Word: hartness
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...Hart intensified his attacks on Mondale after polls of New York voters found that fewer than one in five favored military aid to Central America. A Hart ad showed a slowly burning fuse and asked, "Remember Viet Nam?"; his speeches warned that either "Reagan's or Mondale's" policies would lead to dead G.I.s...
Mondale was infuriated. "O.K., we're going to let him have it," he snapped to aides. A campaign staffer appeared on the Mondale plane with two briefcases stuffed with photocopies of old Congressional Records supposedly documenting Hart's inconsistencies. They show, for instance, that three weeks before last October's bombing of the U.S. Marine headquarters in Beirut, when Hart claims he was calling for an American withdrawal from Lebanon, he actually voted to extend their mission for another six months. By feeding these examples to the press, Mondale aides hope to depict Hart as a feckless...
...Hart is hardly an old-fashioned isolationist, yearning to retreat into a Fortress America. At the debate he was careful to place himself in the "moderate mainstream" of past U.S. Presidents. He insisted that he would fulfill NATO commitments (although he has urged the European nations to foot more of the bill) and honor existing treaty obligations (although he vaguely added that some "may or may not deserve our continued support"). His plan to restructure the military to make it more "maneuverable" by, for instance, building a larger number of smaller aircraft carriers might increase America's ability...
What is less clear from Hart's public statements is where, if anywhere, the U.S. might use that power. A believer in a strong Navy, he talks about keeping sea lanes open to protect international commerce. But what would he do if a prime supplier of raw materials faced a Soviet-backed revolution? His real mistake so far has been to say too clearly what he would not do, such as not keeping troops in Central America and not committing them to protect the Persian Gulf. Former Secretary of State Dean Acheson, one of the original cold warriors, learned...
...politics, Hart's anti-interventionism may appeal to New York voters. But as policy, his positions would make European allies nervous and reduce U.S. leverage with Arab nations. If he stays in contention, Candidate Hart might consider trying to keep more options open for President Hart. -By Evan Thomas. Reported by David Beckwith with Hart and Jack E. White with Mondale