Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Conservatives' pre-emptive strike backfires on them Date: Sat, 31 Oct 92 14:00:15 EST Message-ID: \SE A;NATION;CAMPAIGN '92;NEWS ANALYSIS \HD Conservatives' pre-emptive strike backfires on them \BY Ralph Z. Hallow \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES President Bush's surprise comeback in the polls caught some 40 conservative leaders with their invitations down at a summit meeting yesterday. "Barring a miracle, Bill Clinton will be elected president on Nov. 3," said the invitations, dated Oct. 16. "The Republican Party . . . is in tatters. . . . The Bush forces [are] blaming the conservative movement for the disaster they have caused." But after five hours of asking themselves "quo vadis," the conservatives ended their summit sounding a bit confused about who they are and what they had decided. "Everybody in that meeting endorsed George Bush for president [and] is committed to the proposition that a Clinton presidency would be a disaster for this country," said L. Brent Bozell III, who was finance director of Pat Buchanan's primary campaign to unseat Mr. Bush. Burton Yale Pines, a think-tank president at the summit, said that before the Republican National Convention he called on Mr. Bush not to run for re-election "because he couldn't win" and "because he had abandoned everything Republicans and conservatives had stood for." Finding himself "extraordinarily encourged by events of the last few weeks," however, Mr. Pines said Mr. Bush "is sounding and speaking more conservative. Therefore, he will win, and we look forward with enthusiasm to his victory." Paul M. Weyrich, president of the Free Congress Foundation, disputed Mr. Pine's and Mr. Bozell's contentions that Mr. Bush has shifted to a conservative agenda in recent weeks. Rather, Mr. Weyrich argued, the president has attacked Mr. Clinton's record and character, "and that has seemed to work." Some who did not attend seemed unhappy with the whole idea. "The timing of the meeting was singularly inappropriate," said GOP consultant Craig Shirley, a longtime Bush supporter. "This is the time to close ranks, not to go onto the battlefield and shoot our wounded. "They claimed the tenor of the meeting was one thing, but the letter was something else." Matt Glavin, president of the Georgia Public Policy Council, a think tank, called the summit "disgusting." "Some of these guys were against Bush because he deserted conservative principles four years ago," Mr. Glavin said. "But now that the polls show Bush's ship may not be sinking after all, the rats are scurrying back aboard." He called the summit's last-minute rallying around the president "symptomatic of problems in the conservative movement: a lack of adherence to principles. Basically, they are putting power over principles." Seeing gold in independent Ross Perot's mountain of supporters, the conservatives devoted much of the summit to ways to mine it. "Whoever co-opts that basically conservative vote will become a majority party," Mr. Weyrich said. Reflecting new thinking among a growing number of conservative intellectuals and activists outside Washington, Mr. Weyrich said the politics of Mr. Perot's followers matches that of many Americans searching for answers. "It is becoming less conservative vs. liberal and more establishment vs. anti-establishment." Mr. Weyrich also said there is "no question" that former President Ronald Reagan can communicate better than Mr. Bush the values held by most Americans. If the Bush campaign wants to win, it will buy half-hour slots on the TV netorks Monday night and put Mr. Reagan on to urge Americans to give Mr. Bush four more years, he said. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM