Word: gong
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...intrusion safe only for a retiring politician. Reagan never liked the press conference, but he learned to use it. Bush most likely will go to smaller groups, more frequent encounters on subjects of the day -- precisely what panels of journalists have recommended in order to get away from Gong Show news...
...GONG SHOW. Getting booed is an unavoidable part of the campaign trail. How one responds to it, however, is crucial for the TV image. When Dukakis faced rowdy antiabortion demonstrators in suburban Chicago last week, he tried to settle them with lawyer-like reasonableness ("I respect your right to disagree . . .") but looked sweaty and abashed on the screen. Bush's reaction to boos from shipyard workers in Portland, Ore., was similar, except for the forced-folksy dropped g's ("You're exercisin' your right; I'm exercisin' mine"). Bush's performance, however, depended on the particular network vantage point...
Bush's running mate has avoided the gong for now, but Quayle's early response to questions about his military service and other matters was wobbly and defensive, like a fifth-grader trying to explain his missing arithmetic homework. When reporters accosted him at his Virginia home while he was emptying garbage, Quayle reacted with evident anger ("I'm getting a little bit indignant about one bum rap after another . . .") but sounded petulant rather than persuasive. His self-confidence has grown since then, though his overeager, puppet-like demeanor still reminds some critics of Howdy Doody...
...their satisfaction, that is precisely what front-page stories soon reported: discreet phone calls to 20 candidates, quiet background checks by Washington Lawyer Robert Kimmitt, and no public tryouts. "George Bush knows all these people well," said Campaign Manager Lee Atwater. "We don't have to run a political Gong Show." But the process may soon get bumpy; Bush tends to waffle when faced with conflicting advice because, as an aide puts it, "he hates to disappoint anybody, especially his friends." Herewith, scouting reports on the leading contenders, roughly in the order of their standings...
...horrors for teachers and administrators. Odette Dunn Harris, principal of William Penn High School in Philadelphia, talks of confiscating crack bags from student pushers in a neighborhood torn by gang wars and racial strife. When she first arrived at the school, "they had riots in the lunchroom. The fire gong used to go off every five minutes, and that was the cue for the kids to break out." Some youngsters still carry knives and guns as casually as pocket combs. One parent assaulted her, and she notes, "I've had kids say to me, 'I'm going to punch...