He’s Done it Again

BOSTON- You might have called it an eye-opening week. First President Reagan. a man notoriously myopic toward women, actually found one to nominate for the Supreme Court. Sandra O’Connor was not only a woman, he said, she was a •µerson for all ~ea~ons.” Then we watched as controversy over this person brewed between the extreme right and the merely right. ‘l’o see Barry Goldwater representing the moderate middle was enough to clarify anyone’s vision. The coalition of groups alternately labeled “pro-family” or “moral majority” disapproves of Sandra O’Connor. They maintain that her voting record as majority leader in the Arizona Senate was not pure enough to pass the test of the Republican Party Platform. That platform, you may recall, demanded judges who “respect traditional family values and the sanctity of innocent human life.” But anti -abortion groups, t.he Moral Majority, fnc., and others criticized O’Connor as suspiciously pro-abortion and.pro-ERA. This attitude was enough to put Goldwater’s famous jaw out of joint. “I’m getting a little tired of people in this country raising hell because they don’t happen to subscribe to every thought that person has,” he said. “You could offer the Lord’s name for some of these positions and you’d find some of these outfits objecting … ” In any case, it was quite a stroke for Reagan, in the midst of all the budget cuts, to find an appointment criticized as too “liberal.” Meanwhile, O’Connor’s real record turned out to be about as middle-ofthe-