FARBSTEIN FINDS IT DIFFICULT TO EVADE WAR ISSUE
Even the conservative Democrats -~ the most ardent admirers of Johnson and his policies -- are being compelled to admit the unpopularity of the war in Vietnam. A good example is the following opening paragraph in a campaign letter sent out June 16 by Leonard Farbstein of the 19th Congressional District: in Manhattan:
"There is no getting away from the unpleasant fact that over the current session of Congress hangs the bitter presence of the. war in Vietnam. Apart from a few wild men of the Goldwater stripe, no one favors the war. Everyone opposes it. But a divisive. dispute exists over how to get out of it. Some say’ we should simply drop all our commitments and go home. Others say we must bomb the enemy into submission, so that we can go home victorious. I, personally, cannot subscribe to either of these extremes. I do not believe that we can renege on our commitments; on the other hand, I regard it as pointless to try to gain the allegiance of a small nation by reducing it to rubble. Somewhere we must find a sensible middle ground. Iam firmly. opposed to escalating the war, particularly in view of the discord within the camp of our South Vietnamese ally. What I believe we must do is to search constantly for the means of negotiating a settlement either through the United Nations or with
the help of friendly countries. Some means of communications must be found between South and North Vietnam so that peace can be obtained."
That's quite a mouthful of mush. Farbstein does his utmost to avoid mentioning that the wild man of the Goldwater stripe who took the U.S. into this undeclared war which everyone opposes: WAS: 3 no, one unhappy acknowledgment about the impossibility of getting away from the war issue is strong testimony as to how deep the opposition to the war is running among the American