is a real candi
date and must be taken seriously.
That margin is misleading, though.
Michigan selects delegates according to
who wins congressional districts, which
means Dukakis will get almost as many
delegates as Jackson despite the lop
sided popular vote.
So the nomination is still far from
Jackson’s grasp. With the primaries pro
ducing little but delegate chaos, the con
vention is likely to come down to the
“superdelegates.” Those 645 unpledged
delegates are for the most part members
of Congress and party officials. They
are likely to swing the delegate count in
the direction of the candidate they think
has the best chance in November.
Jackson is aware that party leaders
are nervous about his showing in the
primaries and knows the superdelegates
pose a threat to his campaign. A Time
article reports he’s beginning to com
plain publicly about the party rules, es
pecially the superdelegates.
All of which may make for an inter
esting convention. But the real question
is why the Democrats are so surprised at
Jackson’s emergence. And the answer is
that the press hasn’t taken the candidate
seriously.
Like Pat Robertson, Jackson is a min
ister who has never held public office.
He’s made his shai'e of off-the-wall com
ments and had some unorthodox politi
cal connections. Members of the press
— including me — have commented on
Robertson’s wacky assertions about nu
clear weapons in Cuba, etc.
Mail Call
No place like home
EDITOR:
They’re telling us that shack is supposed to represent the poor quality of
housing in South Africa. Looks an awful lot like some of the housing here in
Bryan-College Station, don’t it?
Bobby Smith ’91
Why don’t you leave baseball alone?
EDITOR:
I’d like to know just who in the hell the corps thinks it is. I’ve been to a
good number of A&:M’s home baseball games and have never seen hide nor
hair (what little there is) of the corps, until the Oklahoma game — which just
happened to be broadcast nationally on ESPN. They should either show up
and support the team all the time or not at all; definitely not just high-profile
games.
But what really got me mad was that once the corps members finally came
to a game they seemed to decide they were in charge of what was a tradition
at the games and what wasn’t. Well, I’m sorry, but it doesn’t work like that. To
be more specific, the corps members decided to start doing yells at the game,
and almost anyone who goes to the games regularly knows this isn’t done,
and lots of people enjoy it that way. In fact, one of the things I like most about
our baseball games is that you get to sit back, relax and enjoy the game
without having to deal with obnoxiously over-spirited people. I think the
corps showed its typical bad taste and egotism by showing up at the game and
trying to make things work like they want them to work, ignoring the large
number of people who disagree with them.
Some of us like to show our support by showing up regularly at home
games and by adhering to the traditions that have slowly grown up at the
games as opposed to bringing our own traditions along with us to the few
games we attend and attempting to force them on others. The football games
belong to the corps — let the baseball games belong to the regulars.
Mike Freeman ’91
Leave your pennies, please
EDITOR:
About a week and a half before spring break, someone stole $280 worth
of medical equipment from two offices in the G. Rollie-Read complex. Some
of this equipment was ordered by Emergency Care Attendant and
Emergency Medical Technician students. University policy states that
property in an office is the teacher’s, therefore, the teacher must bear the
loss.
We all expect first-response personnel to be properly equipped for
emergencies. This theft has lengthened the equipping time and financially
hurt a teacher.
Since EMS may one day save your life or limbs, I am asking that you leave
small change in the five gallon water bottle located at the CHICKEN. The
Dixie Chicken’s contribution to this fundraiser is providing a collection point.
Please leave those pennies you do not want to carry around!
We sincerely appreciate your change! Any surplus will be used to
repair/replace teaching aids for the first aid classes.
The HEED 217 class, spring ’88
David Opiela ’88
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters
for style and length, but will make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must be signed and
must include the classification, address and telephone number of the xoriter.
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Dress Association
Southwest Vandalism Confidence
The Battalion Editorial Bored
Sue Krenek, Editor
Daniel A. LaBry, Managing Editor
Mark Nair. Opinion Page Editor
Amy Couvilloit, City Editor
Rcbbyn L. Lister and
Becky Weisenfels,
News Editors
Loyd Brumfield. Sports Editor
Jay Janner, Photo Editor
Jackson, though, hasn’t come under
similar scrutiny. One reason is that, like
Robertson, he hasn’t been taken se
riously. The press tended to ignore
Robertson’s odd comments until his sur
prisingly good showing in Iowa. Held to
the same standards of accountability as
other candidates, he has floundered.
So why has Jackson escaped scrutiny?
In large part, it’s because of the color of
his skin. Reporters have hesitated to ask
challenging questions, fearing they’ll be
accused of racism. Candidates who felt a
black man had no chance of winning the
nomination didn’t seriously attack Jack-
son’s views. Now that timidity is coming
back to haunt them.
Newsweek columnist Meg Greenfield
calls this politeness an insidious form of
racism, and she is right:
“ . . . this well-mannered and impene
trable indifference isolating the black
from all others strikes me as simply a
new form of segregation. . . . Fellow
Democrats, who do each other the cour
tesy of combat, just smile condescen
dingly at Jackson, unwilling to argue
with him in public.”
