Bob Dole
After six terms as Senate Republican Leader, Bob Dole still hasn't won the battle of the Beltway. The GOP nominee for president wants to play centrist to better compete with Bill Clinton, but party responsibilities keep pulling him to the Right. Early on, the smart money said he had to do it in order to win the Republican nomination. So Bob is coming across like a hard case when it comes to welfare reform and affirmative action. Trouble is, Bob Dole is not really a conservative idealogue, and everybody knows it.
In 1988, George Bush, another moderate Republican, courted the religious right to win the Republican nomination. But during his four years in the White House, Bush showed his true colors, much to the dismay of the hardcore wing of the Party. (The success of Pat Buchanan in the 1992 and 1996 New Hampshire primaries proved the point.)
Now that he's locked up the nomination, he's working hard to alienate as few factions of the GOP as possible. Retiring from the Senate was ostensibly a move to that effect: it gives him Newt Gingrich's authority without the ugly backlash, Pat Buchanan's populism without the histrionics, and a Reaganist moralism that no longer needs to coddle to extremists. Most importantly, he loses the Beltway Republican image he needed to drop in order to compete with Clinton come November.
Internet Resources:
- Dole Watch
- If it's good enough for The New York Times, it's good enough for us. "Dole Watch" is a very deep, very well-researched project aimed at exposing the inconsistencies in Bob's record. A must-see.
- The Official Dole for President Home Page
- Want to take a Bob Dole trivia quiz? It's here. Want Dole screensavers? Look no further. Want to find out Dole's stance on any relevant issue? Um, well, things get a bit messy there. Apart from a link to his voting record on Thomas, chest-beating press releases and softball speech transcriptions, there's precious little detail. Impressively slick. Thoroughly hollow.
- Bob Dole for President
- At first glance, this site appears to be pro-Dole. But the tone is the essence of sarcasm and the links are a political statement all their own. Take a close look at the "Dole" logo. Look familiar?
- The Unofficial Bob Dole Home Page
- A truly pro-Dole site. A good variety of resources about Bob. Articles, newsgroup postings, and info on how to help Bob move into the White House. In the essence of fairness, posts in which Bob is called a "poopy-head" are allowed.
- Robert Dole
- Is this page sarcastic? Hard to tell.
- Dole's Republican Primary Page
- This page is maintained by the Information Headquarters for the Republican Primary. A good backgrounder.
Newsgroups: