European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 14, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes Illiam Safire the Bush or Dukakis option no one s perfect hat do you do when the Candi t_im9pvou surr Aorl lakes a position you a  candidate to support Don l like conversely what do you do when the candidate you oppose lakes a stand that you Admire this produces a jangling in our Heads that professor lean Festinger called cognitive  to reduce it we have three choices. Option one is to switch and some issues like abortion and gun control arc switchers to some voters. Or we can shrug and walk away from the need to choose like the proverbial old lady who says i never Vole it Only encourages  or we can take option three adopting the philosophy that undergirds our two party system stick with our orig Inal Choice and put on a Button pro claiming nobody s  when candidate George Bush was asked Why lie did not reject the support of a Republican congresswoman who disagreed with his opposition to federally funded abortion he countered who s going to have a litmus test that every body has to agree with everybody on every single Issue he s right and this year the depth of disquiet within each parly is expressed in bumper slickers that say two cheers for George and lukewarm for the  take the pledge business. The More the Bush Campaign throws red meat to the yahoos the less like my fellow re publican. And when the vice president arranged for a plane to Fly overhead with a Banner asking. Where was Teddy and was ready Wilh the self righteous answer i was Home with Barbara that displayed a Quality of Pulty vindictive Ness Ihal might be dangerous in a presi Donl. Take the position on Israel s capital. The Candi Daic i presently prefer Sticks to the state department line of not moving our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem because in would offend the arabs Dukakis however sensibly advocates moving our embassy to the capita City of our ally As we do with every other country we recognize. My hat is off to inc Duke on that Promise even though i suspect he would weasel i f elected. That s Only the beginning of my cognitive dissonance. Bush now that he s ahead is adopting a flying Rose Garden Arnold Sawislak 1 it Here we is at the Bottom of Soston a strategy ducking interviews. Worse his Campaign has been taking cheap shots at the american civil liberties Union which leads me to believe he would extend inc intrusive lie act Ceinor mania to enshrine secrecy the most offensive legacy of the Reagan administration. And what about the vice presidential Choice while i have never joined inc Media chorus railing at Dan Quayle i cannot deny that Lloyd bin Lson is an experienced conservative better prepared to Siep into the presidency should the need arise. Well whal Aboul the unthinkable inc dread option one gulp switch ing there stands Michael Dukakis who has just come Down on both sides of both big defense issues. On modernization of our missiles he is now for it but nol for the iwo available missiles. On Star wars he would now be willing to deploy inc space defense if he and the Congress thought in Wise but not if it contravened the abm treaty which he thinks it docs. That is Plain silly the Duke s material breeches arc falling Down. And there on the front pages was the first great Opportunity of the democratic Campaign the forced exodus of the kurd by Iraq s sadistic Saddam including the use of Poison Gas on innocents. The world was silent the Reagan administration inexcusably dithering the need for a moral voice urgent. What did inc challenger who demands we become a Beacon of human rights have Loray sorry genocide is not his depart ment. It was left to sen. Claibore Pell of Senate foreign relations to come up Wilh a Bill to threaten the killers with economic sanctions and to Send an observer to the scene Dukakis remains Par Jve Knor Dukakis Al Zed perhaps worried that ending Grain subsidies to Saddam might Cost votes in Iowa that makes Bush look belter his Campaign looks belter still to this old Nixon hand because inc Washington Post above inc fold and below he Belt slammed a Bush aide Fred Malek for the sin of having received nutty memos in the Nixon White House. The jangling inside the Heads of conservatives is reduced by the inability of Dukakis to exploit our dissatisfaction and by what strikes us As the baying of Media hounds. Each one of us comes to realize that our candidate cannot be our clones. Thus option three nobody s perfect stabilizes democracy lessens cognitive dissonance and makes us rather Bear those ills we have than Fly to others we know nol  fort ten i reporting on the world series of ballot Ball until they started holding the presidential campaigns earlier and the world series later it was said americans never go interested in the former until after the latter. Nowadays the serious As ring Lardner put in does t even Start until october and by thai time the presidential campaigns Are Well past inc seventh in Ning Streich. Musing about this one could imagine the two fail classics in the recent style of american business merging Inlo a diversified conglomerate. After All if greyhound which used to be a bus line can go into the restaurant and soap business Why can t politics become baseball or vice versa which leads us inevitably to the new and improved combined world series of ballot Ball anchored Dan Tom and Peter Dan Here we arc again 3t the greatest american spectacle of All a contest of skill and daring Between inc Best this great nation has to offer. Now at the end of a Long season that began in the snows of Iowa we will at last determine which of these men has the Hal and which the cattle. Tom Tom incisive As always Dan yes this is the showdown hand of the electoral process. But More important what does this contest Tell us about the team of state in the next four years As the new Man Ager shuffles his lineups of Cope with the Fork balls of foreign affairs and sliders of social unrest. Your thoughts Peler. Pc Len Well Dan and Tom. We also can l forget that enduring axiom of political sports it s not whether you win the election but How you run your Cam  and i regret to say the level of play in this game has not been up to the standards of those giants of the game whose names Are enshrined in the tammany Hail of Fame. Dan yes and we should be specific Peter. There is a difference Between playing hardball and throwing Bra nails and both pitchers. Duke Dukakis and babe Bush would be Well advised to remember that. Tom especially Bush Dan. As we know he has series experience trial Dukakis lacks. It s True thai Bush has spent a Tot of Lime in the bullpen recently but he was a member of the winning Battery in two series sweeps. A ctn but remember gentlemen both of these men know the anguish of defeat. Bush after All can i forget giving up Ihal game losing rib to Longballa Lloyd bunt san in the 7z Texas league series. And they say he still is smarting from the drubbing rapid Ronnie Reagan gave him in 1980 Spring training. Dan but Ron s on his team now and even if be can t Pilch anymore he s a designated Hiller to reckon with. Tom maybe we should give the viewers a Recap of what s been happening while we were pulling inc game into perspective. Peter. Well fast Frantie Fahrenkopf Ted off for the defending champs and popped up la Jesse Jackson who is covering left Field. Rookie Danny Quayle Dou bled to extreme right held catching bunt san moving toward Center and dodging shortstop Jim Wright s Teg at second base. Dan now Here comes Reagan to the plate carry ing his trusty Mondale mauler Bat. Duke signals his fielders to shift right leaving the gender Gap unguarded. Tom the Book on Reagan is that he can t stay away from the Blooper and Duke s first offering is a slow High curve. Reagan swings and glares at Duke. The next pitch comes in fast Belt High and. Paler and there she goes again