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

DATE: THURSDAY, March 5, 1992                   TAG: 9203050493
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GOP AGHAST BUCHANAN: SCALES FALL FROM EYES

REMARKABLE how, when someone departs stormily from your fireside, his glaring character flaws suddenly become obvious. Pat Buchanan loyally served three GOP presidents - Nixon, Ford and Reagan - and no one in those administrations spoke ill of his abrasive right-wing views. Now one wonders why Republicans gave such a person shelter all that time.

George Bush tries not to mention Buchanan by name or respond to his charges. But the president has called Buchanan "a disappointment to all Americans" for opposing the Persian Gulf War. Pat's stand, expressed on his TV talk show, was well-known more than a year ago. But we didn't hear expressions of disappointment from the White House then; flag-burners and liberals were fatter targets.

White House Chief of Staff Samuel Skinner is more than disappointed. He has said he concurs in charges that Buchanan may be an anti-Semite. And former Education Secretary William Bennett, asked whether he agrees with those who say Buchanan's restrictive immigration views are a kind of fascism, replied: "I think that Pat certainly flirts with . . . fascism."

Bennett also said Buchanan appeals to the worst side of human nature. Hard to disagree when one reviews what the candidate has said, leeringly and otherwise, about blacks, Jews and other racial and ethnic groups.

More than a year ago, in his nationally syndicated column, Buchanan called for "Euro-Americans" to take America back, and warned against the coming of Cuban criminals, thieving Mexicans and a Jewish Mafia from Russia. You don't come by that breed of opinions overnight; Buchanan has never won medals for tolerance or (except in social settings) graciousness.

But his holding to harsh, narrow opinions apparently was OK as long as he was working for Republican presidents. Buchanan spent four years as special assistant to Nixon, two as communications director for Reagan, and wrote speeches for them and for Vice President Agnew. His bashings appealed to many conservatives, so he was considered a valuable member of those White House teams.

Which might be put down to indiscretions by past administrations, were it not that the Bush White House has shown willingness to exploit racial and ethnic fears itself - only more subtly. Bush's 1992 campaign manager is Fred Malek, once Nixon's agent in ferreting out an alleged cabal of Jews in the executive department. Bush's team includes Charley Black, consultant to North Carolina's Jesse Helms and an architect of the senator's anti-quota (Read: anti-black) strategy. The racial overtones of Bush's successful run in 1988 are not easily forgotten.

Buchanan, in other words, is stealing Bush's clothes: using against the president (and rather effectively) some of the tactics Bush wanted to use against Democrats. Now Pat's the bad boy. Why, in Republican eyes, was he the good kid for so long?

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB