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NOPOLITICAL ELECTIONS
INTHE
WORLD TOMORROW!
T
HIS WAS WRITTEN August
14-last day of the Demo–
cratic National Conven–
tion. 1 had to think-after view–
ing on television both this and the
Republican National Convention
a month before- HOW DIFFERENT
it will be in the World Tomor–
row!
All three national networks
had their stars and superstar
newscasters covering these major
conventions.
The convention halls were dec–
orated in bright colors with red,
white and blue predominating.
The delegates wore loud-colored
casual or sports attire, many with
outlandish oversized hats. There
were horns, sound-making instru–
ments, beside the brass bands.
There were whoop-and-holler
demons t rations. There were thou–
sands with balloons, like little
children at play. There were
many large signs and placards.
Each convention was quite a
show!
And of course the usual politics
were being played secretly in the
smoke-filled hotel suites away
from the convention halls-the
jockeying for selfish advantage,
political gain and coveting of
power.
1 am reminded of the answer
given by Franz Josef Strauss,
often called "the strong man of
Europe." He had spent the day
visiting the Ambassador college
campus and was an evening din–
ner guest in my home.
It
was a day or two after Rich–
ard. M. N ixon had taken the oath
of office after his first inaugura–
tion, January, 1969.
October/ November 1980
by
Herbert W. Armstrong
"What," asked a guest of Dr.
Strauss, "do you think was going
on in Mr. Nixon's mind as he was
taking the oath of office?"
" How to be reelected four
years from now, of course,"
answered Herr Strauss without a
second's hesitation.
On the Wednesday night be–
fore I wrote this, there had been
considerable delay and nervous
concern over what decision Ed–
ward Kennedy would make. He
had lost the primary elections as a
whole, had lost the open-floor
fight to have delegates pledged to
President Carter released and to
tbrow the convention open. He
had won the battle against the
President on strategic platform
planks. And now after a preweek
political move to "dump Carter,"
the President had gone over the
top on the first ballot. The
Presi~
dent had not accepted without
any personal reservation M r.
Kennedy's much-insisted-on
plank for spending $12 billion
immediately to ease unemploy–
.ment. Mr. Carter got word to the
convention he was for the same
goal, but had personal reserva–
tions as to the Senator's method.
Would Senator Kennedy hold
out, split the party, or would he
acquiesce for the sake of harmony
and support Mr. Carter for reel–
ection?
J ust what, in these eircum–
stances, was Mr. Kennedy think–
ing? Would German politician
Dr. Strauss have said, "How Mr.
Kennedy could be elected four
years from now, of course"? Was
the politician thinking of what is
best for the PEOPLE or what is
best for his own fight to grab the
throttle of greatest government
power on earth? 1 won't answer
that- 1 can't read bis mind.
There was one bit of humor on
the CBS coverage of the Wednes–
day night convention show. The
dry-speaking Andy Rooney was
asked by Walter Cronkite if he
had any comment on whether the
President should stick with Vice
President Walter F. Mondale for
reelection. The VP nomination
was to come before the conven–
tion on T hursday.
Andy Rooney did.
"1 think," he said soberly, "the
President should select a vice presi–
dent with more color. Why not
ex-President Ford? He almost
made the vice-presidential bid at
the Republican convention. A Re–
publican on the ticket as Mr. Car–
ter's VP would at least add color."
"Or," he continued, "if Mr.
Carter does not like that sugges–
tion, how about putting brother
Billy on the ticket- keep it in the
family? That way Billy could
make foreign connections official–
ly. Or, 1 have s till another sugges–
tion-since the First Lady, Rosa–
lynn Carter, is the President 's
chief confidante anyway, why not
a husband-and-wife team? She's a
good campaigner. "
Many millions of dollars of
taxpayers' money have been spent
on political campaigns and these
conventions to nominate candi–
dates for the people to vote on.
The conventions were big noisy
shows. T here was laughter, "hav–
ing a time," shouting, confusion,
anger, jubilation, pathos, emotion
and even tears. In all this cam-
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