European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 04, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday november 4, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 17 William f. Buckley the so called contract readout by rep. Newt Gingrich on the Steps of the Capitol late in september has been the source of much amusement a Little of it contrived ".,the Gravamen of the criticism has been to the effect Kat Here we had 152 Republican congressmen theatrically assembled together with More than 185 aspirant Congress men to pledge themselves to Square a Circle. Everybody knows that you cannot Square a Circle right do not urge a Triangle to breakout of the prison of its three sides else its life Willcome to a lamentable end was How Chesterton put it and cur rent political critics Are saying that you cannot have a balance budget at the same time that you have a reduction in taxes let alone an increase in defense expenditures. What brought special Delight to democratic strategists was this that they had finally been Given something tangible to . a up until the contract what they had had to do was to defend president Clinto nand talk about Circle squaring defending Bill Clinton was something not Many democrats wished to under take at least not those who Don t make it a practice to scale mount Everest during their vacations or bicycle across Niagara Falls the exuberant feeling now was that the could change the subject when the word Clinton came up and turn instead to Republican hypocrisy and the Republican because nobody can lower taxes and re Duce the budget at the same time hypocrisy because the contract was Ever so careful not to specify what reductions in Federal outlays the republicans would have to sponsor in order to reduce spending at All. Such things As social Security and medicare. That tactic had a fatal Accident when someone revealed a working paper of recommendations designed for the Clinton White House on How Federal expenditures might be trimmed in the future. What to Amon the recommendations Are a reduction in social Security expenditures and in rushed to the microphones to deny that he harboured any such intention to insist that the working paper was nothing More than the scribbling of some teen age staffer working in the attic of the White House Etc. Certain things we do not talk about even if they Are the year 2002, 50 percent of the Federal budget is going to be spent on baby Boomer senior citizens a things Are currently drafted. Manifestly something has to be done involving social Security . Indexation of senior citizenship and medicare ., Jarger -., against their own memo the democratic heavy Thinie ers decided that the thing to do was to invoke the Nightmare of Reagan ism. Do you want to go Back to reaganomics to trickle Down economics to Rich get have trouble with gop Richer poor get poorer to. The grapes of Wrath there was one problem with the change the subject strategy nicely summarized by one forlorn democratic strategist quoted in the new yorker by Michael Kelly / they dont see the True scope of it. The presi Dent and his political people do not understand what has happened Here. Not one of them Ever comes out of that get in there at 7 . And leave at 10 p.m., and never get out. They live in a cocoon i their own private Disney world. They walk around the place All Pale and Haggard clutching their papers run Ning from meeting to meeting and they Don t have a clue what s going on out Here. I mean not a clue. They think people hate Ronald Reagan but i Don t think people warning against Reagan ism the democrats per Force stress the contrast Between then and now. This snot an entirely encouraging Enterprise. Jobs Are much More plentiful than they were during the Bush recession. By y rebut we had begun to climb put of that Well before Linton was elected and Back in the Reagan Days the Gnu Rose at a higher Fate than today s. The credit the Reagan boosters can take on the matter of the budget is not crystalline. L most penetrating of All is the statistics for the first 11 months of fiscal 1994 that reveal that whereas total Federal revenues increased by 9.3 percent those that came in through personal income taxes increased by Only 6.8 percent v How come finer analysis in the months and year ahead will almost certainly reveal that Reagan ism has already returned increase the marginal rate of Taxa Tion decrease revenues. All in All an unhappy time for democratic statisticians who Are out there defending the circularity of the Circle against which the contract of Gingrich it Al. Is engaging the Public imagination.-. C Universal press Syndicate _ Public May be seeing rep. Newt Gingrich s face hit the Newsstands on the cover of time mag Azine 34 Days after the attention seeking contract with America ceremony on the Capitol Steps. During that time Span his caricatured Cheeks have swollen like a big red bal Loon Over the election horizon. A few weeks ago a Poh showed nearly60 percent of the american Public did t know who Gingrich , to introduce him there is not Only the time cover Story captioned mad As hell but also a Newsweek article How Normal is Newt that probes his past All the Way Back to his. Protests in Tulane Grad school. For the democrats who tried to define Gingrich As the halloween costume idea of 1994, the timing could t be better. Barring an enormous shift this week the republicans should have a lot of Vic tories to celebrate after tuesday s elec Tion Day there Are plans in fact for republicans to Fly into Atlanta from around the country to join Gingrich if i looks As if the tide is running heavily the gop Sway. But the Wisdom of the contract signing is already in question in those District where Republican challengers have fallen Back and with expectations for the gop raised so High there could be More questions on election night. Since the signing More than 100 democratic candidates have Cut ads run Ning against the contract Many of them in race where the two parties Are fight ing Over open the contract you had two outsiders in these open sea traces said Steve Jost a democratic consultant who has specialized in Gin Grich Over his past few elections. flew to Washington signed an oath with his party leaders and inherited a legislative there is another slant to the Gin Grich poll released in Georgia last week Tom Baxter end by the Marietta daily journal and Xia to had Ben Jones trailing Gin Grich by a narrower margin in the 6thdistrict 52-37 than gop challenger Bob Barr trailed incumbent Democrat buddy Darden in the 7th District race 53-33.it says something about the unexpected close Calls Gingrich has had in the past that while a lot of questions were immediately raised about the numbers inthe Darden Barr race few doubts were voiced about those in the 6th. Jones said monday that he thinks therace is even closer because the poll was conducted before his television and radio ads began. Linda Divall Gingrich s poll Ster said her surveys show Gingrich doing much better than the weekend poll , this race has a curious twist. Gingrich has the time cover andean enormous Money . But it appears the Jones Campaign by lying Low until the last minute has Man aged to buy More television time for the closing Days of the Campaign. Jones with the assistance of the Media savvy Bobby Kahn is also using a Little noticed Legal wrinkle to get freetime. The Law says broadcasters nonprofit As Well As commercial have to provide reasonable Access for Federal Candi dates y y " _. . / Jones has used the Law already to get the half hour for his empty podium debate with a missing Gingrich but he got another half hour on Public television tuesday night and another comes up on sunday afternoon As Well As a couple of spots on Public radio. Gingrich could have had the same time if he d asked for it but he s had lots of exposure already. Whether it has been too much will be judged by the returns from around the nation next tuesday night. C Cox news service the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government
