Capital Issues: Calculations

It Is a curious fact of life in a democracy that people out of office, patriots all, find themselves in a position to profit from the country’s afflictions and embarrassments, and cannot resist the temptation to enjoy them, just a bit. There has been a lot for out-of-office politicians, and especially conservative Republicans, to enjoy since President Ford stepped on the Solzhenitsyn banana peel and began a complicated pratfall that has continued for weeks.

After Solzhenitsyn came the great Callaway Caper, in which Howard “Bo” Callaway demonstrated that as a big-time campaign manager he makes a crackerjack Secretary of the Army, which he was until recently. Mr. Ford, the caliber of whose political judgment should not be judged—should it?—by his selection of Callaway, selected him because he is a Southerner and a conservative. He is supposed to attract to Mr. Ford’s banner so many Southern gentlemen that Reagan will say, “Oh, the hell with it,” and retire to the life of a gentleman rancher. In fact, Reagan may be having some trouble with Southern gentlemen, but that is Mr. Ford’s doing, not Callaway’s. Mr. Ford sent Callaway forth to say that Nelson Rockefeller is expendable, but Callaway did it with such gusto that Mr. Ford was driven to comforting Rockefeller with what sounded rather like an endorsement for the vice presidential nomination.

About the Author

George F. Will

George F. Will has been a columnist, beginning with National Review, since 1973.

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Presidential Election

Campaign Fundraising

Inflation

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Soviet Union

It Is a curious fact of life in a democracy that people out of office, patriots all, find themselves in a position to profit from the country’s afflictions and embarrassments, and cannot resist the temptation to enjoy them, just a bit. There has been a lot for out-of-office politicians, and especially conservative Republicans, to enjoy since President Ford stepped on the Solzhenitsyn banana peel and began a complicated pratfall that has continued for weeks.

After Solzhenitsyn came the great Callaway Caper, in which Howard “Bo” Callaway demonstrated that as a big-time campaign manager he makes a crackerjack Secretary of the Army, which he was until recently. Mr. Ford, the caliber of whose political judgment should not be judged—should it?—by his selection of Callaway, selected him because he is a Southerner and a conservative. He is supposed to attract to Mr. Ford’s banner so many Southern gentlemen that Reagan will say, “Oh, the hell with it,” and retire to the life of a gentleman rancher. In fact, Reagan may be having some trouble with Southern gentlemen, but that is Mr. Ford’s doing, not Callaway’s. Mr. Ford sent Callaway forth to say that Nelson Rockefeller is expendable, but Callaway did it with such gusto that Mr. Ford was driven to comforting Rockefeller with what sounded rather like an endorsement for the vice presidential nomination.