Europe Scoffs at Puritanism in Hart Story

The Soviets today blamed Gary Hart’s destroyed presidential candidacy on media persecution, while a London newspaper told Americans to “grow up” and others in Europe poked fun at the nation’s puritanism.

Izvestia, the Soviet government newspaper, expressed sympathy for the first presidential candidate received by Soviet Leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev and said the debacle served the interests of the Reagan Administration.

“Many local observers in the United States are expressing the opinion that the Hart scandal was no coincidence,” the newspaper said.

Reagan Critic

The article’s tone reflected the reputation Hart had in the Soviet Union as a leading critic of President Reagan and a man who might have been easier to deal with if he had won the 1988 election.

“For God’s sake, America, grow up,” London Evening Standard commentator Peter McKay said in an essay criticizing Americans for stressing politicians’ character rather than their ability. “Can any idea about the presidency be more infantile?”

Photographs of Hart and and a swimsuit-clad Donna Rice, the 29-year-old actress he is alleged to have spent a night with last weekend, first hit the front pages of many European papers Wednesday. Many followed up Thursday with photos of Hart’s wife, Lee.

From Greece to Norway, few papers could resist a story spicing politics with a suggestion of sex.

“The Beauty Who Sank Hart,” headlined the conservative Greek daily Eleftheros Typos.

The Pain of Love

“The Disastrous Love Story of Gary Hart,” ran the headline in the French daily Le Matin.

“A Fall Over Beauty” commented West Germany’s conservative daily Die Welt.

Many European newspapers took the opportunity to comment on what they saw as America’s puritanism.

The socialist Le Matin ran a cartoon depicting Pope John Paul II as the only candidate clean enough to run in the United States.

“The ‘scandal’ surrounding the private life of Gary Hart would doubtless appear ridiculous in any Western country except Reagan’s America, largely won over by the return to puritanism,” wrote commentator Jean-Louis Morillon. “Before asking for the candidate’s (political) program and considering his abilities, the voter wants to know first if he’s cheating on his wife.”