THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 27, 1995 TAG: 9509270437
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: GUY FRIDDELL
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
Ross Perot made another of his periodic swings Monday night on the political horizon, an errant comet or erratic yo-yo, and left a pledge to fund formation of a third party.
Some viewers were enthralled. Others, including the GOP high command, were appalled.
Clinton Democrats were ecstatic. Another three-way race would help him win again, they dream.
Perot never loses his capacity to surprise. Every so often we think, ``Well, we've seen the last of him,'' only to have him come winging back, big-eared, on another quest.
An arresting sentence during Perot's interview with Larry King followed his vow that the new party would field candidates of quality.
``We want world-class people,'' he said. ``Some weirdo is not going to get 10 percent of our vote.''
The weirdo that immediately sprang to mind for many in his audience was Perot himself.
Of course, anyone who does anything remotely out of the ordinary is in danger of being classed a weirdo by the prosaic of this world, as I can testify.
And if the adventurer's goal seems impossible, he or she is certified as one. The Wright brothers were dismissed as weirdos. Some Quixotes among us devote their lives to carrying out objectives.
With his dough, Perot can speed the process, cut through red tape and years. Gets out checkbook, gets on the horn to King, issues ukase.
One regional leader of United We Stand was chagrined Perot hadn't run his plan by his lieutenants before going to the King.
To get attention, he resorts to wrenching words out of their usual roles and applying them to high-flown statements of hyperbole, such as world-class people.
Who are world-class people? Those who ride first-class on the Concorde? We hear of world-class autos, dishwashers, movies.
This is my first brush with world-class people. Was Abraham Lincoln world class when he walked miles as a boy to borrow a book?
To be fair to Perot, recall that when he speaks of his origins he mentions humble people who helped him along the way. Surely, he wouldn't be so undemocratic as to bar a petition from someone he doesn't deem world-class.
Perot's offer of a helping hand destabilized further a political scene already in a tumult over Colin Powell's possible entry into next year's presidential campaign.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Perot was making a substantial mistake. ``I think third parties are a fantasy of delusion - that you're going to go out and do things differently,'' he said.
That from Gingrich, whose own party began as a third one and who indulges often in fantasies of delusion, such as establishing orphanages to care for offspring abandoned by parents.
Interviewed by WNIS Radio's Tony Macrini, Republican National Chairman Haley Barbour was more logical. Wait three months, he said, after the Republicans have balanced the budget and reformed Medicare. Perot won't have any reason to launch a party.
Perot can indulge in his own fantasy. If he can't become president he can found a party that may elect one. And Perot has the dough and the ego that may enable him to usher his dream into reality. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Ross Perot
by CNB