07/26/99 - LOS ANGELES TIMES [6/24]   AS BUSH'S SAILS GATHER WIND, SOME CONSERVATIVES ARE JUMPING SHIP: BUCHANAN MAY BE BIGGEST THREAT A Republican Party effort to dispel the GOP's harsh image by rallying around Texas Gov. George W. Bush has sparked a backlash among conservatives, who threaten to abandon the party for a candidate with a sharper ideological edge.     Talk of such insurrection is a virtual staple every four years. This time, however, the mutinous rumblings have apparently started earlier than ever, reflecting both a speeded-up campaign and the widely held sense that, failing some epic event, the Republican contest may be effectively over before any votes are cast. Already, Sen. Bob Smith of New Hampshire has quit the GOP, accusing its leaders of watering down the party's principles in its quest for victory and vowing to wage an independent run for president that stresses his uncompromising opposition to abortion rights and gun control.     More worrisome to Republicans, however, is the prospect of still another rump candidacy, this one by Patrick J. Buchanan, the conservative commentator and runner-up for the party's 1996 nomination.    The incendiary Buchanan has pointedly refused to rule out a breakaway bid if the GOP swerves from a hard-line stance on the social issues he holds dear. "The Republican establishment is moving away from anything controversial in its thirst for victory," Buchanan asserted during a campaign swing this week through Michigan. "I don't think there's anything they wouldn't jettison or throw over the side." Adding to the unsettled picture is the Reform Party, which opened a three-day convention Friday and suffers its own internal strife between forces loyal to its founder and chief bankroller, Texas businessman Ross Perot, and a faction backing Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura....     By their very nature, however, third-party insurgencies tend to be minority-led movements, given the circumstances that most often spawn electoral insurrection. In some cases, a third party arises because the majority parties fail to address some pressing social issue, such as slavery in the case of the Whigs and Democrats, resulting in the birth of the Republican Party. In other instances, one or the other major parties alienates a core constituency, resulting in a splinter movement, such as when the Dixiecrats split off from the Democratic Party over civil rights. The current unrest reflects the latter circumstance, a feeling among some on the far right that the Republican establishment, enraptured with Bush, is compromising its philosophy simply for the sake of ending the GOP's eight-year exile from the White House.     "I have concluded that the Republican Party, with its big-tent philosophy, could win election but not change the course of public policy," said Howard Phillips, a former Republican and founder of the U.S. Taxpayer Party, which will likely nominate Smith as its presidential standard-bearer. "The Republican Party is the biggest fraud because it has pretended to be something it's not." ... But even some Republicans who find no fault with Bush are concerned that the GOP nominating contest may, for all intents, be ending too quickly, before most of the public and many important issues are engaged. "A good, healthy debate will strengthen the candidate, strengthen the campaign and prepare the party for the main event," said Scott Reed, who managed Republican Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign. "It would not only be good, but it's vital if we're going to run a strong campaign next summer and next fall against Al Gore." ... 07/23/99 - BULLETIN'S FRONTRUNNER [7/22]   BUCHANAN SAYS TRADE POLICY FAILS IOWA FARMERS The AP (7/21, Glover) reported that during a stop in Indianola, Iowa, Pat Buchanan said "family farms are being threatened by trade policies that don't go far enough in opening up foreign markets to American exports." Buchanan "called for a fundamental overhaul of the nation's trade policies, including a review of the trade embargo against Cuba." Buchanan said, "It is not now a threat to national security to sell food to Cuba. I would take a look at that embargo." During a farming event, Buchanan said, "Virtually every single family farm in America is in danger of going under. I blame the New World order gang and I put Republicans right in there. . There's not a dime's worth of difference between them." The AP added Buchanan "specifically. mentioned GOP presidential rivals George W. Bush and Steve Forbes." Said Buchanan, "Why is it when we're at our most productive and our economy is booming, that farmers are facing another 33 percent drop in revenue?" Buchanan Pledges To Stick With GOP For Now. The Kalamazoo Gazette (7/21, Channing) reported the "campaign for president slipped quietly into Kalamazoo Tuesday afternoon, as a Republican maverick told local kindred conservative spirits that George W. Bush is not the only game in the GOP." Speaking to " about 30 backers and the curious," Pat Buchanan said, "If we want the Republican Party to be the majority party, we've got to get back the Reform Party, we've got to get back the Taxpayer Party, got to get back the Libertarians." He added, "Got to get one big coalition. And you can do that, I believe still, if you adhere to your fundamental, conservative, Republican, small-government, low-tax, traditionalist philosophy. Instead, we've got an establishment in Washington, DC, that thinks the way to beat Clinton is to be just like him." The Gazette added Buchanan said Tuesday he "recently received a call from" Sen. Bob Smith, "asking him to meet over the weekend." But Buchanan "assured his crowd that he will stay in the GOP -- at least for now - - while he seeks the GOP presidential nomination." Buchanan said, "Am I forever going to support a party that spits on my ideas and says 'Yeah, you can ride in the back of the bus, Pat, you and your friends?'" The Gazette added Buchanan was "in Grand Rapids earlier in the day to denounce Chinese imports of apple juice on US markets and for a $75-a-head fundraiser on his behalf that attracted 20 people." Buchanan "worries about the New World Order and has harsh words for 'Communist China,'" and he is "concerned that Bush represents the 'Clinton-lite' wing of the party." 