Tuesday, October 23, 10,34
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fTpl he show goes on.
J At the end of
J debate, the experts were at it again.
Debate coaehe3, forensics experts and
politicos came to the consensus that
President Reagan looked and sounded
much better in the second debatc.and
they agreed that because Mondale did
not win decisively, he lost the election.
Mondale has been behind in the polls
"couple of times. Moadab handled the Mondale would nave Deen ku sunu.
Sunday night's facts, but came off a little stufiy and slow. z,ixw leagues uner uie
In politics, style counts over substance.
Reagan was his old self-assured, confi
dent self. He effectively rebutted a ques
tion about his age by saying "I am not
going to exploit for political purposes my
opponent's youth and inexperience."
Reagan's most devastating blow came
for cuite some time. His strong showing in when he ridiculed a Mondale ad in which
the first debate trimmed a few points off he is shown admiring the take-off of
Reagan's big lead in the polls. And some F-l 5s on the aircraft carrier Nimitz.
although most experts said Mondale won Reagan pointed out that if Mondale's
the debate in substance, they said Reagan votes in the Senate would have been in
won in style. In other word3, Reagan was the majority, the F-l 5 never would have
funny, witty and "burned" Mondale a been built and neither would the Nimitz.
Mondale left himself open to that kind
of attack when he decided to try outright-winging
an old right winger. Mon
dale ads for a stronger defense will alie
nate many of his dovish supporters.
In the debate, Mondale made efforts to
flank" Reagan's conservatism, as ABC
analyst George Will put it.
Mondale probably hoped his conserva
tive rhetoric would sway the moderate
swing"Democrats and those who believe
he is a wimp. That he believed sounding
conservative would" help hi3 cause i3
reasonable. But liberal voters won't like it.
Mondale did make some valid points
about faults in Reagan's foreign policy. He
pointed out Reagan's foolish policy in
Lebanon. He pointed out Reagan's failure
to make any progress with the Soviets in
the area of arms talks.
Mondale came away the winner in facts
and figures, and logic. But he looked bad.
The bags under his eyes made him look
old and tired. His whiny voice irritated
listeners.
Reagan's eye gleamed. He spoke of the
sparkling ocean and the shining moun
tains...and of a vision of America in one
hundred years. That gleaming eye and
dreamy voice will win him the election.
Facts couldn't have.
Pol
tca
IJOCI
cjargon
strikes out in
sport began the first time a cam
paign was described as a race
and the candidate as a winner.
SO!
Ellen
t did not start with the Gip- tographed with boxing gloves, and
per. The description of poli- was recorded jock-ularly s peak
tics as the great American ing his locker room language.
The party regulars in the Demo
cratic and Republican dugouts,
as they were called, sound like
refugees from Wide World of
Sports. One Democrat said, "I
think Mondale won everything
from the coin toss to the helmet
slapping." A Republican re
sponded: "Mondale should have
gone for a touchdown pass, but
he ran right up the middle into
some of the best strength of the
Republican Party." At the White
House, we heard of the "Monday
morning quarterbacking" of the
people who had "coached" the
Good
But this year, the sports meta
phors have nearly crowded out
the political dialogue.
In two days on the campaign
trail, I heard the Mondale-Ferraro
ticket compared to every cham
pionship team that ever came
from behind. They were like a
basketball team in North Caro
lina, a football team in Tennessee,
and the Cubs in Illinois. (Thi3 was
before the Great Disappoint
ment,) That was nothing compared to
what has been going on since the
debates. The early metaphor
makers turned to the ring for
inspiration. First, Ferraro intro
duced "at a feisty 1 70 pounds, the
new heavyweight deb&tor of the
world, fighting Fritz Mondale."
Six days later, Mondale returned
the phrase, calling her "the figh
ter from Philly."
Dresident.
