For the Record

The Bork nomination set off firecrackers in major organizations Left and Right. Art Kropp, executive director of Norman Lear’s People for the American Way (PAW), says “we’re talking at least a million” bucks on the campaign to block Bork’s confirmation. “We’re talking about a heavy newspaper print-ad strategy and radio strategy.” PAW has 250,000 members. . . . Ann F. Lewis, formerly of Democratic National Committee, says the nomination has galvanized the abortion-rights movement by convincing “the American people that the right to a safe, legal abortion can be put in jeopardy by the political process.” . . . The NAACP, meeting in New York, roared its dismay at the nomination with help of every Democratic presidential candidate to appear before it. . . . When Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan said he hadn’t decided how he would vote, Democratic National Committee-woman Hazel Dukes, an NAACP member, threatened him: “I have the votes in New York to defeat him. When I get with his staff in New York we’ll get what I want. It’s strictly politics.” . . . The Right is ready to take up the challenge, says Richard Viguerie, and match liberal spending on radio, TV, and newspaper ads. Also mobilizing for the fight: NCPAC, Conservative Caucus, ACU, Coalition for America, Concerned Women for America (half a million strong). … A quicky U.S. News & World Report poll shows 49 per cent of Americans believe Senate should confirm a Supreme Court nominee even if his ideology clashes with that of some senators; 35 per cent believe the Senate should reject a nominee for ideological reasons… Sen. Paul Simon predicts Bork will lose because, he says, Republicans won’t be able to muster the sixty votes to kill an anti-Bork filibuster when the nomination gets to the floor… For the record: What certain senators were saying about Bork, the week before he was nominated: Majority Leader Robert Byrd: “I frankly think he would probably be confirmed.” Judiciary Committee member Dennis DeConcini: “I start with the assumption that the President has the right to appoint whom he wants.” Six months earlier: Judiciary Committee chairman and presidential candidate Joseph Biden: “Say the Administration sends up Bork, and after our investigation, he looks a lot like another Scalia. I’d have to vote for him, and if the groups tear me apart, that’s the medicine I’ll have to take. I’m not Teddy Kennedy.” . . . And on abortion, which looks like issue confirmation will pivot on, a statement by Teddy Kennedy 16 years ago, dug out by Ray Kerrison of New York Post: “Once life has begun, no matter at what stage of growth, it is my belief that termination should not be decided merely by desire.”

Will he or won’t he? is biggest question in Democratic presidential politics. The “he” is Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia, this year’s shrinking violet… Kevin Phillips says a Nunn candidacy would undercut Dixie-Border State hopefuls Gore (Tenn.), Gephardt (Mo.), Biden (Del.) … Tennessee Democratic Party chairman Dick Lodge says, “The prospect of Sam Nunn running freezes a lot of people.” … Former Gov. Charles Robb (Va.), who is close to Nunn, believes that he will join race, but not until Labor Day, and that he will skip Iowa caucuses, New Hampshire primary, concentrate on Super Tuesday, March 8… Paul Simon was chagrined to find that even 100 per cent AFL-CIO COPE rating isn’t enough to secure him labor’s endorsement… Christian Science Monitor interview with Michael Dukakis sums up his foreign policy. He opposes SDI, would end all aid to Contras, opposes Reagan’s Persian Gulf policy, i.e., the reflagging of Kuwaiti tankers.

Featured Tags

Presidential Election

Department of Justice

The Bork nomination set off firecrackers in major organizations Left and Right. Art Kropp, executive director of Norman Lear’s People for the American Way (PAW), says “we’re talking at least a million” bucks on the campaign to block Bork’s confirmation. “We’re talking about a heavy newspaper print-ad strategy and radio strategy.” PAW has 250,000 members. . . . Ann F. Lewis, formerly of Democratic National Committee, says the nomination has galvanized the abortion-rights movement by convincing “the American people that the right to a safe, legal abortion can be put in jeopardy by the political process.” . . . The NAACP, meeting in New York, roared its dismay at the nomination with help of every Democratic presidential candidate to appear before it. . . . When Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan said he hadn’t decided how he would vote, Democratic National Committee-woman Hazel Dukes, an NAACP member, threatened him: “I have the votes in New York to defeat him. When I get with his staff in New York we’ll get what I want. It’s strictly politics.” . . . The Right is ready to take up the challenge, says Richard Viguerie, and match liberal spending on radio, TV, and newspaper ads. Also mobilizing for the fight: NCPAC, Conservative Caucus, ACU, Coalition for America, Concerned Women for America (half a million strong). … A quicky U.S. News & World Report poll shows 49 per cent of Americans believe Senate should confirm a Supreme Court nominee even if his ideology clashes with that of some senators; 35 per cent believe the Senate should reject a nominee for ideological reasons… Sen. Paul Simon predicts Bork will lose because, he says, Republicans won’t be able to muster the sixty votes to kill an anti-Bork filibuster when the nomination gets to the floor… For the record: What certain senators were saying about Bork, the week before he was nominated: Majority Leader Robert Byrd: “I frankly think he would probably be confirmed.” Judiciary Committee member Dennis DeConcini: “I start with the assumption that the President has the right to appoint whom he wants.” Six months earlier: Judiciary Committee chairman and presidential candidate Joseph Biden: “Say the Administration sends up Bork, and after our investigation, he looks a lot like another Scalia. I’d have to vote for him, and if the groups tear me apart, that’s the medicine I’ll have to take. I’m not Teddy Kennedy.” . . . And on abortion, which looks like issue confirmation will pivot on, a statement by Teddy Kennedy 16 years ago, dug out by Ray Kerrison of New York Post: “Once life has begun, no matter at what stage of growth, it is my belief that termination should not be decided merely by desire.”

Will he or won’t he? is biggest question in Democratic presidential politics. The “he” is Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia, this year’s shrinking violet… Kevin Phillips says a Nunn candidacy would undercut Dixie-Border State hopefuls Gore (Tenn.), Gephardt (Mo.), Biden (Del.) … Tennessee Democratic Party chairman Dick Lodge says, “The prospect of Sam Nunn running freezes a lot of people.” … Former Gov. Charles Robb (Va.), who is close to Nunn, believes that he will join race, but not until Labor Day, and that he will skip Iowa caucuses, New Hampshire primary, concentrate on Super Tuesday, March 8… Paul Simon was chagrined to find that even 100 per cent AFL-CIO COPE rating isn’t enough to secure him labor’s endorsement… Christian Science Monitor interview with Michael Dukakis sums up his foreign policy. He opposes SDI, would end all aid to Contras, opposes Reagan’s Persian Gulf policy, i.e., the reflagging of Kuwaiti tankers.