European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 8, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes saturday March 8, 1986 William Buckley gop primaries could be blood transfusion Tor demos on the fuss currently going on Over George Bush a few observations i. The vice president delivered a highly vulnerable speech when in january head dressed the conservative party annual Din Ner in new York. It was bad logic to As sume that in pleading the Case against anti italian Bias Mario Cuomo was for All intents and purposes insulting the Irish the jews the English women and cripples. And it was utterly unfortunate that he gave the impression that the governor of a state can to looking at the record of a Man who has spent 18 years in prison for a felony murder intelligently recommend clemency without being called soft on cop killers by the vice president. But my Friend George will dealt with these peccadilloes As if George Bush had just shot Down flight 007 Over the sea of Japan. It pays to remember that if you Are president or vice president you need to de liver one two sometimes three speeches in a single Day. Not Only arc there vice presi dents who wish they had not delivered a speech there Are speechwriters for vice presidents who wish they had not written a particular speech subsequently delivered. I speak As the father of a former speech writ Flora Lewis or for the vice president. 2. The question of whether George Bush is really a conservative has stirred up Lively debate. The editor of the Wall Street journal or. Robert Bartley has vigorously defended George Bush on this Point and there is practically nobody on the Planta Tion better pedigreed to distinguish True conservatives from those who Are merely passing. On the other hand Richard Viguerie a distinguished conservative activist and Leader replied massively in the Wall Street journal citing everything Bush has Ever done or said with which or. Viguerie and most other conservatives would tend to disagree. One charge i found so extraordinary As to prompt me to make a Tele phone inquiry. Or. Viguerie wrote that in 1970, when running for the Senate or. Bush received the support of. Socialist economist John Kenneth accosted with this professor Galbraith said to me that it was certainly wrong that he could not conceive of such an that is exactly the Way to put it. Neither can we conceive of such an aberration As pro Fessor Galbraith coming out for the Rightman. But the Point to make Here surely is that you Don t really lose your License or should t lose it if your mind impels you from time to time to a different conclusion from that normally associated with Ortho doxy. Bush s sometime attraction to the equal rights amendment and to gun control Are simply not generally disqualifying. What stands out about his record is his Fidelity to the Reagan program. But of course the question some conservatives raise has to do with different questions what kind of a program would Bush stand behind if Reagan were not on the scene 3. Bush is situated much As Hubert Humphrey was situated in 1968, the Viet Nam War then serving As the great Polarizer. There is no equivalent Issue now and probably there won t be in 1988 i.e., an Issue that finds Bush taking a position Reagan s position against which a Tough and determined band of Republican voters rebel. For that reason he is stronger than Humphrey was although it pays to remind ourselves that Humphrey a was nominated and b Damn near won the election. To be sure he was the presumptive Candi Date of his party having served As vice president. But Here Bush has very distinct problems. 4. In 1955 and again in 1959, president Eisenhower saw that he had merely to mention the possibility of someone other than vice president Richard Nixon being nominated for president in 1960 to incur the livid rage of . Conservatives. A sense of institutional decorum tended to govern if you Are your party s up you should next time around be your party s presidential candidate. But we know who broke the rules Here do we not it was Ronald Reagan. He challenged institutional precedence by no less appealing to the voters to Over throw a seated Republican president. And he very nearly succeeded. It will be very difficult for or. Bush Given this recent history to say in effect that republicans owe him the nomination because of his standing. And by the Way it s utterly impossible for Ronald Reagan to suggest an such thing. Bush will have to fight for it. And god save us that Republican primary fight must not cause the shedding of blood that becomes a transfusion into the anaemic body of the etiolated democratic party. Universal press Syndicate opening of soviet government will be gradual Moscow As soviet officials strive to explain Mik Hail Gorbachev s blueprint for change it becomes increasingly evident that the crucial Point is the Way the party works. There have been Calls for widespread restructuring of its All powerful Central committee apparatus not just by changing people but by drastically paring Back their numbers and responsibilities. The party has been told that it must restrict itself to political work and leave running the country to government and its dependencies. It has been told to develop a new cult of modesty in contrast to the old unmentioned cult of personality to Stop interfering in administrative decisions and pulling strings to hold Power to account instead of trying to Wield it at every level. The soviets ostensibly the representative bodies from the Village to the top of the state Are supposed to be revived to perform their function of speaking for constituents not just passing on party commands. If this meant what it would mean to Western ears it would indeed make a dramatic difference in the Way the soviet Union works. The party shaped by Lenin to pro vide a rigid system of control working always from top to Bottom and not the other Way around Long ago became not Only the trunk line of Power but All its branches twigs and smallest leaves. Limiting its rights would bring some diffusion of responsibility if Only to the Hierarchy of managers and experts. But of course it is also made Clear that there is to be no Challenge to the party s leading role in society and no question of allowing any rival organization. This is the soviet dilemma How to make people accept responsibility without Ever easing the hand that holds the whip. The repeated declarations of a desire to open up to be Frank to the utmost and Call a Spade a Spade in the words of the Moscow party first Secretary Boris Yeltsin should be Given the Benefit of the doubt. For soviet ears Yeltsin who was recently promoted to his important Post by Gorbachev said some riveting audacious things. He not Only criticized the party in the past which has happened at pigs and tags in soviet history but its very method of operation. Why is it that from Congress to Congress we raise the same problems he said. Why is it that our party vocabulary now includes a word obviously alien to it stagnation Why is it Over so Many years we have been unable to pull out the roots of bureaucracy social injustice and abuses Why is that even now the demand for Radical change is stuck among the inert Section of time servers with party cards my opinion is one of the main causes is that a num Berot executives Lack the courage to assess timely and Clatl "4 their personal role to Tell of our Superior still not just anyone can criticize and it must be we Are democratizing our socialist democracy said one official proudly. This Means we can admit failings. When you have an inferiority Complex you can t do that but when you Are confident the system Millwork then you the semantic Hodge podge reflects How unaccustomed people in authority Here Are to claim anything Short of perfection for the soviet Union. The old marching orders required absolute Praise for everything on the grounds that any hints of wrong doing and even errors would give ammunition to the enemies of it May even be that somehow they will get in the habit of a bit of spontaneity of listening to complaints of restraining the Lusty ambitions of Power. But for now it is still impossible to define what is meant by political leadership As distinct from running the whole show where the line May be Between maintaining control to assure discipline and encouraging initiative and the authorities Are looking for technical fixes spurred by new leaders brought up entirely in the old school. They Are not ready to question the party s inherent right to the last word but they would like it to be better served by those who carry out its orders. They really do seem to believe there is no inevitable contradiction Between the dictatorship of the proletariat which Means the fully Hierarchal dictatorship of the party and stimulating people to think and act for them selves. But if they can moderate the old habit of com Mand without recourse things will be a Little easier when the inevitable limits Are reached they will have to decide if they dare continue the logic of open ing. New York times news service the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to and
