ustxtxb_obs_1984_08_17_50_00002-00000_000.pdf

_ -= —=——=—___\\ = —– —–.5 FoE _-_ …% . THE pEopt, -L-k$’ % ..c SY 411.—t–.._ pla Ran 47 …00 ……____.. _ ,/i4t —in nibioll” / Hi Dili il Oful,f1IIIIIN , –___ …._ –, …., , –. ii “,, !!1.1.1.1.111111,011111111finrit ‘ ” ” 117=7_ Inn .—–. _ ll lia l liilifilli JC II” … i 3 . . , . ._–…. …, … .. : …-___ . I , A I .. _ ml,…. ,.._.__…,……_’N….._’%….._. . . TEXAS The Texas SERvER Ronnie Obsener Publishing Co.. 1984 Dugger. Publisher Vol. 76, No. 16 /..’1V August 17, 1984 htcmporating the Stale Observer and the East Texas Democrat. which in turn incorporated the Austin Forum-Advocate. EDITOR Geoffrey Rips ASSOCIATE EDITOR Dave Denison EDITOR AT LARGE Ronnie Dugger SOCIAL CAUSE EDITOR Chula Sims EDITORIAL INTERN: Teo Furtado WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Al Watkins LAYOUT AND DESIGN: Alicia Daniel EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD: Frances Barton, Austin,: Elroy Bode. Kerrville: Chandler Davidson. Houston; Bob Eckhardt, Washington. D.C.: Sissy bridge, Mass.: Lawrence Goodwyn, Durham, N.C.: George Hendrick, Urbana. Ill.; Molly Ivins. Dallas: Larry L. King, Washington. D..: Maury Maverick. Jr., San Antonio: Willie Morris, Oxford, Miss.: Kaye Northcott, Austin: James Fred Schmidt. Tehachapi. Cal., Robert Sherrill, Tallahassee. Fla. CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Warren Burnett. Nina Butts. Jo Clifton, Craig Clifford, John Henry Faulk. Ed Garcia, Bill Helmer. Jack Hopper. Amy Johnson. Laurence Jolidon, Mary Lenz, Matt Lyon. Rick Piltz. Susan Raleigh, Paul Sweeney, Michael Ventura, Lawrence Walsh. CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: Alan Pogue. Russell Lee. Scott Van Osdol, Alicia Daniel. CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS: Jell Danziger, Beth Epstein, Dan Hubig, Pat Johnson, Kevin Kreneck. Carlos Lowry. Joe McDermott, Ben Sargent. Gail Woods. A free journal of voices We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to the truth as tie find it and the right as ice see it. We are dedicates! to the whole truth, to human values above all interests, to the rights of humankind as the foundation of democracy; tie will take orders front 11010’ inn our own conscience, and never will we overlook or misrepresent the truth to serve the interests oldie powerful or cater to the ignoble in the human spirit. Writers are responsible JO,their own work, but not for anything they have not themselves written, and in publishing them tie do not necessarily imply that we agree with them because this is a journal of free voices. Managing Publisher Cliff Olofson Advertising & Development Director Dana Loy Subscription Manager Alicia Daniel Circulation Assistant Stefan Wanstrom Consultant Frances Barton Editorial and Business Office 600 West 7th Street, Austin, Texas 78701 The Terse, Observer at Austin. Texas. Single copy years, S56. One year rate for full-time students. S13. Airmail, foreio ‘n, group, and hulk rates on request. Microfilm editions available boot bootUniversity Microfilms Intl.. 300 N. Tech Road. Ann Arbor. Michigan 48106. Copyright 1984 by Texas Observer Publishing Compan not be reproduced without permission. 2 AUGUST 17, 1984 PAGE TWO Texas Strategies IT is obvious from the first round of campaigning by the Republican and Democratic presidential tickets that the Republicans, while leading in Texas in most presidential preference polls, are having a difficult time settling on a Texasspecific issue upon which to base their campaign in this pivotal state. They are having a hard time gauging how the presence of Geraldine Ferraro on the ticket will play in Texas. Is this an election to exploit sexism? \(The 1982 statewide leading vote-getter, state Treasurer Ann Richards, wondered aloud Do they appeal to what is characterized as a traditionally Southern preference for femininity over feminism? Or do they exploit Western machismo, mindful that Western states led the women’s suffrage movement? Posing at one point with their arms around the bare midriff of a Houston Oilers cheerleader, Reagan and Bush in an Austin campaign appearance barely mentioned Ferraro. Instead, they sang of this country’s prosperity, called the Democrats doomsayers for the Democratic obsession with the federal deficit, and attempted to paint Mondale as an ultraliberal and Democratic party leaders as “going so far to the left, they’ve left America. ” The Republicans know it will be a tough fight in November. It will be difficult to run on a balanced-budget amendment, as Reagan and U.S. Senate candidate Phil Gramm are trying to do, after running up record deficits. It will be difficult to make the leftist label stick, given Mondale’s centrist platform and politics and given the apparently unified support for the ticket by the likes of Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, Jr., Lt. Governor Bill Hobby, Governor Mark White, et al. The election in this state, as in the country as a whole, will hinge on the course of the economy in the next few months and what kind of voter reaction that course will trigger. The latest government figures, while showing a slight increase in unemployment, show a marked increase in the gap between the rich and the poor in this country. The chief effect of Reaganomics to date has been to eat away at this country’s middle class, driving some into the ranks of the poor, allowing others to enrich themselves, and burdening the majority with rates, and greater insecurity. Nevertheless, not knowing exactly which campaign strategy to employ and probably wanting to avoid substantive issues in a state whose usually conservative rural population has been hit by farm foreclosures and government cutbacks the Republicans chose to trot out two old campaign warhorses that achieved some success in Texas in past elections. First, Reagan appealed to Texas chauvinism, saying the Democrats “gave Texas the back of their hand” in not selecting Bentsen as the vice-presidential candidate. Now it’s true that Reagan, Bush, and conservative Democrat Bentsen share some views on certain issues. But Reagan was not quite so concerned about Bentsen during Bentsen’s 1982 re-election campaign, a campaign in which Bentsen worked diligently for the success of a unified Democratic ticket that included Jim Hightower as well as Bill Hobby. Nor was Phil Gramm. who shared the Austin stage with Reagan and Bush,