 |
|
Presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan greets Norma Raymont of Mt. Lebanon on Monday at a fund-raising luncheon at the Rivers Club.
Photo by: Steven Adams, Tribune-Review |
Presidential candidates rarely are known for plain talk.
Patrick Buchanan is.
The Republican contender and conservative commentator brought his trademark sharp tongue to Pittsburgh's Rivers Club on Monday, touching on campaign spending, America's trade policy, abortion and immigration.
"(Texas Gov. George W.) Bush says he raised $37 million. I was pretty impressed with that until I ran into (Steve) Forbes. He told me he could get that out of the petty-cash drawer.
"Some guys are born with a silver spoon in their mouths; Forbes had a full place setting," Buchanan, 60, told supporters at the $100-per-plate fund-raiser at the club at One Oxford Centre, Downtown.
"We've done very well so far," Buchanan said. "I know we're up against a lot of money.
About 65 supporters at the luncheon applauded his well-documented conservative stands, laughing at his one-line jabs at political opponents.
At a news briefing before the luncheon, the Washington, D.C., political commentator and syndicated columnist told reporters his campaign, which has raised about $2.4 million as of June 30, can succeed without the massive coffers of Bush and Forbes.
"I don't believe the Republican Party can be bought, and I don't believe the presidency can be bought," he said.
After yesterday's luncheon, Buchanan headed to Weirton, W.Va., where he accepted the endorsement of the 4,000-member Independent Steelworkers Union at Weirton Steel Corp.
Buchanan said his endorsement by the union, representing most hourly workers at Weirton Steel, demonstrates he can woo Democratic voters that Republicans need to win back the presidency.
Union President Mark Glyptis said 10 executive committee members and 20 shop stewards voted to back Buchanan.
Glyptis described Buchanan as the only presidential candidate "standing up for the American worker."
"I know unions have historically been Democratic," Glyptis said, "but we made it clear several months ago we'd support the candidate that supports (workers' issues)."
Buchanan's campaign strategy is as unambiguous this time as it has been in two previous runs for the presidency - he is different from the pack.
And he kept with issues he has championed before: a trade policy that puts America first, an end to what he has called abortion-on-demand and an all-out battle against illegal immigration.
During a March 1 visit to Weirton, Buchanan called for a reversal of current trade policies on foreign steel, criticizing the Clinton administration's hesitance to attack the "dumping" of foreign steel in the United States.
"From 1900 to 1970, we had a trade surplus every single year. The globalist free-trade policies we currently have create monstrous deficits that kill our industries," Buchanan said in March.
That is the kind of talk workers at Weirton Steel wanted to hear. The company still has about 300 workers laid off and one of its two blast furnaces shut down. The company has had to buy foreign steel slabs to trim costs and supplement its remaining furnace.
Buchanan's GOP rivals - Bush, Forbes, Sen. John McCain and former American Red Cross President Elizabeth Dole - agreed with Clinton's decision to launch air strikes against Yugoslavia, Buchanan said.
Buchanan said NATO intervention in Kosovo, which he opposed, caused devastation in Yugoslavia, ignited an ethnic cleansing campaign that led to thousands of deaths, cost America a vast toll in dollars and damaged U.S. relations with Russia and China.
"I did not believe from the beginning this was America's war. It was an ugly little civil war in Kosovo," Buchanan said. "The deal we got we could have gotten without war."
As president, Buchanan said he would tell European leaders that "it's time ... that you begin to take responsibility for these small wars and firefights in your own back yard."
But Buchanan singled out Bush, the apparent GOP front-runner, as his main target.
"Gov. Bush is a personable fellow and he ran a good race down in Texas, but I think it's important to lay out what are the clear differences and distinctions between me and the governor," he said.
"I have said, and the governor will not, that if I get to the White House, every single Supreme Court nominee that I send up to the United States Senate ... will be a pro-life constitutionalist conservative," Buchanan said.
He said Bush also supports the Clinton position on extending the Most Favored Nation status to China.
"(The Chinese) put high tariffs on American goods to keep our goods out of China, taking only 2 percent of our exports, while we take 40 percent of their exports," he said. "We disagree profoundly on that."
Staff writer Rick Teaff contributed to this report.