07/23/99 - FOXNEWS   REPUBLICAN HOPEFULS VIE FOR FARM VOTE IN IOWA Republican presidential candidates, campaigning in the key battleground state of Iowa, are addressing the despair felt in farm country because of record low prices for corn, beans and pork...  Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan Wednesday became the latest to make the pilgrimage. "The central problem of American agriculture is that the American farmer has been sacrificed on the altar of a global economy," Buchanan, standing in front of a red tractor, said at a news conference at an Indianola farm equipment dealership.    Buchanan accused the Clinton administration of failing to use its leverage to crack open foreign markets for U.S. agricultural commodities. "The American farmer has been abandoned by this administration because they're too focused on what's best for the investment capital in New York and not what's best for Middle America," Buchanan said. Iowa's Department of Agriculture has estimated 6,000 of the state's farmers will abandon the business in the next year. An Iowa State University economist predicted that one-third of Iowa farmers may be forced into foreclosure in the same period.    Buchanan said he supported direct cash payments to farmers to help them weather the financial downturn... In Washington, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott has accused Senate Democrats of exaggerating the problem. The Mississippi Republican has suggested waiting until after the autumn harvest to decide what federal action was necessary.    "Somebody ought to grab Trent Lott by the lapels," Buchanan said. "They gotta wake up and smell the coffee back there in Washington."    Hog prices have rebounded only slightly from 50-year lows, while corn and soybean prices were recently at their lowest levels in at least a dozen years.   Pat Buchanan talks to a group of supporters about protecting American farmers during a stop in Grand Rapids, MI. AP Photo - Dale Atkins 07/19/99 - NEWSMAX - Joe Uliana   BUCHANAN POSES REAL THREAT TO BUSH Hungry for a presidential victory, Republicans from the grassroots to the executive suites are rallying behind Texas Governor George W. Bush. Seven months before the first primary, the Bush campaign has already taken on a messianic quality, with feverish supporters espousing pre-ordained outcomes.    In the first months of his candidacy, Bush has raised an eye-popping $37 million. Scores of governors, senators, congressmen and state and local leaders have endorsed the scion of perhaps the greatest Republican dynasty. The collection of support has been impressive and has reduced the rest of the Republican field and the Democrats as well to a state of political unimportance. Everyone seems to be wondering why there is even the need for a campaign, because this Texas Twister appears unbeatable. But there is one person who can bring Bush back to the pack and make a race of it -- and that person is not Steve Forbes. Pat Buchanan is the only hope for those Republicans who are opposed to the Bush candidacy and want to slow down this juggernaut. Many political pundits are claiming that Steve Forbes, a millionaire willing to spend millions, is the only candidate who can provide competition for Bush.    But Forbes is a bad candidate, unappealing in person and lacking in any real qualifications for the job. In 1996, Forbes was a political unknown, who used $40 million of his own money and Buchanan stump attacks against Senator Dole, to rise from obscurity to place fourth in the Republican field, behind Buchanan and Lamar Alexander. Since then he has tried to re-make his candidacy from one solely based on the flat tax to one focused on appealing to social conservatives. Forbes has also tried to spice up his public speaking and his campaign persona. The formula for Forbes is simple -- use $40 to $50 million of his personal money to sell his new image and then beat up Governor Bush. But that strategy is not going to work...    I am sorry to disappoint Dick Morris, but his ads did little if anything to help Clinton win, except disorient the Dole campaign. President Clinton moved out to a substantial lead over Dole because Dole was a tired, unexciting candidate with little to offer an optimistic America. Republicans in Congress didn’t help much, because they were portrayed nightly on the news as being too radical and their actions helped to feed those stereotypes. The 1996 election was over before it started. No amount of advertising, no matter how good, could have saved Dole. In this arena Pat Buchanan can thrive. He is by far the best Republican debater and probably the best on television. He has a sharp and different message from Bush or Forbes, one that resonates with a distinct part of the Republican electorate... MORE FROM THE INTERNET BRIGADE NEWSWIRE...

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