When I saw Pat Buchanan announce for the presidency on the Capitol steps in Concord, N.H., the first thing that went through my mind was, "He's not crying."
I recall so well how Ed Muskie broke into tears when he was campaigning in Manchester. It was a nice thing to do, but it cost him the election.I was watching Buchanan's announcement with my good friend Joseph P. Loftus, a political pollster. "He's not crying. What do you make of that?" I asked.
He replied, "Buchanan isn't the type of person who would cry over the presidency. He's more likely to punch somebody on the nose."
"He's that tough? Why do you think he decided to take on Bush?"
"Bush is too liberal for Buchanan," Loftus said. "As a matter of fact, everyone is too liberal for Buchanan, including Robert Novak."
"But does that mean he has a right to try to take the Oval Office away from Bush?"
Loftus explained, "Buchanan says that he's not trying to take the office away from Bush - he's trying to keep it from falling into the hands of ex-Klansman David Duke. Pat is afraid that Duke could beat Bush, and that's why he entered the race."
"Do Duke and Buchanan agree on the issues?"
"More or less. Each of them wants the United States to secede from the world. They are both for prayer in schools. The only difference is that Duke would prefer children to wear white sheets when they pray. Pat and David take the same stands on gun control and abortion. The big difference is that Duke has had plastic surgery and Buchanan needs it."
"Do you think that this is good or bad for the country to have a right-winger oppose the president of the United States?"
Loftus said, "George Bush doesn't consider it to be the best thing that could happen to him at the moment. He was prepared to embrace all the conservatives in the Republican Party. Now Bush has to answer every Buchanan assault on his right-wing credentials. It's not hard to fight the Democrats, but what does Bush do when Buchanan says that George spends his mornings burning the American flag in the Rose Garden?"
I told Loftus, "I'm glad that I'm not a neo-conservative. The choices are getting harder every day."
He said, "Believe me, it's going to get dirty. When Buchanan, Bush and Duke begin airing their commercials, Bugsy Siegel is the only one who will look like a good guy."