For the Record

It was a hard, hard fortnight for Hill interrogators. As Admiral John Poindexter stepped down, Select Committee chairman Daniel Inouye confessed to doubts that the committee’s report will include any critical assessment of the President. “We may say he might have been more prudent, but I don’t think we will say he was guilty of malfeasance or nonfeasance.” . . . To Washington Post columnist Haynes Johnson “it seems almost certain now that there will be no impeachment.” . . . Mary McGrory was undone: “Support for the Contras has jumped twenty points in the polls. For five years, the public has opposed military aid, but in six days, Ollie, of the moist eyes and cracked voice, converted millions.” . . . Right on. A post-Ollie Washington Post/ABC News poll showed 43 per cent of Americans favoring Contra aid, 46 per cent against, narrowing the spread to three points. Before North’s testimony there had been a 38-point spread, with 67 per cent opposing Contra aid and only 29 per cent favoring it. . . . Norman Lear watched entranced: “TV eats up moist-eyed people. . . . At the moment it’s eating up Ollie North. TV loves moist. The camera loves moist.” . . . Former Contra leader Arturo Cruz loved it: “I think he’s the best thing that has happened for the Contra movement.” . . . “Oliver North may singlehandedly rescue the Reagan Presidency,” chortled New Right leader Richard Viguerie. . . . As for North himself, U.S. News reports his name recognition is up there with George Shultz’s and Chief Justice Rehnquist’s, and his approval rating (at 43 per cent) is higher than that of any Democratic presidential candidate. . . . Assistant to the President for Policy Development Gary Bauer was moved to send $300 to the Oliver North Legal Assistance Fund. . . . To cap disastrous period for Contra bounty-hunters, Rep. Charles Rangel (D., N.Y.), chairman of House Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control, reports that “none of the witnesses” in hearings on possible Contra involvement in drug smuggling “gave any evidence that would show the Contra leadership was involved . . .” Committee member Rep. William Hughes (D., N.J.) said witnesses repeated tired old allegations heard for months. “They’re just allegations.”

“It’s most realistic, sir—it’s very expensive and it doesn’t work.”

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It was a hard, hard fortnight for Hill interrogators. As Admiral John Poindexter stepped down, Select Committee chairman Daniel Inouye confessed to doubts that the committee’s report will include any critical assessment of the President. “We may say he might have been more prudent, but I don’t think we will say he was guilty of malfeasance or nonfeasance.” . . . To Washington Post columnist Haynes Johnson “it seems almost certain now that there will be no impeachment.” . . . Mary McGrory was undone: “Support for the Contras has jumped twenty points in the polls. For five years, the public has opposed military aid, but in six days, Ollie, of the moist eyes and cracked voice, converted millions.” . . . Right on. A post-Ollie Washington Post/ABC News poll showed 43 per cent of Americans favoring Contra aid, 46 per cent against, narrowing the spread to three points. Before North’s testimony there had been a 38-point spread, with 67 per cent opposing Contra aid and only 29 per cent favoring it. . . . Norman Lear watched entranced: “TV eats up moist-eyed people. . . . At the moment it’s eating up Ollie North. TV loves moist. The camera loves moist.” . . . Former Contra leader Arturo Cruz loved it: “I think he’s the best thing that has happened for the Contra movement.” . . . “Oliver North may singlehandedly rescue the Reagan Presidency,” chortled New Right leader Richard Viguerie. . . . As for North himself, U.S. News reports his name recognition is up there with George Shultz’s and Chief Justice Rehnquist’s, and his approval rating (at 43 per cent) is higher than that of any Democratic presidential candidate. . . . Assistant to the President for Policy Development Gary Bauer was moved to send $300 to the Oliver North Legal Assistance Fund. . . . To cap disastrous period for Contra bounty-hunters, Rep. Charles Rangel (D., N.Y.), chairman of House Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control, reports that “none of the witnesses” in hearings on possible Contra involvement in drug smuggling “gave any evidence that would show the Contra leadership was involved . . .” Committee member Rep. William Hughes (D., N.J.) said witnesses repeated tired old allegations heard for months. “They’re just allegations.”

“It’s most realistic, sir—it’s very expensive and it doesn’t work.”