Copyright 1999 P.G. Publishing Co.
Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette
December 3, 1999, Friday, SOONER EDITION
SECTION: NATIONAL, Pg. A-26, ALMANAC
LENGTH: 859 words
HEADLINE: ON
THIS DATE;
BUSH JOINS GOPDEBATE, BUT NO HARM IS DONE
BYLINE: COMPILED BY EMILY L. BELL AND MILAN SIMONICH;
ANN MCFEATTERS, POST-GAZETTE NATIONAL BUREAU
DATELINE:
WASHINGTON-
BODY:
Six rounds. No knockouts.
Some runs. Some hits. No errors.
A couple of nice touchdown
passes but nothing for the record books.
In the hard-knocks world of
politics, where sports metaphors pop up like beads of sweat, the lay of the
political landscape did not change with the long-awaited appearance by Texas
Gov. George W. Bush on stage for the first time with the five other Republican
presidential candidates. In a fast-paced, 90-minute, nondebate
question-and-answer session, broadcast from Manchester, N.H., last night on the
Fox TV network, the six candidates all came across as well-briefed, articulate,
committed and polite.
Bush has been the national GOP front-runner all
year; last night, he committed no major gaffes that would move him significantly
back in the pack. But he had no impressive new moves that wowed pundits and, at
times, seemed almost overrehearsed.
If there was a surprise, it was a
smooth performance by Bush's closest rival, Arizona Sen. John McCain, who came
across as lively and entertaining, joking that questions about his temper make
him mad.
He also got off one of the most unpolitical statements of the
night. Speaking of the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, McCain said that
if Alan Greenspan were to die in that post while he was president, he would prop
up the Fed chief and put a pair of dark glasses on him, as was done to a dead
man in the movie "Weekend at Bernie's."
It wasn't Fox's top-rated
"Simpsons," but for viewers who feared that they might be bored watching the GOP
candidates mix it up 11 months before the election, McCain summed up the
evening: "I had a lot of fun tonight. I believe it's been a good experience."
Radio talk-show host Alan Keyes - who made an impassioned attack on the
media for, in his view, treating his candidacy with racism - impressed the home
audience who voted in an Internet instant poll conducted by Fox. He was declared
a winner by almost as many as voted for Bush.
The major question of the
night was still: How did front-runner Bush do? The prevailing opinion was that
he showed presence, wit and willingness to parry with his opponents.
Asked by Fox News' Brit Hume what he reads, Bush named four newspapers:
The Dallas Morning News, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the
Austin American Statesman but said he's not sure he gets much knowledge from
them. He said he is reading a book about Dean Acheson, Harry Truman's secretary
of state. He said he likes mysteries and novels. But more important than what he
reads, he said, is that he knows how to lead. And, he quipped, most Americans
are probably pleased that he knows how to read.
As for his leadership
ability and his lack of foreign policy experience, he noted that he was the only
one of the candidates who has been a chief executive, since he is serving his
second term as governor.
When millionaire publisher Steve Forbes accused
Bush of "betrayal" for suggesting that it might be necessary to look at raising
the age for Social Security benefits beyond 67, Bush quoted Forbes saying two
decades ago that just such a solution might be necessary.
Two months
before New Hampshire voters go to the polls in the nation's first primary,
Americans who tuned in saw each candidate emote for less than 12 minutes in a
frustrating format that permitted little give-and-take among the candidates but
featured a ringing bell whenever they spoke for more than a minute on initial
replies or 45 seconds on follow-ups.
One by one, Bush, McCain, Forbes,
Keyes, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch and former Reagan White House aide Gary Bauer,
answered questions posed by Hume and New Hampshire TV anchor Karen Brown. They
did not delve deeply into issues; there wasn't time enough.
Bush
exchanged few barbs with his fellow candidates. He went out of his way to praise
as "a good man" McCain, who is running neck-andneck with him in New Hampshire.
On the other hand, Hatch criticized McCain's Internet web site for not being
user-friendly.
Bush defended his trillion-dollar tax cut proposal as a
correct move, noting that he had been criticized from all sides for it. And he
said he'd consider new Washington regulations reducing
sulfur in gasoline, something his home state
refiners oppose.
Asked how he would handle Saddam Hussein, Bush said he
would not ease the United Nations economic sanctions against Iraq, would not
negotiate with the Iraqi leader, would help his internal opposition, would make
him live up to the documents he had signed and, if he learns that Iraq has
weapons of mass destruction, "I'd take them out." He didn't say how he'd do that
but added, "I'm surprised he's still there."
Speaking directly to the
American people through the camera lens, Bush said he's running to pass power
back to local folks, so that no child is left behind, and to save Social
Security. "I'm a uniter, not a divider," he said.
Ignoring advice not to
seem to be overconfident, he referred to putting his hand on the Bible to take
the oath of office. And as if practicing for Oval Office speeches, he ended his
two-minute wrapup by saying, "Thank you and God bless."
GRAPHIC: PHOTO, PHOTO: WIN MCNAMEE/REUTERS: THE
REPUBLICAN HOPEFULS BEFORE LAST; NIGHT'S DEBATE, FROM LEFT: CONSERVATIVE
ACTIVIST GARY BAUER, TEXAS GOV. GEORGE; W. BUSH, MAGAZINE PUBLISHER STEVE
FORBES, UTAH SEN. ORRIN HATCH, RADIO TALK; SHOW HOST ALAN KEYES AND ARIZONA SEN.
JOHN MCCAIN.
LOAD-DATE: December 6, 1999
