By Mary Mostert, Analyst, Original Sources (www.originalsources.com)
February 16, 2000
George W. Bush demonstrated last night a characteristic he talks about a lot - that he is a "uniter, not a divider." In spite of some really underhanded attacks by John McCain, and Alan Keyes ability to consistently challenge both his opponents on the principles behind each of the issues brought up by Larry King, Bush did more than hold his own. He seemed to provide listeners with the kind of rhetoric they have been looking for - a promise to put an end to Clintonism, while bringing the disparate parts of the nation together under a banner that would be a far more moral administration than that of the last seven years, without going as far as Alan Keyes would go, which requires a real change of direction.
What seemed to be the most remarkable aspect of the debate was Bush's repeated efforts to reach out to both his opponents with a unifying message. "We are all conservatives," he said several times. "Both John McCain and Alan Keyes are good men."
His efforts, which came across the TV screen as natural and sincere, were somewhat dramatic in view of a John McCain persona which, at one point, caused me to think of a recent e-mail I had received from a former supporter and admirer of McCain that he was a "nasty little man." On several occasions he used oblique references to his military days to elicit sympathy from the audience, while finishing his sentence with what can only be called arrogant attacks to avoid pointed questions or statements.
At one point Alan Keyes accused both his opponents of "taking a position they can't defend" on abortion. McCain snapped at Keyes, "I've seen enough killing in my life. I will not listen to your lectures. " Following a statement by George W. Bush about taxes being "the people's money" McCain retorted that the issue required "a grown-up mentality" and threatened that if the Congress overrode his veto "I'll make them famous" - presumably by ruining the members of congress one way or another.
When Larry King, who was calling them all by their first name, apologized for not calling them Governor, Senator or Ambassador, both Bush and Keyes assured him that it was fine to call them by their first name. McCain said, obviously with the notion it was funny, "Please call me Senator or Your Highness." Only, it didn't sound like a joke. It just sounded incredibly arrogant and out of place. He followed that with a statement: "I want the negatives out of" the campaign.
After his frequent little digs at both candidates, his claim of wanting the "negatives" out of the campaign fell flat, as did his "joke" about being called "your highness." In fact, in what probably was a slip of the tongue he added, "This is the most negative campaign in history and I'm enjoying it!"
In the course of the debate, one of the issues was who was the "Washington Insider." McCain has tried to position himself as the "reform" candidate, the "outsider" or the maverick reformer. He also has attempted to portray himself as the "victim" of negative advertising. This appears to be an effort to appeal to voters who are sick of what they perceive as "inside the beltway" thinking and are opposed to negative campaigning. This elicited the best sound-byte of the evening when George W. Bush said, "Fifty-four percent of the people are suffering from Clinton Fatigue. Not a whole lot of people are naming their children Bill Clinton."
That part of the debate came about through a question asked by Larry King: "All right, Governor, what do you make of all these past two weeks, the charges and countercharges? You go and then the Senator. "
George W.'s response was remarkably restrained. John McCain came across as the immature whiner and Alan Keyes was the one with the presidential demeanor who remembered that the debate was being broadcast worldwide:
MR. BUSH Well, it's kind of politics and John and I shook hands and we said we weren't going to run ads and I kind of smiled my way through the early primaries and got defined. I'm not going to let it happen again. And we shook hands and unfortunately he ran an ad that equated me to Bill Clinton. He questioned my trustworthiness.
MR. KING Are you saying he broke the agreement with you?
MR. BUSH I'm just saying, you can disagree on issues. We'll debate issues. But whatever you do, don't equate my integrity and trustworthiness to Bill Clinton. That's about as low a blow as you can give in the Republican primary.
MR. KING And that's what got you mad to sort of fight back.
MR. BUSH Well, I stand by my ads.
MR. KING You wouldn't change any?
MR. BUSH No. I stand by what I'm trying to do. I mean, when the man says that I'm spending all the surplus on tax cuts and it's not true, I'm going to define what reality is.
MR. KING Senator McCain, did you break a promise?
MR. MC CAIN Well, let me tell you what happened. There was a ad run against me, we ran a counterad in New Hampshire. Governor Bush took the ad down and then I was beat up very badly by all of his surrogates, called Clinton, called Clinton-like, called a hypocrite ----
MR. KING In New Hampshire.
