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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 23, 1994)
Forgiveness allows political comebacks Perhaps taking their cues from the late Richard Nixon, who bounced back repeatedly from the }aws of political death, three candidates making the rounds of America these days have decided not to let the public's low opin ion of them — an opinion often nothing short of disgust — keep them from seeking elected office again. Call it audacity, call it courage. Dan Quayle, Oliver North and Marion Barry, throe much-maligned politi cal figures of the past decado, are alt hitting the cam paign trail. The risks are many, ranging from endless jokes on late-night TV all the way up to the ultimate defeat: a loss at the polls. What gives these three men the guts to give it a go — again? Why would they return to the spotlight, after already enduring the merciless scrutiny of the public? And being ridiculed incessantly? Simplo. They think they can win. Whether they can or not depends on the voters. But the fact that they're evon willing to try says a lot about the forgiving nature of the people. Dan Quayle, former U.S. vice president under George Bush, hasn't formally announced his candidacy for the Eresident in 1996, although his book-signing tour has oon widoly regarded as a de facto campaign tour. Quayte's tenure as vice president was punctuated with such brilliance as the misspelling of "potato" and the statement that he needed to brush up on his Latin in preparation for a trip to Latin America. No one has been more mocked in recent memory than Dan Quayle. But apparently ho thinks the public was just kidding when it made fun of him. Oliver North, a prominent figure in the Iran-Contra scandal during the Koagan administration, shows evon more gall in running for one of Virginia's Senate seats. Unlike Qunylo, who was mainly an embarrassment to his constituents, North was actually harmful. His par ticipation in the Iran-Contra cover-up, which culminat ed in his lying to Congress, makes one wonder how much a person can screw up and still expect to have a good chance of getting elected. Filling in that category is Marion Barry, former may or of Washington, D C., who was convicted of cocaine possession in 1990 after a highly publicized FBI sting operation. Ho is running for mayor again, hoping to unseat Sharon Pratt Kelly, his successor. Barry's cam paign is centered around his accomplishments during 12 years as mayor — an asset, to bo sure — but Barry goes a step too far when he compares himself to Nelson Man dela. president-elect of South Africa, who spent 27 years in jail for political opposition to South Africa’s apartheid government. Barry was not thrown in jail for political reasons. He was in jail because he smoked cocaine in a motel room with a prostitute, and the FBI got it all on tape. The public does forgive; the praise-filled eulogies for Richard Nixon attest to that. Personal failings will be weighed against political successes, os they should be. But voters should be prepared to think long and hard before they cast their ballots for any of these three. Ort’i’on Daily Emerald ^ 0 001 31»t CuOCNC OftCOO* ( Viv'y’ Da* / ‘’w.is' i put* i*4 i M•«vlay m* .gh f < i,i> <jun vj »vr •. * • . • year Tuesday and Thursday du^ng the lummr by th* Oregon Da ly tm#ra»d Publishing Co . Inc ai the Ur- .<*stfy ot 0»aooo. Eugene, Dragon Th# t'n&Akl operates -*\?ep*md«r»?ty of the UrwarsAy *>«« pj at Sv4n 300 of tfv* Erfe Mam-c r>ai U' -on and * a ■■ o? the A*v*..ated Prase Tha £r*y&<ifcs >• private property The unlawful wmovot o» use of papa** is pNMKutsbte Managing Editor Editorial Editor Graphics Editor Freelance Editor Editor-in-Chief Ja>t*JVvy Ca ny A/XXwv Sports Editor Dav>d Thorn Editonal Editor Jen Patay Photo Editor A a- a Baum Supplements Editor Night Editor Steve Kt ns Steve M>^s Jtrti fhekhardt MuChaoi ShrtdM* Ka#y Soto Associate Editors. Edward KioplecMt*; Sludanf Ck »t* ’ Ai * > f <*- Me£<P a Men rt >. Heathert* Hfcmea Hgher fcftx-^ttorvA^n^sfration Ntes Staff: Uri BetbnaMu. Wuson Chan. Dave Charttonne&u. Amy Coiumbo. J»m Davis. Meg Dedotph, Amy Davenport. Ta*h* f.chens«h#r M* a T *e»ds Martm Fi»he< Sara' Henderson Y n long Leong SuX«nne Made Manus Me-ami. Tnsta Hoe-, t-vabeth R#enstnerna. Mobb** Reeves. Kate Sabounn. L»a Saiocoa. Scow Simonson. Stephan** Snap” Staa'ie Steffens Mchete Thompaoo, Amy Van Tuyt. Dan** Way? General Manager Judy fWi Advertising Director; Mark Wart<» Production Manager Mi neie Ross Advertising: {<• an Da. s. Sut>? Dutta. N ■. e Teresa *..tbe r Jeff Ma Jeremy Mason Mk »’tw M «*»•» K«tfMr> W«k«* Classified B*c*y Merchant Manager Victor M#> 4 s*m Txe Tack Distribution John l, g f rve»x RaKOCi Graham Sampson Business: Kathy Car bo •*.*. Supervisor Judy Ccm-noity Production: Dee McC-obb, Productix* Coo*.