The Week

■ Play it again, Sam. You can now go to a government office on Pennsylvania Avenue and listen to 31 Nixon Watergate conversations. Soon, you will be able to listen to six thousand hours of recorded Nixon conversations. More, as they say, is more, and this joy will never end.

■ Our Commander-in-Chief reacted quickly to the House-Senate conference committee’s decision to add $3.2 billion to the defense budget. Speaking at a White House briefing for community leaders, the gutsy Mr. Carter declared his opposition to the increase on the grounds that the increase in defense “severely restrains” programs “for jobs, for cities, for training, for education.” Besides, said Carter, the defense increase is “more than we actually need.” By “we,” it should be understood, Carter means, not the United States, but the masterminds of his re-election campaign, who feel that he must do as much groveling as is necessary to stem the flow of liberal Democrats to John Anderson. If Carter has any doubts that the military couldn’t spend the money, he might consult Lieutenant General Lawrence Skantze of the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Skantze has said that if the planes in his command don’t get supplemental funds to take them into FY 1981, which begins on October 1, they will have to cease flying July 1.

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■ Play it again, Sam. You can now go to a government office on Pennsylvania Avenue and listen to 31 Nixon Watergate conversations. Soon, you will be able to listen to six thousand hours of recorded Nixon conversations. More, as they say, is more, and this joy will never end.

■ Our Commander-in-Chief reacted quickly to the House-Senate conference committee’s decision to add $3.2 billion to the defense budget. Speaking at a White House briefing for community leaders, the gutsy Mr. Carter declared his opposition to the increase on the grounds that the increase in defense “severely restrains” programs “for jobs, for cities, for training, for education.” Besides, said Carter, the defense increase is “more than we actually need.” By “we,” it should be understood, Carter means, not the United States, but the masterminds of his re-election campaign, who feel that he must do as much groveling as is necessary to stem the flow of liberal Democrats to John Anderson. If Carter has any doubts that the military couldn’t spend the money, he might consult Lieutenant General Lawrence Skantze of the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Skantze has said that if the planes in his command don’t get supplemental funds to take them into FY 1981, which begins on October 1, they will have to cease flying July 1.