Word: agnew
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Americans have sometimes cherished a blunt directness in their politicians. But that particular "give-'em-hell" charm, as Spiro Agnew has never discovered, demands, besides truculence, an implicit instinct for the underdog. It is the charm of the anti-bully...
...more compelling impression is that of a VIP who feels it beneath his dignity to display any warmth for or interest in ordinary people. For six days, Agnew enjoyed the plush appointments of Seoul's Chosun Hotel, emerging only for ceremonial functions or to play golf and tennis. One day when it rained, he ordered a Ping Pong table sent up to his room. He visited no American soldiers, Korean hospitals, schools, marketplaces or housing projects. In Singapore, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia, the routine was essentially the same. In Kenya, Agnew visited the Treetops wild-game preserve, conferred...
...Agnew's relations with the press have done little to soften his austere image. Indeed, he and his staff have shown little more than an icy tolerance for either the traveling press contingent or native journalists. During an airborne press conference, the Vice President accused the American press of a Communist bias. As a result, foreign press coverage has frequently been less than flattering. The Kuwait Times, in an editorial titled "An Odd Experience with American Courtesy," complained that Agnew was making only a "palace visit," and that "to the masses, and ironically enough, for the local pressmen...
...When he allows himself to relax, as he did at Treetops, Agnew has occasionally displayed more charm and wit than he is given credit for. "A finesse that the United Nations would be proud of," he observed of the various animals taking turns at a salt lick...
...Perhaps more indicative of Agnew's attitude was his admiration of the large animals he saw in Africa. "That rhinoceros," he noted. "Nobody fools around with him." Then, spotting a water buffalo, he commented: "There's a mean buffalo. No one tries to move him around." Agnew, after 21 years in office, is still bent on proving that, like the animals he admires, he will not be pushed around...