Word: schmidts
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...rest of Western Europe could have voted in West Germany's election, the pollsters might have predicted a handsome majority for Social Democratic Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. The fact that his nation had weathered a worldwide recession far better than most major industrial powers would alone have assured an outpouring of admiration at the ballot boxes in almost any other country. But West Germans, drawn by the homespun conservative appeal of Christian Democratic Challenger Helmut Kohl, refused to let Schmidt rest comfortably on his record. Trying to keep pace with Kohl, 46, in an unexpectedly tight race, Schmidt crisscrossed...
Traded Invectives. The Schmidt-Kohl campaign was one of the hardest fought political battles in West Germany's postwar history, and what Kohl called an "Olympics of insult" went right down to the wire. Continuing his sniping against Kohl's political ally Franz Josef Strauss, boss of the Christian Social Union and Kohl's declared choice as Vice Chancellor, Schmidt scourged the bully Bavarian conservative as a "political arsonist." Strauss returned the fire by lambasting Schmidt as "a politician with a predator's grin," and Kohl hooted that Schmidt had "lost control 50 of himself...
...down on terrorists, pursue detente with East Germany on more of a quid pro quo basis, continue close ties with the U.S., and lobby in other West European capitals for a stronger NATO. Their only substantive difference was over the issue of corporate-tax cuts, which Kohl favored and Schmidt dismissed as "unrealistic and impossible...
With the candidates' platforms so similar, the election seemed to turn on matters of personal style. To offset Schmidt's palpable aura of authority, efficiency and intellect, Kohl cultivated a folksy, old-fashioned image. Implying that it was time to leave postwar apologetics behind, Kohl encouraged his audiences to take pride again in the traditional German virtues of "cleanliness, punctuality, dependability, savings and hard work." He talked of "the fatherland" and occasionally led campaign rallies in singing the West German national anthem, Deutschlandlied. Said Kohl: "We don't want nationalism, but we're entitled...
...Since I've mentioned Sports Illustrated, I might as well use that publication to predict the winner. The Reds, you see, have made five SI covers in the last year (Johnny Bench twice, Pete Rose, Joe Morgan and now Foster), and the Phils have made it just once, with Schmidt. The Reds, obviously, will get the ol' Si jinx...