Word: babbitts
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Harvard protesters have lost sight of the prize--divestment--and instead have been mesmerized by the University's picayune bureaucratic processes. The Committee on University Practices--a little activist group which proudly calls itself "Coup" much the same way Sinclair Lewis' Babbitt labelled himself "important"--displays this misguidedness in all its splendor. Last year Coup demanded that Harvard reduce the 50-year rule on its secret records. This year Coup held a contest to name Harvard's most "inaccessible administrator." If the University doesn't come around these radical activists may roll up their sleeves, put up their dukes...
Swapping numbers. Paul Simon and Bruce Babbitt have quietly struck a deal. In a maneuver arranged by a Babbitt aide, some Simon supporters who have reached the $1,000 donation ceiling are contributing to Babbitt's campaign on the condition that an equal number of Babbitt donors do the same for Simon. That helps both sides get around the $1,000 limit and increases the matching funds available to Simon...
...selection system dealt harshly with Gary Hart's defective personal behavior. Dick Gephardt, whose candidacy teeters on the brink of destruction, probably lost ground because he came across as having far greater ambitions than convictions. The one candidate who was perhaps disposed of too quickly was Bruce Babbitt, who brought refreshing candor and intellectual rigor to the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. Yet he too was burdened with a major shortcoming. Until the very end of his campaign, he failed to master a primary presidential skill -- the effective use of television as a tool of leadership...
GORE brings his Congressional experience and level-headed pragmatism to domestic issues as well. With the departure of Gov. Bruce Babbitt from the race, Gore is now the only candidate in either party with a credible budget plan, one that seeks to hammer out a new consensus on fiscal policy. Unlike Reagan, who scuttled budget talks by refusing to raise taxes or cut defense expenditures, Gore would put almost everything on the table. That's not to say, however, that Gore wouldn't have his own list of priorities: he'll cut spending where it doesn't endanger national security...
Perhaps the only worthy New Idea that Gary Hart contributed this time around was the quaint notion, Let the people decide. In his case they did, decisively. The people of New Hampshire and Iowa also rendered verdicts on Babbitt, whose graceful exit showed him to be a class act to the very end; Pete du Pont, who was never all that convincing as a right-winger; and Alexander Haig, who was never all that convincing as someone who should be in charge...