European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 19, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes june columns comments James Kilpatrick White House Hast changed Ronald Reagan much a few Days ago two Pryor of Arkansas and Chiles of called on president Reagan to fire Caspar they had lost Confidence in the Secretary of and they wanted him out by a Day later this reporter asked the president for his reactions to the senators my reaction is that there out of their Cotton picking said the president of the United he was in a feisty humor that full of Pep and and the unfairness of the attack on Weinberger gave him the sputters i think the worst thing that has happened is that someone who comes in and is correcting abuses that have been of years and years that every time theres a Success Story and they find another like a Hammer we dont buy we find it is under this administration and under his manage ment of the defense department that All of these things Are being yet every time he uncovers they turn it around and say that its some kind of sin for which Hes this reporter has known Ronald Reagan for 15 covered his enjoyed his benefited from interviews with the presi Dent has changed Little in this his hair is turning perceptibly Gray the lines Are deeper around his but he looks As fit and muscular As he did when he was governor of unlike such predecessors As Nixon and car whose Complex characters were rav aged by insecurity and Reagan is a Man of surpassing if he were assigned to clean the augean he would get cheerfully at the certain that he would find a Pony in there some but this afternoon he was full of Vin to the suggestion that he had caved in to the Oil lobby on tax he bristled As severely As Reagan Ever we didst Cave in in any he will insist on preserving an incentive for wild matters to go out and Gamble their Money so they can find some Tom Wicker almost 50 percent of our Trade imbalance is made up of the necessity to buy to import we know weve got More Oil in this country than weve found yet we just did not want to do anything that would discourage exits also been charged that his program of tax Reform is skewed in favor of the snapped the president it just int he acknowledged that a handful of taxpayers with really extravagant earn Ings would but Only a few Are at that exotic what about his desire to eliminate the checkoff for the financing of presiden tial elections the new York times had said he was acting like a sneak in this the president i had made his getting rid of the checkoff line on form 1040 would help to simplify the but beyond Ive never believed in government funding of Cam Why not this is because the government decides who gets Guaran teed funding detracts from the old idea that candidates should be Able to raise funds from their own if they cant get that kind of they  be seeking Public switching i asked the president if he had lost interest in two constitutional amendments he had sup ported in the one for a balanced budget and the other to prohibit Abor i Haven lost interest at he knows How much is on the congressional plate this year he has been told that the amendments must be put on the Back of the stove but i have not retreated from them a i inquired into the vociferous opposition being voiced by civil rights leaders to the nomination of William Bradford Rey nolds As associate attorney i think part of this is aimed at Rea Gan Treyve created this idea that somehow in an enemy of civil now the presidents temper was rising i was working for civil rights before they used the term Back in the when i was a sports i was one among a handful in the country who opposed the Banning of Blacks from Organ the sized i was fighting that Battle Back the president recalled the years when racial segregation was in those Days Many employers would hire two or three Blacks and say their quotas had been Reagan saw the same thing happening in reverse a quota system opens the door to the same kind of discrimination that once took turning to the matter of judicial i asked what kind of judges he was looking he was waiting for that in looking for judges who interpret the Constitution and dont attempt to rewrite age is a consideration in nominating but its not the major he does want persons in their so youre going to get Bill lion ashtray some years of judging out of he keeps egging on his advisers to find More qualified women and minorities for the Federal but there hard to i should report that 1 asked the presi Dent one More question what did he think about the hypothetical possibility of someday providing a privately administered alternative to Federal social Security the president gave me the look of a Man who has just stepped Barefoot into a room full of social Security questions have bitten him i can report that he answered the after a but i have read a transcript of his answer three times and i have yet to know what he c Universal press Syndicate Why should adopt bully tactics of soviets 15 a a t t editors note this is the second of two is one of the poorest countries in this so great a threat to its neighbors and ultimately to the United states that president Reagan May have to use troops to overthrow its marxist government Reagan himself has said that it must realistically be recognized As an eventual option if other policy alternatives and George the Secretary of told the american bar association that if members of Congress dont provide Aid for the guerrillas opposing the Sandi nista they Are hastening the Day when we will be faced with an agonizing Choice about the use of american combat the sandinista proclaim themselves marxist and Are aligned with the soviet Union and their Domestic program is not As democratic As Reagan and most americans would though it com pares favourably with that of South Africa and reasonably Well those of the Phil South Korea and the popular support also May be questionable and their Defiance of Washington is notable sometimes but surely these Are not sufficient reasons for the United states which tolerates All those other regimes to use its military forces to overthrow a government recognized around the even in not even Reagan has claimed that they Are although on the question of the sandinista failure to meet their democratic Hes come the reasons Given for the suddenly open talk of invasion and overthrow Are that Nicaragua might become some sort of soviet military base that it might attempt to Export armed revolution to neighbouring countries and extend soviet Power in this never mind that Moscow has not for More than 20 years tried seriously to threaten the United states from Cuba and has shown no interest in bases in or that Fidel a More charismatic Leader than any has had Little Suc Cess in spreading his revolution elsewhere in latin As previously argued in this col and As recently pointed out by Henry if these threats Are actual its hardly enough to counter them with no More than a ragtag band of guerrillas tainted with som Cista and Cia plus the relatively paltry sums Reagan has requested for the guerrillas but even if these Are taken to be real and present dangers that cant be averted by diplomacy or a invasion would not be the Only Choice left to right he could pro with overwhelming support throughout the nation and the that the United states would not tolerate a soviet military base of any kind in Nicaragua and that declaration could be monitored and with equal he could further state his intention to Stop any nicaraguan attack on a neighbor which the United states has the Power and would have the hemispheric support to with that he could Cut off the guerrillas from any United states without which they could not Long continue to that would leave subversion As the Only expansionary tactic available to the that would not be so easy to Monitor or counter but an enlightened policy in latin encouraging the hemispheric trend to Ward would make it even Point headed Geo politicians will argue that if the United states tolerates a marxist Nicaragua in its own backyard the signal will be sent to mos cow that Reagan is a paper Tiger unwilling to protect the Tough Giveand Leolive policy suggested above puts Moscow As Well As Managua on notice that the is ready and Able to protect itself and its friends in this hemisphere whenever they Are actually faced in Afghanistan with perceived dangers somewhat similar to those Rea Gan fears in Moscow protected its so called backyard by invading at great Cost in world assuring the defeat of Salt ii in the and bogging its troops Down in endless guerrilla that hardly a precedent to encourage Ronald Reagan and Why should the bully its neighbors in the brutal and militaristic Way for which it rightly condemns the soviet Union c new York times Syndicate