Democrats say they are raising $1- million campaign fund to unseat Republican Whip Newt Gingrich next year, for sin of bringing Jim Wright’s ethical practices to public attention. … No kinder, gentler rhetoric for Rep. Bill Alexander, a colleague of Wright’s: “Mr. Gingrich’s actions are reminiscent of the late Senator Joe McCarthy’s demagogical, emotional appeals to the basest instincts. Mr. Gingrich is a congressional Jimmy Swaggart, who condemns sin while committing hypocrisy.” . . . Gingrich is not surprised: “I knew full well the intensity and savagery of the Democratic response.” … A week before Wright hearing Brookings Institution scholars and staff predicted, in 32 to 2 secret vote at brown-bag lunch, that Wright would not be Speaker one year later. . . . Washington Post article on Democratic Majority Leader Tom Foley—mentioned everywhere as Wright’s replacement— calls him Speaker Presumptive, “but not presumptuous.” . . . Foley, widely portrayed as Democratic moderate, is to the left of Wright politically. His ACU rating is 12 to Wright’s 25 per cent. . . . Oliver North conviction caused foaming at mouth among media commentators: Martin Schram, CNN, May 6: “Whether it’s in the White House, or it’s in Central Park, the American people don’t want to tolerate ‘wilding,’ and that’s what those guys did. They mugged the U.S. Constitution. . . . Ollie North should serve time.” . . . Colman McCarthy, Washington Post, suggested appropriate sentence for North might be “ten years of community service in a Nicaraguan hospital changing [sic] the wounds of women and children whose limbs were blown off by U.S.-supported and Contra-laid land mines.” . . . Surprisingly, actor David Keith, who played a numb-skulled Oliver North in CBS movie Guts and Glory, commented: “If he [North] had broken a law to save a grove of trees or the snail darter or something, everyone in show business, all my friends, would say, ‘Let this guy go.’ ”… As Supreme Court ruling nears on possible Roe reversal, Los Angeles Times stylebook was changed to require reporters to identify pro-abortion advocates as “pro- choice,” pro-life advocates as “antiabortion.”
Polish government has now formally recognized Roman Catholic Church, is making overtures to establish diplomatic relations with Vatican—a first for Iron Curtain. . . . But glasnost has a way to go. In Strasbourg to receive Human Rights Prize from Council of Europe, Lech Walesa brandished Solidarity’s Election Gazette and called it “the first independent newspaper between the Elbe and the Pacific.” . . . Explaining why Janos Kadar, Kremlin’s handpicked Hungarian leader in 1956, was expelled from the Hungarian CP last week, Karoly Grosz commented blandly that Kadar “suffered from pulmonary problems” and “an inability to come to terms with political changes.” . . . Hungary is planning to rehabilitate Jozsef Cardinal Mindszenty, hero of the revolution of ’56, as prelude to a visit from John Paul II. . . . Hungarian Col. Balazs Novaky, whose detachment tore down barricades along Austrian-Hungarian border, was asked if Vienna had been informed of that action. “As far as I know,” he replied, “we didn’t mention it to them when we put it up.” . . . Gen. Robert Herres, vice-chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, takes Moscow disarmament talks with grain of salt. He points out that the USSR is replacing its older tanks with state- of-the-art new ones at rate of 3,500 to 5,000 a year. … A new squadron of Soviet attack helicopters has arrived in Nicaragua since the Gorbachev-Castro meeting, say intelligence sources. . . . On his recent three-day trip to Europe, Daniel Ortega dropped in on West German Foreign Minister Hans- Dietrich Genscher and pronounced himself satisfied with Bonn’s suggestion of closer ties with Nicaragua. . . . Here’s how People’s Daily World (CPUSA) reported Panama’s recent elections (May 9): “Initial reports gave Carlos Duque Jaen [Noriega’s candidate] over 50 per cent of the vote in elections that proceeded smoothly Sunday despite repeated provocations from Washington.”
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