The media metaphor-m akers been subject to this plague of vince voters that Ferraro is one of The athletic mode of political
were playing in the same ball sports metaphors this year, the boys or that Reagan still has speech grates on me as I am
game, or running the same horse Robert Squiers, a Democratic the old one-two. The not-too- unwillingly put in my place. Asa
race if you prefer. The all-male media consultant, is convinced subliminal message is that polit- voter, I am forced to sit in a
stuff of television political com- that the politicians are making a ics is just another game men play, grandstand seat here at the top
mentators there are more serious play, you might say, for In the vice-presidential debate, of the ninth, waiting to see if the
certain voters. In the past, he for example, we saw George Bush challenger can score another
says, Democrats have tended to oozing testosterone firom every clean punch, get a touchdown
use sports metaphors while Re- pore. He even passed up his pass over the head of the cham-
publicans used war metaphors, chance to ask Ferraro a question, pion, and sprint into the home-
"The fact that they are going after saying "I have none Td like to ask stretch.
our voters is best demonstrated of her, but Fd sure like to use the At the risk of seeming a spoils-
women in the Reagan Cabinet
than women commentators on
the networks didn't do analy
sis, they did play-by-play.
No less devout a wordsmith
than New York Timesman Wil
liam Safire fell to mixing his met
aphors. In a single colum
gan was "an old fighter
ropes wno naa been freezing
the ball" and "alHicted with the
Hi EspuMiCfiES have been arrogance of front-running," while
even more obsessed with fans. Mondale was "Silly Sullivan, the
y.icr 3 well, Bush's ex- Derby, or the Heavyweight Cham
arsation of his "kick-ass" coin- pionship of the World. We are vot-
to mala voters. Women do not
speak the language of sports as piis
fluently m men. They do not drop ment; an old Texas football ex-. fcgibr President of the United
After the first debate, Ronald
Reagan challenged his younger
opponent to arm-wrestling. After
the second, George Bush was pho-
back and -cunt, take a seventh- pression. When Ferraro's cam-
late starting horse who had inning stretch or come out swing- paign mansgsf, John Sasso bna-
"touched all the bases." You get ing in their day-to-day lives. Th tied, Bush's spokesman naa-nased
the idea. sports metaphor is a macho met- back, Sasso probably never
I dsn't know why we have aphor whether it is used to con- played sports." Jchn-ny a a sb-sy.
States. How about that, sports
fans?
Thm Easts CFst K5-ppsr
Cmpy?ss&!;to Pest Writtr
txt t? Oaily ti
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Nuclear war threat leads to suicidal message
I am a ntem&er of the Brown University group, "Stu
dents for Suicide Tablets." Much of the publicity has
distorted our messa&j, by emphasising the word, sui
cide." For example, a New York Tinies headline read, .
"Students to Vote on Suicide." It is important that our
ideas be understood.
Our referendum, which passed by a 60 percent major
ity, but is not binding on the university, requests that
"suicid-s tablets be stocked st Browns Health Services,
for optional student use, in the event of a nuclear war
This is not a suicidal cr defeatist approach to the threat
of n uclear war. It is aimed at disspeHng the notion that
we could survrvs such a holocaust- Suicide pills negate
civil defense. In a nuclear war, there is -no defsnsz
(unless, perhaps, yea are a gsneral or a president, with,
access to deep underground shelters). Hoping for survi- '
vsl is dzsgarous, beccasa it makes the idea of nuclssx
wax more accepts!, and thus incresses the chances
Elsny Drown students voted for the referendum to
- express their fsx and despsir, in a purely Sj,-
becsuss th-cyccnrldcr the thrcst cfnudssr wnravery
red cri3.Trcy i t.MJ?3cfvei." 3Ll2rr2,LfyQis
a. ere cng a pe.wl c lii ircrvi r i.-.e.-
. Rtss? It-would be more akin to euthanssia. Would it be
dangsroas to stockpSe poison on a ccHegs campus?
VIe the chemistry building at Brown is already chock
full of deadly substances, including cyanide, that could
be used by some unbalanced person to hara himself or
others. Suicide pills could be secured in a vault, and
t a a
wpuia pose no danger. LTystccspUingreal pis,wewouia
emphasize that nuclear war is a real threat. The missiles
sure
are red,
Is stockpiling suicid pills tantamount to accepting
nuclear war? Hardly, who wants to kill themselves?
Most of us dent By equating nuclear war with suicide,
we are urging people to step it from happening. What
can be done? Well, a mutual, verifiable freeze on the
production of nuclear weapons would be a start
President Reagan's strategy of "negotiation from
strength" has accomplished nothing. If we increase our
stockpils of nuclear weapons, why would the Soviet
Union want to decrease theirs? Reagan claims that he
has brought America back from a pesltien cfwsalcness
to one cfstrcngth. This is misleading. The United States
hes never been strategical wcairr than the Soviet
Union. Ve have been at parity with each other since the
'CCks. when v ! vihtt TJea-
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