BUSH PROVES SUCCESSFUL IN TICKLISH APPEARANCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100600007-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 18, 2011
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: December 12, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
` 12 December 1985
~. . ? - W a --
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/18: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100600007-0
Bush Proves Successful
In Ticklish Appearance
Congenial Reception by Consenaatves
By Paul Taylor
Washington F'nsi Staff Writer
In perhaps one of his most tick-
lish political appearances of the
1988 pre-campaign, Vice President
Bush paid tribute last night to the
memory of a New Hampshire pub-
lisher who had vilified him in print.
And, judging from the congenial
response he got from his audience
of conservative Republicans, Bush
appeared to do so without consign-
ing "his manhood to a blind trust."
Using self-deprecating humor,
Bush entertained more than 500
New Hampshire Republicans and
Washington-based conservatives
with a fantasy tale of having tried in
1980 to woo the endorsement of
William Loeb, then publisher of the
Manchester Union Leader, by of-
fering anyone who could bring off
the task some colored watchbands,
shirts with alligators on them and
Topsider shoes-all symbols of the
preppie aura that many conserva-
tives find distasteful about Bush.
As he kept upping the ante, the
editorials kept getting worse, Bush
related. He quoted some: "Incom-
petent; liberal masquerading as a
conservative; a hypocrite ... a
spoon-fed little rich kid who has
been wet-nursed to success."
The Union Leader is considered
the most influential newpaper in
New Hampshire, and Loeb's edito-
rials were credited with contribut-
ing to the 2-to-1 drubbing that Bush
suffered in 1980 at the hands of
'Ronald Reagan, a defeat from which
Bush's candidacy never recovered.
After laughing about the tart
words, Bush praised Loeb, who died
in 1981, as a man of "passionate
conviction and strong belief .... In
never mincing his words or pulling
his punches, Bill Loeb was part of a
great newspaper tradition of out-
spoken publishers."
The $250-per-person tribute was
organized by ax Hugel, a former
deputy director of the Central ral In-
telligence Agency who has orga-
nized Project '88, a political oper-
ation trying to keep Republicans
from making early endorsements in
the 1988 presidential campaign so
that they can stay focused on the
Reagan agenda. Some have char-
acterized Hu el's,effort as an "any-
body-but-Bush" operation.
The other current major Repub-
lican presidential hopefuls for
1988-Rep. Jack Kemp (N.Y.),
Sen. Robert J. Dole (Kan.), former
senator Howard H. Baker Jr.
(Tenn.), television evangelist Pat
Robertson and former governor
Pierre S. du Pont IV (Del.)-were
listed as cosponsors for the dinner
at the Sheraton Washington, but of
these, only Robertson attended.
There was an element of theater
to Bush's speech, written by White
House speechwriter Anthony
Dolan, as the vice president had to
walk into the lions' den and appear
not to be pandering. He got good
though not wildly effusive reviews
from a house full of critics.
"It was a class act for him to
come," conservative publisher Rich-
ard Viguerie said. "He didn't hurt
himself. He didn't change any minds
either, though." Viguerie added that
when Bush talks about conservative
themes, "he gets the words right
but not the tune."
Howard Phillips, chairman of the
Conservative Caucus, said he
thought Bush had "gone too far" in
self-deprecation with a quote from
the comic strip "Doonesbury" ac-
cusing him of "placing his manhood
in a blind trust."
On the more substantive side,
Phillips said he was pleased that
when Bush ran through an agenda
of conservative causes advanced by
the administration he mentioned
"helping the 'freedom fighters in
Nicaragua, Afghanistan and, yes,
Angola,' " but said he was upset
that Bush did not add Mozambique.
Some saw political peril in Bush's
decision to even address such a con-
servative gathering. "He's running
a big risk. If the Union Leader
blasts him later on, he's going to
look awfully dumb for this," said
Robert Heckman, head of the Fund
for a Conservative Majority.
Loeb's widow, Nackey Scripps
Loeb, seated next to Bush at the
head table, said before he spoke
that "we have decided on a candi-
date for 1988-whoever best fights
for the Reagan agenda." She added,
with a tweak: "Whether that person
is here tonight remains to be seen."
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/18: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100600007-0