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: Mad enough to spit, but no saliva tests Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 14:59:57 EST Message-ID: \SE A;NATION;PRUDEN ON POLITICS \HD Mad enough to spit, but no saliva tests \BY Wesley Pruden \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES A little saliva goes a long way, except in certain Republican circles. Some of these guys should have been dentists, because they can't get enough of it. Alan Simpson, the straight-talking senator from Wyoming (the state with perhaps the least tolerance of the mouthy mumbo-jumbo that sells so well in the East), remarked the other day that if George Bush should lose he could blame Republicans, not Democrats. Someone called him on it yesterday on NBC-TV's "Meet the Press." "Did I say that?" asked Mr. Simpson. "I remember it now. It comes to me like a spectral image. Yeah, well -" "Who were they?" "Well, there were plenty of them. I know this party. My father [the late Milward Simpson] was a delegate to the national convention in 1952 for Ike and therefore he was called a pinko by some in the party who were favoring Robert A. Taft. And yet when Pop left the U.S. Senate he was called someone to the right of Barry Goldwater. "And he said, 'How does this party manage to confer those types of definitions?' The issue is when Republicans are unified, they're magnificent, and when they give each other the saliva test of purity, they're a mess. And there were a lot of them giving that test and - and George Bush suffered because of it . . . I hope he won't be hard on himself. He's a very decent and splendid man." Mr. Simpson understands, as a growing number of pols, observers, analysts and even some of those in the media who were leading the rahs-rahs only last week do, that Bill Clinton's mandate of the 43 percent reveals unusual opportunities for the Republicans if they can resist the usual temptation to shoot their wounded for supper. This is the political disease found most often on the fringe. Democrats suffer from it, too. The trick for the Republicans is to be nice to the president-elect while making life as miserable for the liberal and left-wing red-hots who will soon enough be taking shots at the new president for not being as savage and as nutty as they are. The place to make a start is with Lawrence Walsh, a one-time Republican who agreed to make his special prosecutor's office a front for the Democratic campaign. At his age, Mr. Walsh probably figures he may never get another client so easy to roll, so he has to hang on to this one. An old man can chase ambulances, but he can't count on catching one. Barratry is hardly the word for what he's doing. Mr. Simpson is eager to make Mr. Walsh pay for his manipulation of the election campaign by tipping the Clinton-Gore campaign, seeking to implicate the president, the day before his grand jury indicted Caspar Weinberger. "Just because [Mr. Weinberger] wouldn't plead to a misdemeanor they indicted him, and one of the young jackals of the law fraternity who was involved [told him]: 'You'll probably get off, but it's going to cost you a lot of bucks. Good luck.' " Bob Dole of Kansas, the Republican leader in the Senate, wants an investigation - by the Justice Department first, then maybe even by another special prosecutor - of the travesty that Mr. Walsh has made of due process, the law and the Congress. "One thing we ought to do is to make certain we have a special prosecutor to look into Walsh's activity the Friday before the election - the so-called special prosecutor - because the attorney handling that case contributed $500 to Bill Clinton. His law firm contributed $20,000 to Clinton. "There's something wrong there when the press release from the Clinton-Gore headquarters [was dated] the 29th of October and the indictment didn't come until the 30th. There must have been some communication between the Clinton-Gore people and the special prosecutor's office." If Bill Clinton had been similarly set up, the press would be leading the cry for retribution, if not justice. We all know that. But instead of railing at the press, and at each other, the Republicans ought to make the Walsh fiasco their next campaign, beginning this morning. They could do the Republic a service, and save a lot of saliva, too. 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