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GOP rivals get nasty at latest debate | page 1, 2
Their differences were mainly in personality. Bush was his cocky, glib and suspect self; McCain intense and wacky, uncharacteristically straining to remind people of his war heroics. The automatonic Forbes preached the supply-side gospel according to Wanniski while smartypants Bauer channeled his pubescent self, no doubt subject to numerous schoolyard poundings. Keyes deigned to display his brilliance to us all, while teetering on the precipice of meltdown. Hatch presumably had a pulse. All of the candidates agreed with the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy shoving gays and lesbians in the military into the closet for the sake of unit cohesion -- with the notable exception of Keyes, that is, who favors returning to the original policy of an outright ban on them serving at all. "The military is not an agency for social experimentation," said Forbes, whose late millionaire father was a frequent visitor at gay leather bars. They also agreed that Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez should remain in the United States rather than be returned to his father in Communist Cuba. Keyes argued that there the constitution provides no guaranteed separation of church and state; Hatch said that he was best suited to pick federal judges; Bauer asserted that he was the pro-life-iest of them all. Both Forbes and Hatch had to fend off questions about the seeming impotence of their campaign efforts. McCain has been pounded so hard this week that Thursday's debate was something of an anticlimax, as Bush generally remained out of the fray. The Arizona senator spent much of Wednesday and Thursday on the defensive, answering questions about a contributor, Lowell "Bud" Paxson, for whom McCain did a favor. Only weeks ago, the Boston Globe revealed, McCain wrote a letter to the Federal Communications Commission urging action on an issue of financial interest to Paxson regarding the sale of a Pittsburgh television station that had been bottlenecked in the bureaucracy. Since McCain has made campaign finance reform a major issue in his legislative career as well as his campaign, the thinking went, he was thus vulnerable to accusations of hypocrisy. It's not surprising that some see Bush behind the sudden trouble for McCain. Lurking in the darkness of a New Hampshire hotel bar on Wednesday night, I happened upon a number of operatives from a rival GOP campaign. Whispering in hushed tones, barely illuminated in the soft glow of one remote lamp, the campaign staffers looked like extras from "The Sopranos." They were talking about why Bush and his camp have been heaving so much garbage at McCain. "You oughta see Bush's poll numbers," one said. "The voters of New Hampshire have figured this guy out." "Figured him out how?" I asked. "That there's nothing there," another replied. "New Hampshire voters are smart. They see through him. And that's why he's been going so negative, why this Bush surrogate has whacked McCain here, why that Bush surrogate has leaked that story to the Boston Globe" -- the largest newspaper in New England -- "and why it's going to keep going. If they can't build Bush up, they'll at least tear McCain down." Which Bush and his surrogates have been doing fairly well. Bush himself warned Thursday that if McCain is going to run for president on campaign finance reform, "He better walk the walk. Sen. McCain is the chairman of a very powerful committee in the United States Senate," Bush nudged. This despite the fact that there is zero evidence that McCain has done anything illegal or untoward or even remotely unseemly, especially in comparison with the normal antics in the back rooms of the Best Li'l Whorehouses in Washington. McCain asserted that the very questions he's being asked about Paxson are the reason why he's been fighting for campaign finance reform. The appearance of impropriety, he said, "taints us all. No matter what we do, we're under a cloud of suspicion." Is McCain "walking the walk?" Russert asked Bush. "I thought his answer was fine," Bush said, turning the subject to campaign finance reform and how it will allegedly hurt the GOP. Then McCain lectured Bush. "I don't think you have any idea" of the corrupting influence of campaign finance cash, he told him. "I don't think you have any idea what I have any idea of," Bush sniffed. McCain knows all too well how screwy and stinky the loopholes in the campaign finance laws can be. In the last few days, Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative group headed by Bush supporter Grover Norquist, has been running anti-McCain "issue ads" in New Hampshire. "He's the only Republican candidate approved by the liberal New York Times," the ad says. "Bill Clinton, Al Gore and big labor all endorse his top legislative priorities. Sen. John McCain. Helping Democrats pass a campaign finance bill that would keep the Republican Party from fighting the liberal national media. Yet McCain's bill would leave trial lawyers, labor unions and pro-abortion groups free to attack Republicans -- just like they did for Bill Clinton." At this point in the ad, McCain's face morphs into that of Clinton. "This ad is a scandal and the media should follow the money," charged Warren Rudman, a McCain supporter and former New Hampshire senator, before the debate. In the debate, however, McCain took a more humorous approach to the Bush surrogate's attack. "Ask him to get a better picture, will you?" he joked, "and ask him at least to disclose where this money is coming from." The money is only a $100,000 buy, only on WMUR-TV, and only for a month. If McCain continues to remain a threat to Bush, he should expect -- as he does -- a lot more money, a lot more dirty and misleading accusations and a lot more people fighting George W's fights for him. Duck, Senator! The candidates next square off Friday night in South Carolina.
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