Ohnion
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
J. Christopher Haiti..Editor, 472-1766
Doug Kouma.Managing Editor
Doug Peters... ....Opinion Page Editor
Sarah Scalet. ....Associate News Editor
Matt Waite...Associate News Editor
Michelle Garner.. Wire Editor »
Jennifer Mapes.,y..Columnist
Primary concern
Arizona voters give race new pace
And out of chaos came order.
After the biggest single day so far in the 1996 presidential cam
paign Tuesday, the race for the Republican nomination appears to
be taking shape.
The 1996 presidential campaign has now seen three solid candi
dates emerge. Senate majority leader Bob Dole picked up needed
victories in North Dakota and South Dakota. Pat Buchanan, who
scored an upset victory in New Hampshire, failed to win another
race but picked up some delagates in the Dakotas. Meanwhile, Steve
Forbes, who was left for dead after finishing far back in Iowa and
New Hampshire, scored the biggest single victory so far by taking
the winner-takc-all Arizona primary and its 39 delegates.
Gramm is gone. Soon to follow will be Bob Doman, Alan Keyes,
Dick Lugar and Morry Taylor, who have all finished far back in the
contests so far. Lamar Alexander, who got a boost from strong third
place finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire, still has not won any
state and seems to be fading fast.
The largest question ringing in the minds of political pundits af
ter Tuesday’s primaries is who among Dole, Forbes and Buchanan
is the frontrunner?
It seems as though the Buchanan bashing since the columnist
and spcechwriter won New Hampshire has helped resurrect the Dole
and Forbes campaigns. The Buchanan campaign is on the losing
side of a noticeable shift in momentum — he and his extremist
views arc likely to continue to fade. However, the issues he has
raised may continue to shape the campaign on into November.
That leaves Dole and Forbes — two well-financed candidates.
Dole has his intricate nationwide political organization. Forbes has
his personal fortune and the flat tax. Dole is the experienced Wash
ington politician. Forbes is the anti-establishment outsider.
The two men have positioned themselves well. Where things will
go from here is anyone’s guess. Both men have a mainstream ap
peal that will win diem votes across the nation.
The deciding factor will be whether the wins in the Dakotas will
invigorate Dole, who has looked tired, even exhausted, at times
during this campaign. If Dole can run an energetic campaign, he
may be able to hold off Forbes.
If not, the “outsider” may just find himself an “in.”
Staff editorials represent die official
policy of the Fall 1995 Daily Nebras
kan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebras
kan Editorial Board. Editorials do not
necessarily reflect die views of the
university, its employees, the students
or die NU Board of Regents. Editorial
columns represent the opinion of the
author. The regents publish die Daily
Nebraskan. They establish die UNL
Publications Board to supervise die
daily production of the paper. Accord
ing to policy set by the regents, respon
sibility for die editorial content of die
newspaper lies solely in the hands of its
students.
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the
editor from all readera and interested others. Letters
will be selected for publication on the basis of clarity,
originality, timeliness and space available. The Duly
Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject all material
submitted. Readers also are welcome to submit mate
rial as guest opinions. The editor decides whether
material should nm as a guest opinion. Letters and
guest opinions sent to the newspaper become the
property of the Deify Nebraskan and cannot be re
turned. Anonymous submissions will not be pub
lished. Letters should include the author’s name, year
in school, major and group affiliation, if any. Re
quests to withhold names will not be granted. Submit
material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union,
1400 R St Lincoln, Neb. 685884)448.
ONE TWO HOT
COVERED EY THE
OSim EMBARGO
‘Geezers’ stay
' active
Now wait jusl a gosh-dum
minute, Brian Priesman! Do I detect
geezerAliscrimination in your latest
review, no one wants to see old
people kissing...”?