Greenfield goes on to say that candi
dates have been afraid that questions
about Jackson’s platform would be con
strued as racist attacks. “Too many of
Jackson’s colleagues,” she says, “have
worried about his race and not his plat
form. I think they have got it absolutely
backward.”
Have they ever. In their scramble to
avoid racism, reporters have allowed
Jackson to get by with things that would
have ended other campaigns.
Whether or not you think the “moral
ity issue” is a valid one, it brought down
the campaigns of Cary Hart and Joe Bi-
den. Hart was plagued by rumors of
womanizing, as is Jackson. Hart is out of
the race. Biden dropped out in part be
cause of a flirtation with plagiarism 20
years ago. But Jackson’s one-time asso
ciation with Louis Farrakhan gets little
mention.
Public officials too numerous to men
tion have been brought down by crude
remarks. Who can forget that it was
James Watt’s description of the mem
bers of a committee that led to his resig
nation as Secretary of the Interior? And
what of Earl Butz, whose off-colonj
led to his resignation?
Jackson has hardly showed morel
sitivity. But despite his referringtojl
as “Hymies” and New York as “Hi®
town” in 1984, his campaign is
strong. Democratic Rep. Marvin c
says Jac kson would be a "terribletML ” p
date because “1 le’s made anti-Se;Bren’t
remarks. He’s hugged Yasser .Vffiat attc
and Fidel Castro.” But the mediaN night, ai
. .. .• WTtip
bothered to investigate those ties. BU ^' e
like bus
This isn’t to say that randomrei
and ancient history should distp
any candidate. But if other cam
are questioned about such things,
Jackson off the hook is indeed a
verse f orm of racism.
Jackson’s past remarks and
ties should not <lis<|ualily himfroitK^j 1 *
nomination. But a press thatignortiBg U p
foibles and refuses to question te twned <
the issues does a disservice to the Bn of 1:
date and the c<mntry. b’
B°ice. 1
Sue Krenek is a senior joumalm: Jth Be
for unci editor ofThe Battalion, dglitly p
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wasn t ei
You call that a typewriter? Ha
Soon after I got
my first big-time
sports department
job, back when the
Super Bowl was
still a novel idea, I
noticed the big-
time sportswriters
all carried the
same kind of por
table typewriters.
They were
manuals made by
Lewis
Grizzard
Olivetti, and they fit neatly —for travel
purposes — into a blue leather case.
So I went out and bought myself a
new one in 1968. It served me unfai
lingly in such places as Dodger Stadium,
the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the
Press Hut at Augusta National Coif
Club, and I even carried it to the Repub
lican Convention in Detroit in 1980 long
after my sportswriting career had
ended.
My first Olivetti slowly began to fall
apart, however, and my colleagues all
suggested I begin to write on a com
puter.
I will say it again as I have said it be
fore: God never intended newspapers
to be put out be a computer, as most of
them are today. God had punished the
nation’s newspapers for this transgres
sion, by giving them a headache known
as USA Today.
Still, I had a problem replacing my
original Olivetti. Manual typewriteers
are no longer manufactured by any
company. What I finally did was ask
around and I came up with two used
Olivettis like my first one.
They served me gallantly all over the
world. I even took one to the Soviet
Union.
But one fell apart a year ago in Okla
homa City, and the other’s carriage
stuck on me as I typed in the Delta
Crown Room in New Orleans. It has yet
to move again.
“Get the computer,” everybody said
to me again. “You can’t live in the past
forever.”
I’ve accepted that now. One occasion
ally needs to update. I have even
stopped wearing Old Spice aftershave
for the exotic aroma of Bayou Wind or
some such thing.
The day of the portable manual type
writer — the Olivetti, hallowed be its
name — is over.
“So you’ll get a computer to take on
the road?” I was asked.
“No,” I answered. “I will buy a porta
ble electric typewiter, my compromise
with the information age.”
I have never liked electric typewrit
ers. They make that deep humming
noise like a 1962 Impala on idle.
And in order to operate an(
typewriter, one must have am
outlet.
I once had to type a columno
tailgate of a pickup truck thathai!|
ken down carrying me outoftheif
ness of Idaho. Where would
plugged in my electric? In there
of a longhorned sheep, the sut
my column?
Something else about electric
writers is that they type faster!
think. Try to type an “L”onanelf]
typewriter and no matter howl
you peck the key you’re going!
“LITE” every time.
But, as I said, I have decidedc
promise. I have purchased a
electric typewriter to replace mv’
Olivetti manuals.
Upon the occasion of my netf]
assignment, I will becomingl
Smith-Corona, which has sontfj
called a “Coronamatic Cartrid
rection System” — whatever thaij
While I am home, however,
continue to use what I am using®
vintage desktop manual Royal, i
and a loyal tool, the kind Bogiepr®
used in “Deadline USA,” v
tered those immortal words, “M
sucks.”
Copyright 1987, Cowles Syndicate
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resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, fac
ulty or the Board of Regents.
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BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breatjj
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