myers@uwvax.ARPA (Jeff Myers) (09/20/83)
Brad Srebnik states that Reagan's popularity won't rise after the plane incident because he did nothing substantial about it. I, along with the Christian Science Monitor (an excellent paper for you foreign policy types), disagree. His moderate response, not cutting off diplomatic relations, the arms talks, or the grain deal are making him seem less of a gung-ho confrontationist. It's gonna buy him alot of moderate votes, certainly more than he'll lose from his right. What has been done so far? A call for disallowing Soviet passenger flights for a fixed period (circa 60 days), and, sadly, the cutting off of the talks on re-establishing cultural and scientific exchanges between the US and the USSR. Reagan may be dumb, but he's a shrewd politician. Jeff Myers ********************************************************************