ustxtxb_obs_1976_08_06_50_00012-00000_000.pdf

The Jolly Apple ANDERSON & COMPANY COFFEE; TEA SPICES TWO JEFFERSON SQUARE. AUSTIN, TEXAS 78731 512 453-1533 i-Send me your list. Name Street City Zip 20% discount on books Titles below are offered to Observer subscribers at a 20 percent discount. There is no additional charge for postage, provided payment is included with your order. Amounts shown represent the 20 percent discounted price, plus the 5 percent sales tax. LBJ: AN IRREVERENT CHRONICLE by Booth Mooney $ 8.36 WHY NOT THE BEST? by Jimmy Carter $ 1.64 THE FINAL DAYS by Bob WoodWard and Carl Bernstein $9.20 THE TEXANS by James Conaway $ 7.52 ARCHER FULLINGIM: A COUNTRY EDITOR’S VIEW OF LIFE edited by Roy Hamric $10.08 THE ALMANAC OF AMERICAN POLITICS 1976 by Barone, Ujifusa & Matthews $ 6.68 SIMPLE JUSTICE by Richard Kluger $13.40 The 20 percent discount applies to books the Observer carries in stock. In addition, Observer readers can avail themselves of our offer to send, at the regular retail price, any hardback book published in the U.S. No charge for postage if payment accompanies your order. \(Please note: we cannot fill paperback When ordering, give title, author, andif possiblename of the publishing company. Allow three weeks for delivery. \(Books ordered from our list of inTHE TEXAS OBSERVER BOOKSTORE 600 W. 7th, Austin, Texas 78701 Austin I must admit that I have softened considerably on both Jimmy Carter and the City of New York. During the week of the big pow-wow, I found myself trotting around Gotham with a smile on my face and hope in my heart for the American political system. I know I’ll come down later, but I’ll take my highs when I can get ’em. New York took its host role seriously, as in a matter of life and death. As Richard Reeves warned in New York magazine before the convention convened, the city “desperately needs a new constituency one that goes far west of the Hudson River and at least as far south as, say, Plains, Ga. . . . The 25,000 convention visitors and millions of television watchers and newspaper readers may be looking us over to decide whether we are worth some kind of permanent federal subsidy as New York and the rest of the Northeast sink into historic and economic decline.” From the outset, it looked like Bob Strauss’ selection of New York as the convention site would be sheer disaster. The gouge artists, sharks, shag bags, and labor skates were all out to make a buck in the best New York tradition. One convention official swore, “As long as anyone working on this one is still alive, there will never be another convention in New York City. Never. Never.” But something extraordinary happened to New Yorkers on the Fourth when the Tall Ships came to visit. Molly Ivins, who saw it first hand, reports that the Big Apple’s sophisticates got excited and had a good time. Strangers joked with one another, shared picnic lunches, and even danced in the street. It was the ships that did it, I have no doubt. I watched them sail into the Boston Harbor a week later, and for a while I felt Bicentennialized. Perhaps it was a hangover from the ships that kept New Yorkers mellow during convention week. Perhaps it was Jimmy Carter’s influence. Or maybe they were just acting out of a keen sense of selfpreservation. At any rate, even the muggers let up a little \(although Texas’ only Wallace Weise of The Houston Post was one of the few reporters who sturdily resisted the good vibes. “The Big Apple may be shiny on the outside, but it’s still rotten at the core,” he told the Times. The convention itself was about as interesting as Sunday morning TV. The biggest hassle in the Texas delegation was over distribution of guest passes. Our new democratic Democratic Party settled the fight by holding a lottery. That shows how much things have changed. In the not too distant past, John Connally would simply have given them all to his friends. The high point of the convention for Texans was Barbara Jordan telling the convention that “the American dream need not forever be deferred.” Sounding like a reincarnation of one of the founding fathers, she commanded the undivided attention of the delegates on the floor and a goodly portion of the television audience as well. 12 The Texas Observer