Presswatch / Baker Up, Moyers Down

...That was not made out of wholecloth...

...This, too, leaked, but the press got the story right that Reagan was tilting against a tax hike...

...History suggests that it is not so much despair as hope which breeds unrest...

...Fair enough, provided we define what we mean by " t h e R u s s i a n s . " For the Russians themselves have been living under a terrible form of martial law for some 65 years...

...The journalist's role is to act as a filter which separates truth from fiction...

...reporters go away knowing more than they did...

...This contrasts, of course, with the practice of Edwin Meese llI, the White House counselor derided by reporters as "Good News Ed," a man whose knee-jerk optimism bears little resemblance to reality...

...Nader, the lobbyist, to engage in propaganda, it is not legitimate for Mr...

...On the one hand, legislators were being asked to accept a dubious scheme for pre-biiling consumers for services not yet rendered...

...Moyers to act as a non-critical conduit...

...And it's not just that he remembers the first name of reporters from obscure papers in the hinterlands, though he does that better than anyone else in Washington, too...

...100 million?--in driving many of the very best into exile, in depriving those who survive and remain of all save inner freedom and dignity, in the extinction of whole historic nations, in ferocious attacks on religion, the arts, and thought...

...But he can and will come to understand the politics of monetary policy and understand that change could put him ahead of the power curve, although he may never understand exactly why...

...The jury on Haig is even more widely divided...

...We should weep for all their victims...

...With Democratic pol Robert S. Strauss out of power and thus no longer an everyday player, Baker is peerless in his mastery of Washington journalists, a true Clyde Beatty among press-tamers...

...On days when no crisis impends, he has been heard to mutter: 'I miss the campaign...

...It is thus absurd to say that the Russians are oppressing the Poles...

...McMillian's lobbying activities and their supposed impact on the outcome originated with Ralph Nader, a fierce opponent of the waivers," Gans wrote...

...To say t h a t the oppressors care absolutely nothing for the welfare, h a p p i n e s s , and prosperity of the Russian, Polish, and other sad peoples subject to them is--well-debatable...

...And having devoted most of his national political career to keeping Reagan outof the White House, he is already a juicy target for conservative critics...

...Tom Shales, the witty television columnist for the Washington Post, wrote enthusiastically about the Moyers broadcast, saying it "proved how potent and important TV news can be . . . . Most of the other news media had ignored the alarming aspects of the story, but with his one report Moyers inspired an avalanche of mail to Congress and to CBS and, says a spokesman for Ralph Nader, probably changed the House vote on the Senate-approved measur.e, though not enough to kill it...

...This can be boring.'" Hedrick Smith of the New York 7~mes credited Baker with seizing on the New Federalism scheme for turning back federal programs to the states and making it the centerpiece of the President's State of the Union Address...

...This view was shared by John Walcott of Newsweek, who wrote in February that '~Haig is clearly in c h a r g e - - a t least for the moment...

...Despite such history, the Baker formula has worked splendidly, if only because it is so simple and aboveboard...

...But he never signed off on the excise tax boost...

...THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR APRIL 1982 29 But both David Broder of the Washington Post and John McLaughlin of National Review see Bush as a front-line player...

...The contrary is closer to the truth: Clark's insistence that policy will now follow the instincts and ideological convictions of his old California friend may weaken, not strengthen, Al Haig...

...Why did he fail to show how broad the congressional conSensus . . . refilly was...

...CHARTER VICTIMS OF COMMUNISM We weep for the poor Poles, living and partly living under martial law...

...Then came Hamilton Jordan, who got off on the wrong foot by pretending not to be chief of staff when every reporter in town knew that he really was...

...Human Events, the conservative weekly, once defended Baker, but now warns darkly ahout "Bakerization" of the White House...

...He will never, ever understand the economics of monetary policy, nor should he be expected to...

...Ever wonder how the press could have been so wrong about President Reagan and a tax increase...

...for his simplistic, cynical and onesided account of the congressional debate on the Alaska natural gas pipeline...

...Reagan had indeed discussed all this with his legislative s t r a t e g y group for two hours...

...By the time Jimmy Carter officially gave him the title, Jordan was the butt of reporters' ridicule...

...Why, if the vote was as one-sided in favor of the waiver package as it was, did he allow only opponents to speak...

...There is a vast difference between giving reporters an accurate White House view of things, which Baker gives, and leaking...

...That same day, R. Gerald Livingstone of Georgetown University's school of foreign service wrote on the op-ed page of the New York Times.that Haig, "teetering on the brink of resignation or dismissal seven months a g o . . , today is in a position to dominate foreign policy making...

...It may otherwise be true 30 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR APRIL 1982...

...No more than the Poles did they choose their present form of government...

...by Fred Barnes or thumb absent-mindedly through papers in a nearby office before rejoining the group...

