For the Record

■ Moderation’s the name of the game right now at the Democratic presidential starting gate. Zbigniew Brzezinski says his candidates for ’84 would be John Glenn and—among Republicans —Howard Baker, because he believes only a moderate can bring about a bipartisan foreign policy. That excludes Walter Mondale, inferentially. . . . Godfrey Sperling of Christian Science Monitor agrees that Glenn is a moderate, characterizing him as “pro-defense, anti-freeze,” and warns that lots of liberal Democrats will try to tar him as “dull, boring”—a charge that was shot out of the air by Glenn’s performance as chief speaker at Gridiron dinner in Washington last week, a series of well- delivered one-liners that had his audience rocking in their chairs, “first-rate stuff, very impressive” reports NR’s Cato. On the other hand, Glenn’s 1981 ACU rating doesn’t look all that good —he got only a 7 per cent approval rating, and he’s in serious danger of being endorsed by George Wallace, says U.S. News. . . . Fritz Mondale continues to be target of one-liners. A frisky Sen. Ernest Hollings—also going for the big one—told press recently that “I could carry Fritz Mondale [as a vice presidential running-mate] but I don’t know if Fritz could carry me.” . . . And then there’s Sen. Eugene McCarthy’s devastating putdown in 1976: “Fritz [Mondale] has the soul of a Vice President.” . . . George Will has his doubts about the “moderate” Sen. Dale Bumpers— there’s a boomlet for Bumpers among certain Democratic pros. Writes Will: “I have seen tangled arguments for cutting the defense budget, but some of Bumpers’s arguments look like linguine.” . . . On the Left, the radical Guardian dismisses the Democratic field, kit and caboodle: “From Askew to Mondale,” it editorializes, “they’re all pro-defense.”

■ The straws have been in the wind; last week’s presidential press conference stopped just short of actually saying it: Reagan will be the GOP candidate in ’84. . . . Kevin Phillips sees an ominous development. In recent polls, he says, Reagan continues to be seen as enemy not only of the poor, but also for first time of the middle class, despite economic upturn. Evidence: a Gallup/ Newsweek sounding showing 60 per cent of Americans think Administration policies have hurt middle-income people, while—very interesting—only 45 per cent think they have hurt blacks.

Featured Tags

Manage following

Democrats

Republicans

■ Moderation’s the name of the game right now at the Democratic presidential starting gate. Zbigniew Brzezinski says his candidates for ’84 would be John Glenn and—among Republicans —Howard Baker, because he believes only a moderate can bring about a bipartisan foreign policy. That excludes Walter Mondale, inferentially. . . . Godfrey Sperling of Christian Science Monitor agrees that Glenn is a moderate, characterizing him as “pro-defense, anti-freeze,” and warns that lots of liberal Democrats will try to tar him as “dull, boring”—a charge that was shot out of the air by Glenn’s performance as chief speaker at Gridiron dinner in Washington last week, a series of well- delivered one-liners that had his audience rocking in their chairs, “first-rate stuff, very impressive” reports NR’s Cato. On the other hand, Glenn’s 1981 ACU rating doesn’t look all that good —he got only a 7 per cent approval rating, and he’s in serious danger of being endorsed by George Wallace, says U.S. News. . . . Fritz Mondale continues to be target of one-liners. A frisky Sen. Ernest Hollings—also going for the big one—told press recently that “I could carry Fritz Mondale [as a vice presidential running-mate] but I don’t know if Fritz could carry me.” . . . And then there’s Sen. Eugene McCarthy’s devastating putdown in 1976: “Fritz [Mondale] has the soul of a Vice President.” . . . George Will has his doubts about the “moderate” Sen. Dale Bumpers— there’s a boomlet for Bumpers among certain Democratic pros. Writes Will: “I have seen tangled arguments for cutting the defense budget, but some of Bumpers’s arguments look like linguine.” . . . On the Left, the radical Guardian dismisses the Democratic field, kit and caboodle: “From Askew to Mondale,” it editorializes, “they’re all pro-defense.”

■ The straws have been in the wind; last week’s presidential press conference stopped just short of actually saying it: Reagan will be the GOP candidate in ’84. . . . Kevin Phillips sees an ominous development. In recent polls, he says, Reagan continues to be seen as enemy not only of the poor, but also for first time of the middle class, despite economic upturn. Evidence: a Gallup/ Newsweek sounding showing 60 per cent of Americans think Administration policies have hurt middle-income people, while—very interesting—only 45 per cent think they have hurt blacks.