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Buchanan, Novak and Barnes applauded the decision as recognition that America had gone too far towards racial quotas and that the "Reagan Revolution" was alive and well thanks in part to the new conservative majority on the Supreme Court. John McLoughlin remarked that "whites are now back in the mosaic".
Bush: Savings and Loans and the Environment:
The prevailing view was that Bush had scored couple of significant victories in Congress having his veto on the Minimum Wage Bill upheld and beating back the Savings and Loans lobby's attempt to weaken his reform package. His environmental proposals got a somewhat more mixed reception. Centrist and liberal commentators applauded his plan as an effort to break the eight year environmental stalemate on pollution standards. They saw it as a plan which embodied a new sense of reality. Hardline conservatives, however, saw it as "a return to Carterism" and "economic disaster"; a foolish decision to impose a heavy burden on industry which would damage US competitiveness.
New Democratic Leadership:
General agreement was that the new Democratic leadership team of Foley, Gephardt and Gray was a strong one and that the Republican National Committee's "scum bag politics" had backfired. The Republicans were now on the defensive.
Gorbachev's Visit to West Germany:
"Gorby had taken Germany by storm" summed up reactions. Pundits thought that Gorbachev had lifted the sense of fear, the Germans were grateful and the Soviet leader had handled his visit skillfully. Hardline conservatives denounced what they saw as "the disgraceful reaction of the German people" suggesting that they had succumbed to a kind of "collective Stockholm syndrome".
ISSUES OF BRITISH INTEREST
Hong Kong and Boat People:
The implications of the Beijing massacre for the future of Hong Kong continued to attract considerable coverage and comment. The UN Conference on Indo-Chinese Refugees also attracted attention.
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Britain's demand that the boat people not qualifying refugee status be forceably returned to Vietnam prominently and negatively reported in the US media. York Times noted that the UN Conference was very different
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