The Week

□ Did you know that Bill Bradley voted against the immigration law—joined by Cranston? That Kennedy voted against it—joined by Goldwater? That John Kerry voted against it—along with Gordon Humphrey? Hatch voted no—along with Biden and Gary Hart. Helms voted no—and so did Paul Simon, the left liberal replacement for Percy in Illinois. Dodd and Weicker voted for it, joined by Thurmond. Zounds!

□ The Washington Post has been running a series on the “conservative elite,” the right-wingers of Washington who intend to stay there even after the Reagan aberration has passed into history. For liberals, the series provided a number of long-delayed introductions: “Frank Shakespeare … a quietly ubiquitous figure who turns up at virtually all the movement’s most important functions, from weddings to seminars” (don’t forget the blood initiations). For conservatives there is beneath the froth a moral. When Ronald Reagan took office he could call on a body of ideas, and on a well-oiled political machine—but not on a cadre of right-thinking bureaucrats ready to fill the positions of power. One of the most important longrange effects of the Reagan Administration will be to have begun, by numerous low-level appointments, the process of recruiting and nurturing. George Bernard Shaw, asked by an Indian journalist how his countrymen might get the British out of India, replied, “By doing their work better.” It takes more, of course; but it also takes that.

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□ Did you know that Bill Bradley voted against the immigration law—joined by Cranston? That Kennedy voted against it—joined by Goldwater? That John Kerry voted against it—along with Gordon Humphrey? Hatch voted no—along with Biden and Gary Hart. Helms voted no—and so did Paul Simon, the left liberal replacement for Percy in Illinois. Dodd and Weicker voted for it, joined by Thurmond. Zounds!

□ The Washington Post has been running a series on the “conservative elite,” the right-wingers of Washington who intend to stay there even after the Reagan aberration has passed into history. For liberals, the series provided a number of long-delayed introductions: “Frank Shakespeare … a quietly ubiquitous figure who turns up at virtually all the movement’s most important functions, from weddings to seminars” (don’t forget the blood initiations). For conservatives there is beneath the froth a moral. When Ronald Reagan took office he could call on a body of ideas, and on a well-oiled political machine—but not on a cadre of right-thinking bureaucrats ready to fill the positions of power. One of the most important longrange effects of the Reagan Administration will be to have begun, by numerous low-level appointments, the process of recruiting and nurturing. George Bernard Shaw, asked by an Indian journalist how his countrymen might get the British out of India, replied, “By doing their work better.” It takes more, of course; but it also takes that.