...he sets asidetime on schedule each week for one-on-one sessions with reporters...

...Meese has waned...

...Another illustration of Baker's clout--and press recognition of it--appeared in the Washington Post Magazine in December in a piece on "a new kind of Lone Star politician in the White House--the Texas preppie...

...Finally, Baker is informative...

...The story of Mr...

...The oppressors are mostly Russians by birth, granted (though one or two of the very worst were, alas, of Polish origin--Dzerzhinski, Vishinski...

...Often, the reading ofentrails supplies a clear answer: Baker ap, Meese down...

...Since the days of H.R...

...Paradoxically, success could prove Baker's undoing," wrote Paul West of the Dallas Times Herald in January...

...On the other, if they refused to vote the waiver package, they were jeopardizing America's relations with Canada, voting certain death for the pipeline and with it the opportunity to provide a new large supply of natural gas...

...The higher the monkey climbs,' Baker likes to joke, 'the more you see of his behind.'" Conservatives, always skeptical of Baker because of his background as campaign manager for Gerald Ford in 1976 and Bush in 1980, are indeed taking aim...

...Chamber of Commerce...

...They looked on Bush as light and L e f t , " he wrote in J a n u a r y . "Instead, he is turning out heavy and R i g h t . . . an agreeable alternative should the President decide to serve only one t e r m . " John W. Mashek, the respected political editor of U.S...

...In Washington, recognition and influence often breed heightened expectations and greater risk...

...This doesn't mean he leaks incessantly...

...But one in which both houses of Congress voted overwhelmingly to approve the new financing...

...When Time appraised " t h e President's men" last December, Baker received the most favorable treatment, notably for his adherence to the politics-ismotion ideal...

...Donald Rumsfeld, President Ford's first chief of staff, alienated reporters with his let-me-unravel-the-flaws-in...

...We blame " t h e Russians" for imposing it on them...

...And the next day, January 21, xhe whole tax proposal fell apart a f t e r Reagan was lobbied over rolls at the White House mess by leaders of the U.S...

...Broder detected in December " a seeming resurgence of influence for a man who has more than once been dismissed as a fringe player in the a d m i n i s t r a t i o n . " McLaughlin went further, insisting that conservatives are warming to Bush...

...It may be true that the oppressors themselves are slaves of an ideology which has, or once had or purported to have, the happiness of Russians and all mankind as one of its purposes...

...It was a complex issue with a degree of right on both sides, Gans said...

...And he doesn't limit his contact to the heavyweights of Washington journalism--the bureau chiefs and columnists who appear on the television chat shows...

...B i l l Moyers, who recently returned to CBS after a stint with public broadcasting, is surely one of the saintliest figures in television news...

...by Colin Welch than most such armies...

...Why did he fail to present any of the complexities of the issue...

...Alone in Washington, Baker has the problem not of generating good press but of spawning too much...

...News & World Report, disagrees...

...Moyers' s t o r y , " continued Gans...

...Baker, as the President's chief political strategist, forced the pace of the policymaking and oversaw the development of the proposal put forward by Mr...

...They are vividly aware of Baker's distinct political temperament: He is a pragmatic conservative, not an ideological one...

...For instance, there was the Associated Press story in early January that reported: "President Reagan tentatively agreed yesterday to inctude in his 1983 budget proposals a doubling of major federal excise taxes and a shift of major highway, welfare and education responsibilities to the states, administration sources said...

...It said: "Administration officials reported tonight that President Reagan, wrapping up the final decisions on his proposed 1983 budget, has decided to ask Congress for temporary increases in federal excise taxes on gasoline, cigar e t t e s , whiskey and wine, but not beer...

...Far truer to say that those who oppress the Russians also oppress the Poles...

...your-question approach to the press...

...Some political analysts argue that the vice president, who pledged from the outset to keep a low profile, is growing so inconspicuous that he is nearly dropping out of sight," Mashek wrote in December...

...But perhaps not for long, added Rowland Evans and Robert Novak...

...26," Smith wrote in February...

...Baker spends time with the regulars on the White House beat...

...Reagan Jan...

...Treasury Secretary Donald Regan up, Budget Director David A. Stockman down...

...Richard Cheney, while able and well liked, was viewed as a Rumsfeld clone...

...The oppressors' record is strongly against them...

...Baker has earned a reputation for never putting a phony spin on events at the White House or overstating President Reagan's chances for success in Congress...

...But his niche in the pantheon of sacred cows has become shaky after a high-voltage broadcast in December in which he suggested that Congress and both political parties had been corrupted by natural gas interests...

...He pared $40 billion off a package of "revenue enhancers" that was initially pegged at $100 billion, cutting out such items as an oil import fee, aides said...

...Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Haldeman's replacement, was suspected of arranging a pardon for Richard Nixon...

