Spotlight on the A.C.L.U.

It defends Nazis and gays, Ollie North and Jehovah's Witnesses

Campaign '88 has yielded another nugget of political wisdom: never join an organization more controversial than the Boy Scouts or the American Automobile Association. Had Michael Dukakis known that membership in the American Civil Liberties Union would identify him personally with every position it has taken -- and some it has not -- he might have rethought those $20 annual dues.

The A.C.L.U. has replaced the flag and the Pledge of Allegiance as George Bush's hot-button "values" issue, quite an achievement for a 68-year-old association with 250,000 members that was until recently often confused with a large California school with a...

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