European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 8, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes april columns Tom Wicker democrats Are having trouble finding themselves Jeane Kirkpatrick has Fol Lowed Ronald Reagan into the Republican explaining that i want thinking like a i want acting like a Democrat and 1 didst feel like a Democrat that raises the questions what is a Democrat anyway what does a demo crat act and feel like for Edward Kennedy and tip Oneill Are democrats but then so is Russell Long of in be tween there Are democrats who act and feel like Gary Hart or Bruce Babbitt not exactly san fran Cisco in Kirkpatrick Deri Sive but not Southern or conservative democrats mayor Daley May be Long but de Koch want it Fritz Rollings of South Carolina who put Forward toughest Federal deficit reduction plan of All and Sam Nunn of Georgia makes More sense about a Strong National de sense than anybody in the its of that All of the above could agree on any single propose Kirkpatrick to the there is no one True Way of acting and feeling like a Democrat the House of Jef Ferson and Roosevelt has Many not excluding that of Jesse in this years con Gressional the democrats do seem to be rallying around one position that could be called traditionally with what political effect remains to be that on the question whether the James Kilpatrick to is an american it guess which one win get screws nation should return to a cushioned Reli Ance upon the free the Reagan prescription for All economic and social ills or whether a fundamental principle of the new Deal that individuals should be sheltered from the harshest consequences of Market economics will continue to David Stockman put it this Way in con Gressional testimony i dont see Why we have the responsibility to step Why is farming any different from Small businesses hundreds of thousands of them go out of business every year the savings and Loans that have closed since the hundreds of thousands of people who lost their jobs in the Auto Industry when it had to shrink Down in order to become competitive in this victims of the the refuse of capitalism on the farm or the Assembly must Sim ply Grin and Bear but National policy from Roosevelt to Reagan was quite Dif Ferent unemployment various Federal loan some forms of Wel were designed to help those who fell victim to shrinking industries or the Busi Ness Cycle or the shifting the Reagan has proclaimed its intention to keep a safety net in but earlier this As the farm debt crisis became presi Dent Reagan vetoed a supported Pri Marily by democrats plus some farm state that would have offered Farmers limited assistance in trying to save their land from the democrats emerged from that Battle As being More willing to extend assistance to those being crunched by Market forces but perhaps also As budget when a program of supple mental Federal benefits for the Lon term unemployed expired on March it was mostly democrats who wanted to extend it and Reagan who said he would veto an he argued that the program was no longer necessary because americans were going Back to work every month in new some of Are not going Back to work but Are taking jobs for the first time and most Are being employed in the service at substantially lower wages than Many of the Long term unemployed were earning before being Laid but Reagan had the votes to make a veto stick and the Best the democrats could do was a Compromise allowing those now receiving benefits to do so for their full period of rather than being Cut off theorists can debate endlessly the sex if to which in such circumstances the government has a responsibility to step As Stockman put it but the real question is to what extent the american Public expects the government to do the Post Reagan political future May be largely shaped by the its us against them in Media bureaucracy War Back in mid january i ventured a few observations on the matter of Jesse and since then we have had the Gelb affair at the state department and the senator has made a speech that rattled the a few additional observations Are in you will recall that some months ago a group of North closely identified with founded fairness in their avowed purpose was to bring pressure to Bear on the senator urged his followers to buy 20 shares or More of lbs Stock with a View toward gaining eventual control of the at that Distant so the scenario a new lbs president would be Able to rout out the Liberal Bias of lbs a new corps of objective reporters and editors would be brought in and at Long last conserva Tives would get a fair the senators audacity set off a splendid flapping in journalistic cartoonists had a great Dan gravely reported the Story on the lbs evening the flurry had just about subsided when Helms appeared on March 1 before a convention of conservative political action he said that he sometimes wondered if he were on the same planet with reporters and editors who distort the How can the major Media be so wrong so often the answer is obvious they Are profoundly out of sym Pathy with the ideals and goals of the american of there Are sound and honest journalists in All parts of the but the elite Media and you know who they Are Are overwhelmingly produced by men and women if they do not hate America certainly have a smug contempt for american ideals and in his crack about hating Helms was tossing raw meat to the assembled at that Point the senator got carried but in the rest of that paragraph Helms was on let me cite one example and move Ameri cans historically have admired military heroes washing Macar they Are thought to embody the old virtue of but How do the Liberal cartoonists perceive our military leaders All the generals Are fat All the admirals Wear swords and tricorn hats their chests Are ablaze with ribbons that would dazzle the vegas they Are objects of when Helms Speaks of smug Helms strikes the Gelb affair provides a Leslie a cop reporter for the new York was for two years 197779 director of the state departments Bureau of politic military last month he wrote an article about a contingent plan to deploy nuclear weapons in Bermuda and puerto his piece was the result of fair digging the substance already had been reported the existence of such contingency plans is a fact of life in every major no Security was the bureaus incumbent John Chain blew his he declared Gelb Persona non grata to his in an especially childish he ordered gelbs picture removed from a Gal Lery of past and he posted a notice accusing Gelb of wilfully and knowingly publishing classified information the release of which is harmful and damaging to the Gelb is a major league Chain is a bus league Chain was As wild in his accusations As Helms was accurate in both stories Tell us something of the regrettable relationship that exists in the United states Between so much of the government and so much of the it is an adversarial relationship us against in Wash and in state capitals As one finds reporters whose purpose is not simply to report the but rather to score this hostility the natural hostility of cats and dogs poorly serves the Public in print or on the reporters have but one obligation to report the news As objectively and neutrally As they without Bias of any Helms is right to object when a reporter and Chain was wrong to object when a reporter c 1985 Universal press Syndicate