THE WEEK

Billie Boggs’s hour has arrived. From bag woman on a grate to lecturer at the Harvard Law School. At this rate, she is the logical vice presidential nominee on the Democratic ticket.

“We would like to put something together that would embrace the beliefs of a wide variety of people,” said Jim Wright of House Democratic plans to offer a $25 million “humanitarian” aid package for the Contras. The wide variety Wright has in mind consists of 1) left-wing Democrats who hate the Contras; 2) out-to-lunch Democrats who don’t hate them, but who hate to do anything to help them; and 3) Democratic leaders concerned to avoid responsibility for “losing” Nicaragua. The solution is a “humanitarian” package, which will enable the Democrats to say that they did something, without requiring them to do anything useful (the Contras are fighting a war; they need bullets, not band-aids). Oh yes, and they’re fighting for freedom from Communism, a struggle groups Two and Three don’t care about and group One clearly deplores.

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Billie Boggs’s hour has arrived. From bag woman on a grate to lecturer at the Harvard Law School. At this rate, she is the logical vice presidential nominee on the Democratic ticket.

“We would like to put something together that would embrace the beliefs of a wide variety of people,” said Jim Wright of House Democratic plans to offer a $25 million “humanitarian” aid package for the Contras. The wide variety Wright has in mind consists of 1) left-wing Democrats who hate the Contras; 2) out-to-lunch Democrats who don’t hate them, but who hate to do anything to help them; and 3) Democratic leaders concerned to avoid responsibility for “losing” Nicaragua. The solution is a “humanitarian” package, which will enable the Democrats to say that they did something, without requiring them to do anything useful (the Contras are fighting a war; they need bullets, not band-aids). Oh yes, and they’re fighting for freedom from Communism, a struggle groups Two and Three don’t care about and group One clearly deplores.