MR. MC CAIN No, here in South Carolina. You've seen it. Turn on the radio, turn on the television and unfortunately now, pick up the telephone and you'll hear a negative attack against John McCain. But let me tell you what really went over the line. Governor Bush had a event and he paid for it and stood next to a spokesman for a fringe veterans group. That fringe veteran said that John McCain had abandoned the veterans. Now, I don't know if you can understand this, George, but that really hurts. That really hurts. And so five United States senators, Vietnam veterans, heroes, some of them really incredible heroes, wrote George a letter and said apologize. You should be ashamed. You should be ashamed.
MR. KING Is he responsible for what someone else says?
MR. MC CAIN Well, this same man, he stood next to him. It was his event. This same man that attacked his father viciously. It was remarkable.
MR. BUSH Let me speak to that.
MR. MC CAIN So -- so, I'd be glad to tell you the rest of the story if you'd let me when it's appropriate.
MR. KING Well, let him respond on that point.
MR. BUSH Let me answer, let me answer that.
MR. KING Alan, you come in, too.
MR. MC CAIN You should be ashamed, you should be ashamed ----
MR. BUSH Let, let me say something ----
MR. MC CAIN of sponsoring an event with that man there, who had attacked your own father.
MR. BUSH Let me finish. John, I believe that you served our country nobly. And I've said it over and over again, that man wasn't speaking for me. He may have a dispute with you --
MR. MC CAIN Did you ----
MR. BUSH Let me finish please. Please.
MR. MC CAIN He's listed as your ----
MR. BUSH Let me finish. Let me finish.
MR. KING All right, let him finish.
MR. BUSH The man was not speaking for me. If you want to know my opinion about you, John, you served our country admirably and strongly. And I'm proud of your record, just like you are. And I don't appreciate what he said about my dad either. But let me say something, if you're going to be -- hold me responsible for what people for me say, I'm going to do the same for you. And let me give you one example. Warren Rudman, the man who you had as your campaign man in New Hampshire, said about the Christian Coalition that they're bigots. He talked about the Christian Coalition in a way that was incredibly strong. I know you don't believe that, do you?
MR. MC CAIN George, he's entitled to his opinion on that issue.
MR. BUSH Well, so is this man.
MR. MC CAIN You paid for an event.
MR. BUSH So is this man.
MR. MC CAIN You paid for an ----
MR. KING Please don't ----
MR. MC CAIN You paid for an event, you paid for an event ----
MR. BUSH John ----
MR. MC CAIN and stood next to a person. And when you were asked if you would repudiate him, you said no.
MR. BUSH No, John, what I said -- what I say --
MR. MC CAIN So, let me say what happened -- let me tell you what happened after that if I can.
MR. KING But I want Alan to give me one thing. If you have a surrogate making a speech for you today, are you responsible for what he says?
MR. MC CAIN If he's at your event --
MR. KEYES Larry, I'm sorry. I -- I -- I -- I really am sitting here wondering, because I said we were going out to 202 countries, and is this kind of pointless squabbling really what we want them to see? We're -- we're talking about electing the president of the United States --
MR. KING But it happened.
MR. KEYES No, let me -- happened or not happened. And I don't know whether this is the influence of the media corrupting our process or whether it's that personal ambition becomes a substitute for a real focus on substance, but it seems to me we've got a lot more important things. . .
MR. KING You say today that you're the reformer, you're the outsider, yet, 38 senators support you, 175 congressmen and 26 governors. That's not establishment?
MR. BUSH Well, let's start with the governors, those who know me best support me. I work with the governors. They know me well. They know I can lead. These are citizens that care about the future of the country. They've stood up and said we know the man's record, we know his capacity to bring people together. We know his record of reform in the state of Texas that's had great results for our citizens and we want him to be the leader. And you mentioned the United States senators -- 38 have endorsed my candidacy for which I'm grateful. These are citizens from all around the world -- all around the country -- including one from South Carolina names Strom Thurmond. They took a look at the three of us and decided that I ought to be the leader. They're looking for a fresh voice from outside. They want somebody to provide leadership and that's why they supported me. You know, I got defined early on as the insider and I kept telling people my zip code is Austin, Texas. That's where I made my stake. That's where I've developed my reputation and that's where those results are coming from. And John and Alan both have got Washington, D.C. addresses -- well, Maryland, I guess, isn't it? So I -- anyway.
