The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-01-18
PORTRAIT OF a MAN TRIPPIN
BORES

0MUA E-IMAA ~ - sNAaAAN - -
B0RES
IT'S 90 long since the Republicans
have had anything to make merry
over that some Of them managed
10 get q few weak "hoorayS" out
OF the Chicago huddles The
Democrats got the most fun out Of
Il, but that's an old story the
Dems being amused by the opposi-
ton antics You had to feel
sorry for the pro-LOP correspon-
dents, who had to put a bright
face on their copy. They were really
dancing with tears In their eyes -.
In the first of the party disasters
YOU could see Wendell Willkie. The
whole idea of the confab was to
laugh off wendell. SO what hap
pened? Wendell, with no pals in
the Smoke-filled rooms, wound up
tied with Thomas Dewey, the con-
~entions pet, as Mr.. Republican.
nd Wendell hasn't begun to fight
The other would-be candidates,
Bricker, Taft, ct al, were scattered
all over when the count was made,
which surprised nobody.
The comic relief, as usual, was
supplied by Harrison Spangler, the
national chairman, whose blunder-
ingS finally threw the Herald Tri-
bune into a temper That Re-
publican paper led off with an edi-
torial saying, in effect, to hide
Spangler until the campaign was
over To kick off, Spangler got
himself slickered by the journalists.
they needed him into admitting
that some OF his buddies in uni
form had 1anvassed the soldiers on
their yeSSes and noes in 1914. 1t
looked good to Harrison, so he
started to chortle Later, some
III his smarter cronies got to him
and induced him to get out state
ment asking the press to ignore
what he had said - he VAS speak
ing recklessly and soften it up
70 what he wished he had said ....
A day or two later the cannire poll
sSoes served notice on Spangler.
the mangler, that he wasn't peep
again until the matter had been
! threShed out in committee. Spang-
: ler's oratory, they found, hit hard
err backfiring than firing Was.
! Niche, PMS staffer, pinned a beaut
. Of label on Spangler. He styled
. him "the soft underbelly of the
COP"
OF course, the huddle had bad
start. Gov. Wills of VT, as rock
ribbed Repub as you'll find,
broadcast rebuke to the conven-
res warning them to let go the
party'S cruds or wind up in the also
ran columns. Gov. Wills is smart
enough to see that the party squab-
! BILE is ruinous, and the didoeS Of
the -four year locusts," as he termed
) the Chicago-directed crowd, were
{, not only foolish but funny to look
sat from the outside The sting
ingeSe part Of Gov. Wills wordage
: was that 1t couldn't be busted off
as q smear, the regular answer from
the outside. 1t came from one of the
boys. II couldn't be laughed off,
statemented off or even sputtered
off. He was one Of them, speaking
his piece, and he had Just as much
autherity rs they did-and more.
q. Nelson Sparks, Akron's cele-
Arated old author, also drifted into
Chicago to deposit his two cents
Z worth Of mumbo- jumbo. G. Nelson
who has already said Q bookful OF
what he doesn't like about Wendell
Willkie, cast off some more sparks
. He got to SUFFERING about GOP
: deal back In 1896 According to
( him. Thomas Lamont, Alfred Sloan
and Q Mr.. Cochran, Of the same
Morgan firm Lamont serves, re-
belled against the corn belt. They
stood for Landon that year, Sparks
alleged, only for the right to run u
boy from the industrial East In
1910 Mr.. Sparks revelations
are interesting. He Is telling the
world that the GOP-his party, by
the ways still picking its boys In
: the back room not giving the
people the right Of choice any more
q. Does Mr.. Sparks favor that
system? Maybe he plans another
book.
Lots Of things have been said
about the Russkys - few Of them
nice in the past Is years - but no
body can call them Shilly-shalliers
When they've got beef they spill
1t, take 1t or leave 1t Just now
they're sick Of Frances footsie game
with the Keeling Axis. They have
called SPANS dictator a liar to his
teeth and spiked his claims that
he has ceased his help to the hood
lum nations that got him his job
The Soviets have facts to the
contrary - because they've been