^"u»fiy Shawna Aba«e Greg Desmond, Tara Gauttney. IVad Joss. Jennster Rotand, Nan Thanguyil. Gaytan Y<* Newsroom 346-5511 Display Advertising 346-3712 Business Office 346-5512 Classified Advertising 346-4343 •***' 19SOJ I'm B*ck. i’m Back. «pCh i’m &*ck fM &ACK 1990 im Back 1994 -HI*/ i AM HACK* LETTERS Defending track Dave Charbonnoau. in his arti clo about the Twilight track meet (ODE, Mav 16). states that he has " ... a respect and a knowledge of trai k and field that I definitely would never have acquired if it weren't for i oming here " Me then proceeds to trash the Twilight meet, track and field in general, and its ath letes Some respect! What he obviously does not understand is that track and field is not a war sport like foot ball. hut a competition combin ing effort and personal accom plishment. Charbonneau must have been deprived of ( rayons and paper as a child. To quote Bobby Knight. "We learn to write in the third grade Most of us move on to other things." When Charbonneau trashed Cordon Johnson for wishing he had broken the four-minute mark in the mile, even if it meant finishing fourth, it showed how little knowledge of the sport the "writer" really has. It is the dream of every middle distance runner to break the four-minute Iwirrier in the mile Gordon and several other "mid dle-distance" Ducks are great, and will got better. Track and field athletes are the "best." They do not carry inflated egos like most of the University's football and men's basketball players do Track and field is a class act at this University and its coaches are proven winners Both pro grams have produced national titles, team and individual Dave, please leave truck and field alone and return to your color crayons Use them for something unimportant — like writing about the University's football and men's basketball programs Jerry Carson History Rights Let's not pretend to be igno rant of government and history, as did Oregon Citizens Alliance Communications Director Loret ta Neel in her summons for sig natures to place on a statewide ballot the "Son of 9" initiative It wasn't the ACLU nor homo sexual lobbies that |»«caua.ded Judge Kodney Miller to rule this measure unconstitutional The intent of this measure, as was the case with the 1002 measure, is to legalize state-supported discrimination and Neet and other OCA loaders know this as well ns |udge Miller. As Miller indicated, this "Son of A" measure also seeks to revise the Oregon Constitution. As every nationalized U.S. citi zen, as myself, knows, our gov ernments in the United States and Oregon consist of three equal branches. It's the specific task of the judiciary to protect the fundamental rights of every U.S. citizen or resident. Those rights cannot be amended by a majority vote of citizens nor by a majority of people who voted. That would obliterate the con stitutional divisions of power '['hat's one reason why Judge Miller ruled as he did. And oth er courts will uphold that deci sion. Instead of wasting time pro moting or fighting unconstitu tional referenda, let's together make a positive difference for children and families Let's vote to establish adequate funding of the instructional portions of budgets of our public education al institutions Let’s assure chil dren and families quality educa tion for everyone in Oregon Let s not pretend to tie ignorant of government nor our history Jacob Veldhuisen Eugene Media bias Unlike many student*. I don't believe the Emerald has a signif icant political bias in its news coverage Unfortunately, Enter aid reporters repeatedly rely on one or two sources, especially student government sourr es, for the entire storv Friday's article (May 20) about recent Constitution Court cases is a prime example. Instead of interviewing all the parties involved, the reporter chose to got only ASIJO Presi dent Kric Bowen's side of the story. This is a bad habit that the Emerald has been unable or unwilling to break Staff mem bers don't seem to take the time to obtain opposing viewpoints, aud in this case the opposing viewpoints would have been easy to get I would have gladly spoken to the Emerald as I assume Martin Fisher and Todd Barnhart would have. Any one of us could have disputed Bowen's claim that the cases "weren’t a big deal" and all of us would presumably have pre ferred to personally explain our respective positions, rather than have Bowen do that for us. If the media are going to err, they should err on the side of being too skeptical of govern ment and government officials, rather than too gullible When the Emerald doesn't take the time to interview sources out side student government, the paper becomes a de facta mouthpiece of the ASUO. The ASUO Exec might be content with that, but the Emerald shouldn't be. Ed Carson Economics Mail request I am a prisoner at the Arizona State Prison and am writing this to ask if you will run this letter in your campus newspaper for correspondence. You have prob ably received this request many times from many prisoners and I hope that they have not burned you out 1 am here doing life and have no family and the few friends that wrote to me for awhile when 1 first got here have kind of just . trickled away 1 am not really looking (or an) type or particular correspondent and will answer any letters that 1 might get I just want to get some mail and to maybe make some new friends to talk with through the mail Prison is prob ably one of the most boring experiences on the planet and you have to actually think up ways to break the monotony once in a while or you will go nuts. 1 will be happy to answer any questions that anyone may have about prison life, my court experiences and/or criminal activity. Or we can just talk about anything anyone might want to talk about 1 very much appreciate any help you can give me in this matter and if anyone is interest ed, write to: Tim Llpps, #47321 Ariz. State Prison P.0. Box 8200 Florence, Ariz.