MR. KING O.K. fair answer. He said he's still a reformer, he's still an outsider, they support him because they like him.
MR. MC CAIN Well, it's fair to say that I did not win again this year Miss Congeniality in the United States Senate. So I have to admit that to you.
MR. KING You're not popular in the Senate.
MR. MC CAIN No, because I've taken on the iron triangle: special interests, money and legislation, which we've been gridlocked by in Washington, D.C. And we've taken the government away from the people. And young people are being turned off in droves. And the fact is that I've been involved in lobbying -- lobbying ban, gift ban, line-item veto. I've attacked pork barrel spending and wasteful spending, which is now worse than it's ever been. In fact, George said that he would have -- he supported and would have signed a bill Citizens Against Government Waste said was the worst, most wasteful spending bill in history. And I fought against it. And I didn't make a lot of friends, because I point out these pork barrel spendings and these wasteful spendings. And I'll fight for reform until the last breath I draw so that we can get the American people back connected with their government. I'm trying to change this party, to bring it into the 21st century as a reform party in the tradition of Theodore Roosevelt.
MR. KING Alan.
MR. KEYES I find it so fascinating we talked about outsiders. I was so far outside this process at one point that the last cycle when they held this debate, I wasn't allowed to participate in it. . .
MR. KING Why aren't you doing better?
MR. KEYES -- why on earth don't we want to spend our best person to face Al Gore and Bill Bradley? Instead of sending folks into the debate -- the half hearted, the unconvicted, the folks who, in point of fact, can't make our case as well and effectively as we should make.
MR. KEYES We had a controversy over Bob Jones University and its politics, right? . . . Now, now it seems to me when you have a problem like that, does leadership consist in going into Bob Jones University where serious questions, in fact, do exist about religious bigotry and racial bigotry? Going in, taking the applause, risking nothing because you refuse to raise the issues? That's what G.W. Bush did. Or does it consist in getting on your high horse, refusing to go talk to good-hearted Christian people because you believed a bunch of prejudicial slander in the press and then staying away, not even carrying a message of integrity to them?
Or does it consist, in fact, in going in, carrying a message of truth and integrity about this country's moral principles and then looking them in the eye and saying, I'm a black Roman Catholic Christian married to an Indian woman, and if you can't deal with the demons of racial bigotry and religious bigotry and cast them out, you'll accomplish no good for this country.
MR. KING Why --
MR. KEYES Which is the better leader? You tell me.
While John McCain would like voters to THINK other senators "don't like him" because of his high-minded reform goals, in actuality they don't like him because he has a cavalier attitude where truth and accuracy are concerned. In fact, there is an article in the Washington Post today which touches on why other senators dislike McCain. He has accused them, on an internet site, of being corrupt and, when challenged to give specifics, he won't do it. (Click here to read Washington Post article)
It should be an interesting election. A phenomenon I began reporting following the Iowa Caucuses in January is finally beginning to be noticed by mainstream journalists: Democrats are not casting a lot of votes for either Gore or Bradley. They are crossing over and voting in the Republican primaries where that is possible. Where is it not possible, such as in Delaware, McCain has about half the votes that Bush receives. When they can vote in the Republican Primary, i.e. in New Hampshire, they are crossing over and voting for John McCain. Why? Because John McCain is more Democrat and Republican.
It will be interesting to see how the South Carolinians vote after McCain calls a university they are quite proud of "stupid, " idiotic" and "incredibly cruel" because of its ban on interracial dating. He may very well have overplayed his hand in South Carolina. He received only 5% of the Iowa Caucus vote when he slammed the State's farmers by saying the corn they grow and sell that is used for ethanol is "corruption" which should be stopped.
McCain resorted to name-calling. Keyes, on the other hand confronted the issue and called the people to change in order to accomplish good things for the nation. Bush did not confront the issue head-on but, when asked if he supported the ban on inter-racial dating, responded: "Of course not. Of course not," and pointed out that his younger brother, Jeb, governor of Florida is married to a girl from Mexico.
We'll find out on Saturday night whether the people of South Carolina respond best to name-calling by McCain, avoiding the issue in search of unity by Bush or a call to repent and improve their behavior by Alan Keyes.
To comment: mmostert@originalsources.com
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