Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 30, 1990                   TAG: 9006300199
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From the Los Angeles Times and The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

BUSH TAX-RAISE POSITON: "I'M DOING LIKE LINCOLN"

When asked at a news conference how he could justify having reversed his pledge of "no new taxes," Bush shot back: "I'm doing like Lincoln did - `think anew.' "

His reference was to a passage from the Great Emancipator's second annual message to Congress in 1862: "The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion," Lincoln said. "As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."

Like Lincoln, Bush has been plagued with an ever-growing federal budget deficit. In the Lincoln era, the government's red ink rose from $25 million in fiscal 1861 to $964 million in fiscal 1865. During the years that Bush has been either vice president or president, the deficit has soared - from $78.9 billion in fiscal 1981 to $152.1 billion in fiscal 1989. And it is climbing again.

But there are also some differences: Lincoln's mushrooming deficit stemmed from expenses incurred in fighting the Civil War, while Bush is enjoying unprecedented peace worldwide.

And "Honest Abe" never pledged that he would not raise taxes.

Bush also said at the news conference that he would "stay out of anything to do with" an investigation into the role of his son as a director of the failed Silverado Banking Savings and Loan Association, but he predicted, "He'll do OK."

"I have - what dad wouldn't? - full confidence in the integrity and honor of my son. And I will stay out of anything to do with the investigation, but this is a fine young man."

"I'm convinced that . . . if he has done something wrong, the system will so state. And if [he] hasn't, I hope it's fair enough to say, `Hey, the boy did nothing wrong.' "

Federal regulators have said that Neil Bush concealed from regulators and other officials of the Denver thrift the fact that he had substantial ties to a developer for whom he voted to approve $106 million in loans. He also never repaid a $100,000 loan from a developer whose financial interests he had advanced as director. Neil Bush has denied any wrongdoing.