Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post
Newsgroups: americast.wpost
From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com
Organization: American Cybercasting
Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com
Subject: Bush, Clinton Begin Finish-Line Sprint; Upbeat President, Charged by Polls,
Date: Fri, 30 Oct 92 04:28:31 EST
Message-ID: <6.1992Oct30.042831@AmeriCast.com>

Bush, Clinton Begin Finish-Line Sprint; Upbeat President, Charged
by Polls, Steps Up Rhetoric<By Ann Devroy=Washington Post Staff
Writer=

WARREN, Mich., Oct. 29 - Pumped up by the polls and the moment,
President Bush raced across Michigan today in rhetorical over-
drive, attacking the "way-out, far-out" Democratic ticket on
everything from northern spotted owls to his opponent's draft
record.

Bush, during his 12th campaign trip to this vital state, was in-
troduced at three stops in Detroit suburbs by Michigan Gov. John
M. Engler, who called the contest here "dead-even," the Democrat-
ic campaign "dead in the water" and the Bush campaign "hot."

And hot Bush was.

At a midday GOP rally at Macomb Community College, the president
unleashed a rhetorical fusillade on Bill Clinton and running mate
Sen. Albert Gore Jr., attacking their fitness for office, their
character and charging, "My dog Millie knows more about foreign
policy than these two bozos."

In particular, Bush targeted Gore, whom he now calls "Ozone Man,"
or just plain "Ozone."  "You know why I call him Ozone Man?" the
president said. "This guy is so far out in the environmental ex-
treme, we'll be up to our neck in owls and outta work for every
American. He is way out, far out, man."

While many of his aides were still waking up, Bush started his
morning with an hour of television interviews, chortling about
how Clinton had been "measuring the Oval Office for drapes" but
that now the race had tightened.

Bush, who dismissed pollsters as "nutty" just last week when they
showed him at least 10 or 12 points behind the Democrat, liked
them more today when polls showed a far narrower lead for Clin-
ton.

In a morning speech to the  Chamber of Commerce, a more  subdued
Bush portrayed Clinton as a typical Democrat who would raise
taxes, increase spending, and return the nation to the high-
inflation, high-unemployment era of Jimmy Carter.

But even there, Bush slipped into his now-familiar garbled syntax
in which he forgets his audience may be hearing a particular line
for the first time and fails to tell it the beginning of a story.
Or the end. Or the context.

Noting he had criticized the news media for being unfair, he told
those in the crowd they should not take their anger out on jour-
nalists. "Save your wrath for those faithless Republicans and
faithless Democrats who wrote me off about two months ago, be-
cause we're going to show that rathole we are going to win this
election."

At a later rally, Bush straightened out the rathole reference,
citing President Harry S.  Truman's complaint that the pundits
who predicted he would lose in 1948 "don't know how to pound sand
in a rathole."

Those writing him off, Bush said, are like those 1948 pundits.
Bush and his aides, who practiced for months in dismissing what
the president calls "gloom-and-doom" polls, had the tricky task
here today of arguing the president was finally on the move,
without mentioning the forbidden "Big Mo."

In 1980, Bush won his first presidential caucus  in Iowa and
tried running as the candidate with "Big Mo," big momentum. He
was soundly defeated because, many suggested, he based his candi-
dacy on momentum not issues. "We don't do Big Mo," said campaign
political director Mary Matalin. "we do C.O., cautious optimism."
Their optimism is based on public and private polls that show a
single digit race - they say a six point difference - and an
electoral breakdown that while not good, at least makes a win re-
motely possible if the closing trend continues.  The whole Bush
campaign, including the warm up speakers, were charged up today.
At the Warren event, Democratic state Sen. Gilbert J. Dinello
churned the crowd into a frenzy by calling Clinton a draft-
dodger, a liar and a man who "wails, whines and wimps out."

Actor Bruce Willis shouted into the microphone that Clinton was
not qualified to be president. "I'm pissed off," Willis shouted,
to hear the Democrat say he is qualified. At a later rally, this
one at the Gerald Ford Library in Grand Rapids, Willis introduced
the former president with the same complaints in language rare
for a political rally.

Bush, too, hit on what he said were Clinton's lack of qualifica-
tions for the Oval Office because of "waffling" on issues. "You
can't be president if you try to be all things to all people,"
Bush said, complaining Clinton had "if, ands and buts" to explain
his positions on every issue. "You cannot have a lot of buts in
the Oval Office," Bush screamed, his voice growing hoarse.  Bush
aides maintain that the tightening of the polls reflects an elec-
torate uneasy about Clinton's character, and they are doing all
they can to keep the dialogue these few remaining days on charac-
ter, rather than on the economy.  Bush occasionally got tongue
tied today as he went after his opponent.  He called New York
Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, Mary Cuomo. He tried to hit Clinton on the
draft and it came out like this: "You can't say I got an induc-
tion and then I didn't. You can't say you wrote the man that
once. You can't say that you're going to have one position and
then another position you got to stand up for. Take a position.
Lead. That's what being president is about. You cannot lead by
misleading."

". . . . And here is my appeal. Barbara and I both have tried to
uphold the public trust. And character. Bill Clinton - Bruce
Willis mentioned this, Bruce Willis said that, I mean, Clinton
said that it is not the character of the president but the char-
acter of the presidency.  Wrong. They're locked in. They are in-
terlocked."<02:08 10-30C9999-----

Copyright 1992, The Washington Post.  This story is from the
Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar-
chived or redistributed.

For more information, send-email to American Cybercasting Cor-
poration (usa@AmeriCast.COM)