European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 6, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 columns the stars and stripes thursday september 6,1990david Brode negative political ads seem to he losing punch this is is a bad news Good news column. It gets better As it goes along. Stick with me and you la Sec Why. The bad news is that As the fall Campaign season begins slash and bum negative Campaign ads still fill the airwaves. Hit and run attacks on opponents some As Short As 10 seconds Are popping up everywhere despite the fact that newspapers across the country Are showing increasing vigilance in policing the distortions and blowing the whistle on below the Belt tactics. In some places at least voters Are penalizing the candidates who Are guilty of fouling their opponents. Texas and maker Ray Strother says a the level of Public tolerance is getting lower the danger of a backlash is Washington pollster Geoff Garin adds a in every state in a working in at least one paper a and usually More a is taking each Adas soon As it goes up and saying what a True in it and what Isnit. And if a paper Calls it Sleazy the next Day the other Side has an and up saying a Herald Calls and since this columnist urged Back in january that the press step Forward to police the Campaign process the response has been remarkable. You readers fill my mail with examples of papers in your area casting a harsh spotlight on candidates who twist the Campaign away from voters real concerns in order to exploit a hot but Tony issues of dubious relevance. The advocacy group people for the american Way surveyed 110 television news directors and newspaper reporters in major Media markets. It reported this month that More than 80 percent of them now favor the Media taking a an aggressive role in exposing false or misleading advertising by political Many politicians turned off by these tactics themselves Are encouraging the press to be even More vigilant. At a recent american press Institute symposium on Campaign reporting sen. Charles s. Robb d-va., said a candidates will always define the issues in the most self serving Way so you must persist in asking the Tough questions. Like it or not you be got the referees striped shirt so i Hope you la enforce the rules with a lot of Robb is not alone in expressing his Dis Dain for negative ads. A Reader in Bradenton fla., sent me a full Page add the fourth in a series a in which a Republican candidate for the Sarasota county commission Elling o. Eide provided what appears to be a thoughtful analysis of housing problems in the area. Another sent me a clip from the Midland mich., daily news in which news editor columnist Ralph e. Wirtz pointed out that the two candidates in the 10th District Republican congressional primary who avoided a backstabbing and bickering led the Field while the two whose campaigns a were nothing More than volleys of cheap shots trailed. Yet in Michigan Florida and other states top of the ticket campaigns have been marked by relentlessly negative ads even though the newspapers Are busily debunking them. Why because too Many candidates and their consultants cynically believe that a they work a that its the Only level on which they can engage the voters attention. I think they re wrong a and that conviction is strengthened by a letter i received this week from another floridian 31-year-old air Force capt. Ron Miller of Melbourne. Along with his Friend Mark Solomon who recently retired from the air Force to become a Community worker in the Seattle police department Miller is conducting what he Calls an a Experiment in democracy or a adult civics Miller is a Republican Solomon a Democrat. Both Are Black but More to the Point both say they Are concerned enough about the country a future to test whether a two Ordinary american citizens can stimulate a response from the nations leaders to their plea for a a Broad National Agenda a based on a accountability and individual they have put their Heads together to formulate an exceptionally Clear and compelling eight Page statement on Domestic and foreign policy. They have just sent it to 54 leaders of Congress asking them to a read what we have to say and Tell us your an earlier version sent to president Bush Drew a form letter response that left Republican Miller a totally a a we re simply speaking our minds on the we re a6reep then of the maw thin6 we Armethe democrats Quot issues that face the country a they write the congressional leaders. A there Are millions of equally informed and concerned citizens who have become disillusioned by their apparent Lack of influence on the governmental process. We want to see if their cynicism is justified. The conventional Wisdom says one or two voices done to count any More. We Welcome you to prove us my bet is that this plea for a dialogue Between citizens and their representatives will not fall on deaf ears. And i Hope those who receive their letter will remember it when they approve their to spots for the fall Campaign. C Washington Post writers group Mike Feinsilber . Public wont tolerate Gulf stalemate for Long for George Bush the easy part is Over. So far he has Only had to Cope with Saddam Hussein. Congress is Back in town next week. The president got a glimpse of the shape of things to come if he checked on what was said afterwards by the 170 members of Congress who interrupted their vacations for a presidential update on the persian Gulf showdown. Bush appealed for bipartisan support and he got it effusively. But there was an uneasy undertone after the session that suggested criticism is lurking a especially if the deployment turns into a stalemate. Stalemate is the Best Bush can Hope for a it beats War a while he Waits for the International quarantine of Iraq to work. But american Public opinion is not so Good at waiting. Not if the Price of gasoline keeps rising and the Economy keeps sinking. Not if television carries pictures of kuwaitis on the French Riviera driving to rallies in their Mercedes Benz automobiles to cheer on the american boys. Not if american women soldiers a on full television display in soldierly roles for the first time a run afoul of cultural differences in a saudi society that gives women scant status and no Equality. Bush can stand the heat from Congress but if the american people turn against this Enterprise they can ultimately end it. That was Vietnam a lesson for policymakers. Mark Mellman a democratic pollster guesses Bush has a fairly Short period. A if we just keep 200,000 troops in the saudi desert without them having any Clear goals other than deterrence i think his support will dissipate fairly quickly a Mellman says. A it May be 60 Days it May be 90 Days it May be six months but if we done to have something happen by Christmas id guess support will a americans Are impatient by and Large and goal oriented and Success oriented a he added. A this represents a tremendous financial commitment and an emotional commitment and for Many people a real political scientist Dick Barody of Stanford University a student of Public opinion says he is still mystified Over whether Public opinion leads the politicians or vice versa. A people who want to do other things with the Money will begin to portray this As a War that Isnit and a foreign policy that Isnit getting us anywhere a Barody says. At the end in Vietnam the Public could no longer stomach the War and Congress responded by refusing to appropriate Money for any purpose there other than to bang Home the troops. After hearing from Bush last week lawmakers did not directly Challenge his decision to confront Saddam Hussein. When politicians want to be critical of a policy that appears popular they attack it from the fringes rather than frontally. That a what happened. A they complained that while Bush has rallied the worlds support for isolating Saddam the venture is still largely an american undertaking. A if we done to watch it Well have a 90 or 95 percent share of the on the ground troops a said rep. David obey. A wis. A i done to think that a politically sustainable at rep. David Bonior d-mich., said his constituents already Are complaining that the japanese the australians and others Are not doing enough rep. Christopher Smith r-n.j., added the soviets to the list. A they said Bush had failed to articulate americans purpose. They said he had to specify the nature of the threat to the . National interest. Sen. Joseph Biden d-del., told Bush directly participants reported that lawmakers like himself who came of age during Vietnam want to know a what we re doing in saudi rep. Mike Dewiner Ohio said it was time for Bush to get on television and put before the country a not Only our specific objectives. But the rationale and the reasoning behind those sen. John h. Chafee r-r.i., said Bush owed his countrymen a was Fine an explanation of our presence As can be a and they criticized the administration for failing to develop a policy that would make the country less dependent on foreign Oil. Rep. Norm Dicks d-wash., said some pointed out to Bush that he Hadnot even brought his Energy Secretary James Watkins to the meeting. None of that is direct criticism of what Bush has done in standing up to Saddam. There will be none if he succeeds. But m this situation stalemate is not Success. Dicks said that erosion of Public support is inevitable. A already there Are people asking a Why is it we Are out there a he said. A is it just because of cheap Oil a c associated press
