Word: ferraro
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Closet voters help decide elections. And after Walter L. Mondale's clear victory in his first debate with Reagan and Geraldine Ferraro's competent, strong display against George Bush--it's not unlikely that a lot of closet Mondale supporters may just open the door and step out. As ever, television news--and the subtle images networks project are crucial to swaying this important chunk of the electorate. Even the slightest misstep or misstatement can smash candidacies today; commentators seized upon Reagan's "there you go again" line in 1980 to help destroy Carter's credibility. This time the talking...
...morning after the presidential debate, I tried, and failed, to catch a glimpse of Mondale and Ferraro during the Columbus Day Parade in New-York City, along the same route they walked during the Labor Day disaster. Police estimated the crowd at over 300,000. Closets, apparently, had opened all over town...
...most important exchange of the debate, if importance is measured by network news air time, came when Ferraro scolded Bush for his "patronizing" attitude, not when both candidates, in their closing statements, eloquently outlined their visions of the future. The Vice-President had arrogantly told the Queens Democrat he would "help" her with the "difference" between Iran and Lebanon, after she had fumbled the distinction in policy approaches. Perhaps, since this was the first nationally televised encounter featuring a woman office-seeker, the exchange actually was as telling as the networks would have us believe. But we suspect that...
THERE WERE, HOWEVER, a few things to be learned Thursday night. Ferraro did seem to warm up in her moving closing statement. She echoed Mondale's excellent performance of a week ago, making an attempt to win back some of the God and Country territory annexed by the Republicans over the past three years, and reminding the country that patriotism should have a heart. But, in what may be a bad omen for Mondale, she had difficulty cornering Bush on foreign policy, presenting an unclear synopsis of her view of covert actions, and slipping and sliding over Lebanon, Reagan...
...that Reagan Administration opportunism and deceit aren't confined to the oval office. Claiming that the Administration had expanded the safety net, Bush said that spending on welfare has increased since 1981. "...I am not going be found wrong on that. I am sure of my facts," he said. Ferraro didn't catch him, but The New York Times did, later quoting the Administration's own Office of Management and Budget figures showing that welfare has been cut by $2 billion, food stamps by more than $1.5 billion. It was another example of the Administration's shameless figure-twisting...