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: GOP will bounce back, Bush tells tribute dinner Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 14:23:38 EST Message-ID: \SE A;NATION \SS (WS) \HD GOP will bounce back, Bush tells tribute dinner \BY FROM COMBINED DISPATCHES President Bush, in his first extended remarks since his Election Day defeat, last night received an emotional tribute from fellow Republicans and predicted that the party soon will recover from his loss. "I think we've had a good record of stewardship," Mr. Bush said at the New Republican Leadership Dinner, where Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole was the host. "The idea that this party has seen its demise . . . that the party is out of here, I don't believe it for one single minute," Mr. Bush said. A choked-up Mr. Dole told the president, "Just as I know that you've changed the world, I also know the best man didn't win on Election Day." The Kansas Republican organized the dinner in a private hall at Union Station for 160 of the Republican Party elite, including Vice President Dan Quayle, the Cabinet, past and present senators, and House leaders. Mr. Bush said Mr. Dole, who will be the highest-ranking Republican elected official when President-elect Bill Clinton takes office Jan. 20, has earned the right to lead the party in the "troubled and tough days that lie ahead." Mr. Dole, who was Mr. Bush's foe in a bitter 1988 primary fight, told the president, "You've been a great president and a great friend . . . a man of integrity, dedication and strength." "George Bush helped change the world," he said. "You didn't just watch the Berlin Wall come down; you helped dismantle it brick by brick." Mr. Bush's loss to Mr. Clinton will end 12 years of Republican control of the White House and has sparked a round of finger-pointing over who bears responsibility for the loss. Mr. Bush urged the party faithful not to fall into "the tendency when there's a defeat of this magnitude and this hurtfulness and of this enormity . . . to criticize, to find somebody to blame." He said he is confident the Republicans will return to power in Washington and that there is nothing to be gained from "falling into this second-guessing trap." The 68-year-old Mr. Bush basically has been in seclusion since the election, spending most of his time at Camp David or the White House. Mr. Bush, in his first speech since his defeat Nov. 3, said he had misgivings about attending "something like a wake." "I didn't want to come here, but I'm sure glad I did," said the president, who leaves today for a five-day fishing trip in Boca Grande, Fla. "I didn't want to come here, but I'm sure glad I did," Mr. Bush said. "Don't worry about the Bushes." Earlier, Senate Republicans met and re-elected Mr. Dole as their leader for the two-year session of Congress that begins in January. Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson again was chosen assistant Republican leader in the Senate. House Minority Leader Bob Michel lauded Mr. Quayle, saying he had made "so much more" of an office once reviled by John Nance Garner as a "warm bucket of spit." "You stood up to the best of them and . . . made us all proud that Dan Quayle was our vice president," the Illinois Republican said. Mr. Quayle looked back on the 16 years he has spent in Congress and the White House and thanked Mr. Bush "for what you have done for this great nation of ours." "You, sir, do not have to worry about your place in history," he said. "History is going to be very kind to you and your administration. . . . We loved, respected and enjoyed working with you. It's been the best four years of my life." 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