Word: bork
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Last week Specter, Johnston and several other Senators cited Bork's flip- flops as a major reason for their opposition. "Here is a brilliant scholar going through the agony of public hearings and public scrutiny," said Democrat David Pryor of Arkansas, as he announced his intention to vote against Bork. "And yet we don't know him any better now than we did months ago. I would even submit . . . that he does not know himself...
While the Reagan Administration set about painting Bork's record in neutral colors, right-wing organizations were instructed to tone down their pro-Bork campaigns. Some conservatives blame White House Chief of Staff Howard Baker for preventing the right from using "red-meat issues" such as school prayer, busing and the death penalty to rally support for Bork. "I'm not sure the public has any idea what Bork stands for," says Phillips. "I doubt Howard Baker has any good working overview of what's going on in America." Meanwhile, the anti-Bork juggernaut was allowed to monopolize the media...
Reagan altered his tactics slightly last week by hailing Bork's toughness on crime and condemning "liberal judges who protect criminals." But for the most part, Reagan still touted Bork as a moderate, criticizing the "deliberate campaign of disinformation and distortion" that depicted the judge as an ultraconservative ideologue. Indeed, White House advisers say it was the President who made the decision to avoid a bloody ideological fight. "Ronald Reagan himself didn't want that to happen," says one aide. "But the right wing has never been able to accept that fact...
...President's stepped-up efforts for Bork have done little to stem the growing public disapproval of the nominee. Opposition to Bork has been particularly striking in the South. Last week the Atlanta Constitution published a Roper Organization poll of twelve Southern states that showed 51% of respondents against Bork and only 31% for him. Even Southerners who described themselves as conservative opposed Bork...
Some Southerners are worried that Bork's impact on civil rights legislation could revive the hostilities of the 1950s and '60s over desegregation. Announcing his opposition to Bork last week, Texas Democrat Lloyd Bentsen remarked, "In virtually every case where he has taken a position, Judge Bork has opposed the advancement of civil rights over the past 25 years." Former President Jimmy Carter stressed that point in a letter he sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. Wrote Carter: "As a Southerner who has observed personally the long and difficult years of the struggle for civil rights for black...