European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 5, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes monday october a 1987 columns George will a fundamental attack on the supreme court sen. Bob Packwood. R-orc., is an even handed moralist who with Fine impartiality apportions his Fervour on several sides of some issues today lie is among those who Are pioneering a constitutional wrinkle the framers neglected to provide popular election Orsu Primc court justices. Robert bark s opponents arc of three sorts those who say he is dangerous because he is an inflexible ideologue flexible ideologues arc presumably preferred those who say he is Loo changeable and those who suffering cognitive dissonance in the service of i hair country say both. Packwood. Who will filibuster if necessary says Bork is intolerable regarding Priva meaning abortion. Now no one expects Packwood or any other politician to be a Martyr on the Aliar of consistency Bui this is a bit thick coming from the Man who when opposed in an election by an anti abortion candidate was operatic in his denunciation of single Issue poli tics. Jack minor a Reader of the Portland oregonian writes in a letter to the editor is this the senator who said that the voters should not oppose him last election solely because or i pro abortion stance because it should not be a one Issue Campaign do i smell a hypocrite not really. Packwood s opposition to single Ali pics certainty docs vary too much with the Issue. But i also is showing Fidelity. He has sincerely supported and has received Gener Ous financial support from feminists what is however dismaying about Packwood s current politics is the disappearance of an important inhibiting distinction. It is the distinction Between fighting Tor Friendly and worthy interests in purely political controversy As Packwood did for Oregon s Limber Industry regarding lax Reform and putting one s political Power at the service of constituents and others eager to guarantee certain results from judicial processes. Reasonable people can disagree Aboul the propriety of Bork s beliefs and the proper role of the Senate in confirmations. But surely some things for starters the ability to debate reasonable distinctions arc lost when the ethic of routine political Competition and transactions is extended to the solemn task of constituting a court. Today fund raising campaigns Are financing Media blitzes to shape opinion poll results thai will me inter est groups Hope reduce enough senators to the status of passive electors Silling in the Senate chamber. Dork s supporters arc now driven against their sense of decorum to Arm themselves with television ads and Oiler paraphernalia of a Campaign or else concede defeat. Such is the dialectic of the degradation of Judi Cial institutions. William Safire the scale and intensity of inc anti Bork Campaign refutes the premise thai is supposed to legitimize the Campaign. The premise is thai there is nothing new going on that he Senate has always considered a nominee s judicial philosophy As though that is Whai is going on. This process has had its moments of unintended hilarity As when the Painter Robert Rauschenberg testified by lord knows what authority on the fears and trembling of America s artists every paint smeared one of them. In a statement thai used words the Way Rauschan Borg uses pain it was the rhetoric of random splatter Rauschenburg announced that America s artists who once cultivated an Aura of Bohemian nonconformity Are remarkably unanimous in opposition to Dor talk Aboul a Herd of Independent minds "1 Yanli Bork army which sometimes has attributes of a mob has been swollen with organizations such As the epilepsy foundation of America the United Cere bral palsy associations the retarded citizens association among Many others. Many americans would be surprised to learn thai their charitable support has been conscripted for the Liberal onslaught on Bork. The ease with which such groups have been swept together for the first time in such a Campaign reflects in part inc common political culture of the people who run the Headquarters of the compassion Industry. Today s at Lempi to break the supreme court to the Saddle of manufactured or As in the Rauschenburg Case fictitious opinion is a More fundamentally Radical attack on the court than for s attempt to pack the court by enlarging it. Packing was to be a one time lactic that could not have been repeated regularly unless the court s Bench was going to be replaced by bleachers. The transformation of the confirmation process into & contest Between massed battalion it a perverse achievement of people who like Packwood claim to be acting to protect the court from Dork s jurisprudence which they say would leave All our Liber ties to be blown about by gusts of opinion. Negev project sacrificed on altar of detente summitit1s has both inc White House and foggy Boito in its grip and the soviet Union has already begun to reap the fruits ordet Cylc. Three years ago. President Reagan presented Israel s Shimon Peres with a great idea to build in the Negev desert a powerful radio Complex that would enable the . Government to transmit he truth deep inside Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The proposed new hard to Jam facility to be jointly financed by the innocuous voice of America and our More puissant radio free Europe was to con Tain 16 transmit ters of 500 kilowatts each with 22 antennas am a satellite station. The Jijoo million project would Lake five years to build. The israelis hesitated. The russians might consider the emplacement of a huge american transmitter on israeli soil to be an unfriendly act and Israel wanted la establish diplomatic relations Wilh Moscow to facilitate the emigration of soviet jewry. But the israelis did not want to turn Down the United Stales which had no other willing allies in the area and the new construction would be an economic Boon they acceded to our request. One year ago in a meeting with Secre tary of slate George Shutlz soviet for eign minister Eduard Shevardnadze complained about our plans to build inc radio station. Shultz ignored the objection. In june of this year Reagan staged a grand agreement signing ceremony in Washington. Peoples throughout the Eastern bloc will be the beneficiaries he said. We could not be happier in this partnership with Israel because in will result in a broader dissemination of values that we have in the israelis beamed As Charles Wick head of Usia and Malcolm Sieve Forbes or. Of re signed for the United slates. Then came Summit planning and a loss of Fervour in the stale department for anything that might be a source of irritation 10 the russians. Eventually Deputy Secretary of state John while head passed the word 10 the office of manage men and budget director James Miller to remove from next year s budget the so million needed to Start the project. Your Boel from the blur action protested Forbes to while Rad Leopar Dies one of the president s foreign policy Inita tics one that will pay enormous dividends for a Small outlay of the straightforward Forbes is not yet Wise in inc ways of Washington intrigue. He accepts the excuse advanced by the state department that it was congressional by decl culling not policy calculation thai necessitated the delay of the project. In the Choice Between consulate expenses and the War of ideas in stale s "150 account the troublesome trans Mitter has suddenly become a Low priority item. Radio free Europe officials Are unaware that their partner in this transmit Ter project the Usia s Wick has done Ihm in. Wick whose wife is Nancy Rea Gan s Best Friend has been nothing if not adept at gelling Money budgeted for his Agency Bui in this Case the Usia chief has passed the word to re and the Bud get people that in would be besi id Wail for the supplemental next year. It will be a Long Wail. The pro decl Charlie sycophancy Ai the nation s propaganda Agency which has prevailed upon Federal judge Garret Penn to refuse to Rule for the past two years on my Freedom of information Case to open the file on project democracy will surely Crank out appeals and letters to demonstrate How Stalwart Usia has been in pushing the new trans Mitter. But that is a Sham. According loom Usia has s140 million in leftover appropriations 10 spend next year for new construction in Morocco Botswana Thailand and sri Lanka and could easily ask fora Transfer of a part of those funds to the Board for International broadcast ing to Start construction in the Negev the Money is there to build in Botswana the policy is not there to build in Israel. Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev will surely be pleased at the decision to abort the Iran Miller Hal could carry news and views upsetting to Eastern europeans As Well As soviet citizens. The Kremlin real ties that glasnost is useful Only insofar As it is carefully controlled. What other sacrifices will be Laid in the altar of detente concealed As acquiescence to the Mill of Congress this won t be the last. When the suit depart ment bureaucracy and & presidential crony operate in tandem there is no Tell ing How pervasive it inc for accommodation