...It was supposedly about Baker and Vice President George Bush, but Baker completely eclipsed Bush in the article...

...There followed similar stories with different sourcing...

...sion that anyone who voted for the waivers had been bought by Mr...

...They may think hungry people dangerous to them, or they may not...

...That, of course, was wrong...

...He is earnest, quietly inquisitive, and normally measured in his judgments...

...In an op-ed piece in the Baltimore Sun, Gans honored Moyers with "the 1981 Nadir Award for the lowest in television journalism...

...But even the Russian oppressors have become aliens, as foreign as any army of occupation and infinitely more unfeeling, callous, and cruel Colin Welch is Editor-in-Chief of Chief Executive and former deputy editor of t/oe London Daily Telegraph from which this article is reprinted...

...He is bored by details, impatient with lengthy memos...

...Obviously not enough, though...

...With Clark, his former State Department deputy, in control of machinery in the White House and non-political professionals installed at the top of his State Department, Haig's dominance is said to be complete," they wrote...

...As odd as it may seem, the supply-siders . . . retain their confidence in and respect for Jim Baker precisely because they see him as being driven by his own ambition to succeed as this President's chief of s t a f f , " wrote .Jude Wanniski in February...

...Baker's instinct is for action," the magazine said...

...Given his job, mere charm is not enough...

...Moyers bought the story lock, stock and barrel...

...Some GOP conservatives continue to distrust him as a centrist...

...By the same token General Jaruzelski must have become an alien, a foreigner to the Poles...

...But while it is legitimate for Mr...

...A close call...

...When his aides get into a windy discussion, he will sometime leave a meeting and pace restlessly around the White House halls [:red Barnes is National Political Reporter for the Baltimore Sun...

...Why did he choose to impugn the integrity of the overwhelming majority of both houses of Congress who voted for the waiver package...

...Second, he is unfailingly honest...

...A venerable practice of the press is trying to assess who is up and who is down in the reigning administration...

...My own view is that Bush has all the influence that his office bestows, which isn't much, and that Haig s hegemony in foreign policy is threatened by William P Clark, the new national security adviser at the White House...

...Last January 29, Karen Elliott House of the Wall Street Journal wrote that " r a t h e r than dominating the formulation of foreign policy, he [Haig] often finds himself alone, lashing out at Reagan aides he feels are unwisely denying him preeminence...

...All this w.orks wonders...

...All of which brings us back to Mr...

...Dan [Rather], if you want to know why so many people are fed up with both political parties and have ~ stopped voting and if you have a strong stomach, I have a case in point," he began his spot...

...The gist of it was that John McMillian, chairman of the Northwest Alaska Pipeline Company, and his co-investors had contributed $80,000 to congressional candidates and campaign committees and hired politically well-connected 28 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR APRIL 1982 lobbyists in a bid to win House and Senate approval of a new financing provision for the pipeline transporting natural gas from Alaska to the 42 consuming states, Moyers noted that McMillian's firm had reneged on an earlier pledge to fund the construction privately and now wanted permission to bill consumers, if neees sary, for the building of the project...

...Haldeman in the Nixon White House, the Boss of the presidential staff has been a lightning rod for criticism and often seen as a sinister figure...

...It would be a strange love and solicitude indeed which expressed i t s e l f in the murder or starvation of millions--50...

...The President, one aide said, had "reconciled himself to the concept," but not to the specifics...

...So was the story in the New York Times two days later...

...First, Baker is accessible...

...In mid-January the New York Times reported: "President Reagan has decided to go ahead with a proposal that would raise some taxes and give some of the revenue to the states, administration officials and congressional sources said yesterday...

...It was forced on them by ruthless terror and by such terror it is still maintained...

...Congress agreed...

...It is significant that Mr...

...He also qualifies, perh/lps because of his personal integrity, as something of a journalistic sacred cow...

...Shales's admiration for the broadcast was not shared, for one, by Curtis B. Gans, director of the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate...

...Why did he choose .explicitly to leave the impres...

...But not all conservative journalists have given up on Baker...

...All good questions...

...What Reagan had done, according to White House aides, was give " c o n c e p t u a l a p p r o v a l " to a scheme for transferring federal programs back to the states and raising taxes to give the states more money to finance the programs...

...The two.party system is not only up for grabs--it's up for sale," concluded Moyers...

...But sometimes the matter is murky, as in the case of Vice President Bush and Secretary of State Haig...

...For this episode illustrates how much his role and organizational authority have expanded this past year, while that of Mr...

...McMillian...

...Well, the stories that said Reagan was ready to jack up excise taxes turned out to be incorrect, but they actually had some basis in fact...

...In its February issue, Conservative Digest railed against Baker and other "non-Reaganites," saying that Baker "has been identified as a principal source of leaks trying to get the President to raise taxes...