Michael Dukakis continues to bore down on the Democratic nomination, while Jesse
Michael Dukakis continues to bore down on the Democratic nomination, while Jesse Jackson continues to be Black and to talk of “economic justice.” Jackson made a notable contribution to the race—sorry, to the campaign—by keeping the electorate from sleeping through the primary season, but has sullied the political process with the introduction of issues into the campaign.
Jackson has come to the convention with seven million votes behind him, but all that is behind us now. Though Jackson won the major cities and has only three million fewer votes than Dukakis, the numbers just don’t add up. Jesse’s always been better at poetry than arithmetic. It is above all his position that the public should control corporations just because the opposite is true that has cost him support with the public, that is superdelegates, that is, PAC’s, that is, the business community, that is, the public, that is, me.
On the Republican side, Vice President Bush has relaxed tensions by saying he will appoint to the Supreme Court moderate people of conservative views. In economic matters, Bush has promised a flexible freeze on government spending, but denies that flexible freeze translates as thin ice. He further denied that his capital gains tax cut will favor the rich, saying the difference between its effect on the wealthy and on those less well-off will be zero; in fact, it will be three zeros.
The Vice President continues to deny that he didn’t know what his aides were doing when they were not involved with illegal arms for the Contras, assassination plots in Costa Rica, and not trying to inform him about General Noriega’s involvement with cocaine trafficking, which was long suspected but only confirmed with absolute certainty last week. Or next week. Mr. Bush is campaigning for higher ethical standards in government.
Mr. Bush continues to be insulted by his main adversary, Garry Trudeau, but the candidate claims he is not bothered by the comic strips, which portray him in no particular light at all. Bush commented, “I don’t understand Doonesbury even when it’s about me.”
The Vice President has distanced himself from the Reagan administration in the same determined and enthusiastic manner with which he was endorsed by the President. For example, where Reagan said he was sorry to hear of the Pentagon Purchasing Power Mix-up, Bush said he was shocked. And Bush said he is against discrimination against AIDS victims, where Reagan has only said he is against AIDS.
Mr. Bush continues to play down the flap over Dan Quayle, saying that his running mate never burned his draft card and had every right to defend his country in Vietnam from at home. Besides, he said, Mr. Quayle has a lot in common with the common man; for example, his personal worth is estimated at less than $100 million. And as for the weekend non-affair with golf-linked lobbyist Paula Parkinson, Quayle, in a rare foray into complete sentences, stated “I hope there is some respect and dignity for things I did n