The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1956-08-16
THE GREAT
GAME OF
POLITICS
BY FRANK R. KENT
Copyright by The Baltimore Sun and 70
Vrinted In The Republican By permssson-
Name Calling


Nothing better illustrates the desN
peration to which the Democrats
are reduced by the recovery of
President Eisenhower than their
frantic efforts to find an effective
issue against him in the coming
campaign Never before, it seems,
has a major party in this country
been forced to such absurd ex-
tremes and ludicrOus misrepresen-
tation.
For a long time there was a con-
centrated drive to find goat in
the Eisenhower Cabinet but in this
the failure was complete. For quite
while Secretary of Defense Will
son, Secretary of State Dulles, At
torney General Brownell and Sec
rotary of Agriculture Benson were
regarded as promising prospects.
But they all turned out disappoint-
ing to the Democratic politicians
and publicists No departmental
scandals have developed and one
after another the personal blasts at
these individuals have languished
and died. Recently the foremost po-
litical and journalistic opponents of
the President, who a while back let
it be known that they did not in
tend to attack him personally, have
been doing exactly that. There
seemed nothing else left for them
to do.
So, recently we have been more
or less deluged under a stream of
name calling" Mr. Eisenhower has
been depicted as a feeble fellow
unable to find his way about and
incapable of doing his job. Gov.
Averell Hartman has called him
naive" and a "part-time Presi-
dent" Both he and the bumbling
Senator Hubert Humphrey, of Min
nesOta, have cried out in anguish
about his lack of leadership"
though what great causes either of
them ever led has yet to be re-
vealcd. A Democratic state chair
man in New York referred to him
as "a do nothing, care nothing, drift
and drag Republican President. -
This is the cry of the Democratic
National Committee publicity di
rected by the ebullient Chairman
Butler and echoed in his organ, the
Democratic Digest
Really what it has gotten down
to on the Democratic side is that
they have but two issues The first
is the Eisenhower health; the other
is the denomination of Vice Presi-
dent Nixon. AS things are, how
ever, there is no doubt that Mr..
Nixon, if reelected, stands bet
ter chance of becoming President
than anyone nominated for the
vice presidency in our history
Naturally this makes it inevitable
in the absence of anything better
that the Democrats should make
Nixon and the Presidents health
their principal targets. This is a
situation upon which the Demo-
Gratis are determined to cash in.
They really have nothing else Ordi-
narily a supposedly ailing, though
candidate for President
and a highly controversial candi-
date for Vice President, if skill
fully presented, ought to mean
votes for the opposition.
There are, however, two reasons
it appears futile this time. One is the
trust and confidence with which the
people of the country as whole
have in the President When sup
ported by his doctors he asserts
that he is fully recovered and en-
tirely capable of functioning as
President for another four years,
they believe him. Not even his enc
mics regard him as capable of de-
ceit or dishonesty. He has said that
A -