European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 10, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday december 10, 1991 the stars and stripes b Page 13 commentary Tom Wicker Only Media keeping Duke Campaign afloat t David Duke a Louisiana state representative announced the other Day that he will be a presidential candidate. This effrontery caused the Washington Post to give him a two column headline on Page 1, with a photo inside. The new York times ran his picture on the front Page and again within the paper. Thus this con Man who exists Only to run for office continues to be a made by Media Star. He has been and will be again prominent on National television jets ample space in newsmagazine and can get a head Ine any time by repeating one of the racist and or reactionary slogans to which the Media responds like a mule eating Briars. A cheap political huckster who even claimed a religious conversion to attract attention and votes wizard Duke first lost a . Senate race in Louisiana. Then he was Defeated last month for governor of that state 60 percent to 40 percent by a former governor whose character and record in office Are not regarded As spotless. Outside Louisiana the former nazi s Appeal at the polls is problematic since he has no electoral track record except on his Home turf. He probably won t enter the presidential contests in Iowa or new Hampshire knowing full Well his evanescent political Bubble would be exploded in either. Judging by his experience in Louisiana where even 55 percent of the White vote could t get him More than 40 percent of the total he wont do much better in other Southern states in which Blacks now vote and most Whites Are too decent to Parade around in bedsheets. If George Bush and his advisers understand the uses of White House political Power As they certainly do the president s renomination is in no Way threatened. Ana if the erstwhile Gau Leiter cannot make a serious Challenge in the Republican primaries or at the party s National convention in Houston on what grounds save Gall would he be Able to carry out his bluster about running As an a a Independent in the fall election Only by dint of the Media attention he attracts so easily by being so outrageous and Only for the Campaign contributions so Many americans Are Gullible enough to Send him and that seem to provide his main Means of livelihood. The fiction that his extensive klan and nazi activities were merely a Youthful excesses is surpassed Only by the fantasy that this reptilian wizard Coula be elected to any serious position a and if he Ever were he would probably Demana a recount. He Only wants to run make headlines get to exposure and Rake in contributions. Why does he Ger those headlines and that exposure which Lead to the contributions he says he is a presidential candidate a but so have lots of strange William f. Buckley characters who never made the front Page of the times and the Post or appeared on night inc. They did not generally have sheets and swastikas in their background however. Nor were they As Youthful and innocent As plastic surgery has helped the wizard falsely to appear. And none had his occult presence on television his flair for self aggrandizement or his capacity to make the scurrilous sound and seem momentarily acceptable. What causes newspapers and television to pay so much attention to David Duke is that he is sensational a a certified extremist who claims to have moved to the mainstream a celebrated night rider who insists he is going straight at last a racist bigot who confounds history by pleading he is not and never has been l in gets space and time because he is a Man biting a dog and because he gets space and time he keeps biting the dog which brings him More space and time a hence contributions. Paul Tsongas a a former . Senator from Massachusetts who has a reasonable Chance to win the new Hampshire primary a is a far More plausible presidential candidate. But he receives much less Media attention than does the Cross Burner from Louisiana. But Tsongas and other democratic aspirants who also have to scrape for press coverage Are Uhi responsible to stoop to the shabby words and phrases that bring Duke his ample notoriety. If newspapers and broadcasters were equally responsible. Refusing to Crank out the publicity he needs craves and exploits the wizard would sink in his sheets into the obscurity he deserves. C tie new York times news service Qew Quot of conic it in it a Quot a up a Bounty on terrorists no questions asked the hostages Are Home and one after another they have been asked the usual questions. There Are differences in the Way they were treated though the differences Arentt significant really. One Man was not in chains for the first four years but that indulgence ended two years ago. Another tried to commit suicide three times but just As he was running out of air he focused on his wife and three children and the suicidal impulse diminished. Another counted 10 minutes every 24 hours during which he was unshackled presumably to be led to a toilet though this Wasny to made Clear. The hostages were quietly resigned a or at least this is the impression they gave a to absorbing the punishment they took. One Man said simply that he had been robbed of five years of his life what could he add to that the answer is a great Deal. A Man who is falsely convicted and sent to sing sing for five years has been robbed of a significant part of his Liberty. But while at sing sing he was not shackled he could read he could write to his family and receive letters from them he knew something about the duration of his sentence and he could receive visitors and distract himself by viewing television. These Are More than merely amenities. They Are suitably thought of As the difference Between life and death. It is hard to know what to deduce from the relative fatalism of the released hostages. One of them said that obviously he hoped his captors would one Day be identified and brought in but he said it in tones that suggested he would be greatly surprised should that Ever happen. President Bush said that he hoped that one Day the kidnappers would be a brought to  but again there was a vagueness there the combination of two factors the one psychological the second strategic. These Are conjectural but it would appear that we have traces Here of the so called Stockholm syndrome. This is the Odd phenomenon identified several decades ago of the prisoner being seduced by his captor. This has been known to vary from a feeling of forgiveness toward the captor on Over to a the extreme a a genuine fondness for the captor who in the agitated imagination emerges As a kind of protector. There was nothing that went so far in the evidence we have recently seen. But there was evidence there at least of a kind of passivity. One Way to put it 1 be guess is that none of the hostages seemed As fired up against the men who kept them isolated and imprisoned for five years As the woman in Palm Beach is fired up about William Kennedy Smith. A second reason for the relative Calm about the kidnapper terrorists is the Gauzy curtain that has been drawn Over How exactly we got the hostages out. We know that Javier Perez de Cuellar visiting with the president of Iran convinced him that Only benefits would flow from the release of the hostages. That message must have been delivered in the most convoluted diplomatic Way Given that the iranians professed no knowledge of the captors or even of their motives. But it is generally assumed that the appearance of the Secretary general of the United nations was critical and he is every Day receiving an Honor from some county or other in gratitude for his services. Was it implied in those critical conversations that the United states would not take measures to identify and then to take action against the terrorists the answer to that is we Don t know. Nor is it absolutely Clear what you would do or what i would do if the alternatives were the release of the hos tages plus de Facto immunity for their captors or a refusal to Grant immunity and a continuation of the hostages imprisonment. Perhaps the worst mistake Ronald Reagan made As president was in going too far in an attempt to help the hostages a mistake a the giving of arms to Iran a whose repercussions very nearly Sank the Reagan administration. Such is the pull chief executives feel for those desolate men who Are held so brutally in isolation by terrorists. But any such contract As is implied in these arrangements is done under duress and should be flatly repudiated. It would be bracing to hear from the Bush administration that a million dollars in Cash is there no questions asked for any one or More of the bodies dead or alive of anyone probably involved in the abduction of inc american hostages. And the same team that identified the terrorists who brought Down pan am flight 103 Over Lockerbie Scotland should be Given the assignment of collecting pictures of the sadistic cowards who diverted themselves during most of the preceding decade by torturing american citizens. L Umer Ursal press Syndicate