Since when did you young pups
get a monopoly on displays of
affection, in movies or real life,
anyway? Keep in mind that there is
love and affection and even sex after
35. And after 45,55, 65, etc.
Besides the scene could not have
been any more repulsive than some
of the scenes depicting the amateur
gropings and carrying on by you
young unskilled folks. You’d better
watch the pros—you might leam
something.
On behalf of geezers everywhere
Jerry Frobom
University Libraries
via e-mail
Truth hurts
Veera Supinen's columns have
provoked a somewhat defensive
reaction from two ironically optimis
tic scientists (Feb. 23).
I empathize with Julie Paschold’s
view that Europe is not perfect, just
as the U.S. isn't perfect, but Ms.
Supinen is not a “foreigner” to
Europe, nor is she living there. I am
glad she has the valuable opportu
nity to hold a mirror up to Nebraska,
to comment cm whatever flaws she
might see. If Ms. Pascbold were in
Ms. Supinen's native country and
had a similar opportunity, I hope she
would do the same.
Professor Ilya Fabrikant raises a
true point about the tolerance of
America to dissident or foreign
opinions. People of our country are
fairly tolerant, in that we do not
often resort to violence to quiet the
throats of dissenters. I think the
voices of immigrants such as Prof.
jr s7~u.u %
G~#t~ jzrrO
jtmrt J
Bret Gottschall/DN
Fabrikant are, more than anything
else, responsible for such tolerance
in our country.
Veera Supinen raises some
important questions about the
character of American civilization.
For instance, America’s death
penalty is evidence of some power
ful contradictions about the value of
human life in our nation, and Ms.
Supinen is not the first to wonder
how civilized a country really is if its
response to crime is to murder the
criminal.
As the most powerful nation on
the planet, the United States must
realize that the world holds us to a
high standard, and when we falter,
the world is rightfully quick to
judge. We falter much too often to
retain a uniformly rosy picture of
ourselves.
We must acknowledge rather than
avoid our responsibility for the
negative, if we plan to first “concen
trate on the positive.”
I want to thank Veera Supinen for
her thoughtful, well-written columns.
She deserves our respect, our
attention and, if necessary, our
tolerance.
Scott Wesely
alumnus, class of 1990
Lincoln
Column unfair
to candidates
In regard to Jennifer Mapes’
column “Primary Peeves” (Feb. 26):
Please offer me real evidence, i,f
you are going to say there is a weak
selection of GOP candidates running
in the primaries. Your statements are
illogical, “dime a dozen,” and
stereotypically degrading, serving no
purpose. You sum up candidates by
saying Bob Dole is dumb because he
seeks the presidency and needs to
seek the Wizard to give him a brain;
Steve Forbes could be an alien;
Lamar and Honey Alexander have
, funny names; and Pat Buchanan is
the head of the party for racists.
Your use of humor and ignorance of
the candidates divert attention from
your main argument.
If you actually knew they were
weak, you would tell me why instead
of just boring me with mindless
name-calling. You say of people
running for the presidency, “I’m
deeply suspicious of anyone dumb
enough to want the job in the first
place. The hours are terrible, and no
matter what you do, millions of
people will be furious with you.”
First of all, what is to be suspicious
about someone who is not intelli
gent? Second, is anyone who runs
for the job really dumb? Some
people find satisfaction in working
hard, and the millions of people they
help overshadow the ones who are
“furious.” George Washington and
Abraham Lincoln were dumb? This
is a new argument. These men held
together the nation in times of crisis
and triumphed over adversity and
cynical people who lacked wisdom
to see at the level of great men.
Bill Armstrong
junior
agribusiness
Send your brief letters to:
Daily Nebraskan, 34
77/0 IMlim Nebraska Union, 1400 R St.,
■■■■El Lincoln, Neb. 68588, or Fax
“XT'! i to (402)472-1761, or email
I XI r\”tf*d C l^d id betters @ unlinfo.unl.edu.>
X d Ml dOJV^lll Letters must be signed and
l include a phone number for
y verification.
