October 24: Attempting to focus public anger on Congrehearings, Bush attacked the lawmakers as "a privileged class of rulers." "When Congress in the wake of the Clarence Thomasss exempts (^)
itself from the very laws it writes for others, it strikes at its own reputation and shatters public
confidence in government," he said. This was a transparent bid to increase police-state attacks on
the Congress by subjecting the legislative branch to the oversight of law enforcement agencies
which are part of the executive, a favorite Bush obsession. Bush demanded a special prosecutor toinvestigate the leaks of FBI information during the Thomas hearings, and said that FBI reports
would henceforth only be shown, not given to the Hill. As Bush read through his tirade, his face
twisted and tightened into a mask of rage and hate. At one point, perhaps in response to signals
from his handlers, he paused and apologized to the audience for getting so worked up, but the issue
meant a lot to him. [fn 62]
October 30: Commenting on Bush's surprising acceptance of a compromise civil rights bill, Evans
and Novak report that "Bush's capitulation on racial quotas has again chilled conservative
Republicans still suffering from the year-old wound of his tax retreat." The columnists quote
Democratic Rep. Vin Weber saying that "It's a sign that their reactions in times of crisis are notgood." [fn 63] For months, Bush had sought to attack this legislation as a quota bill, and it was clear (^)
that he was preparing to use this as a way to inject racism into his 1992 campaign. Indeed, the
racism/quota issue was widely seen as one of the few domestic wedge issues Bush could use for his
campaign: his plan was to tell the white middle class that their economic decimation was the fault
of blacks and other minorities benefitting fromthe Thomas hearings, he accepted a compromise and lost the issue. Was this an impulsive, affirmative action programs. Then, in the wake of
hyperthyroid decision?
October 31: Bush held the first official event of his re-election campaign on Halloween; it was a
$1000-ahis tenure in the presidency. But the audience of 800 G-plate fundraiser at the Sheraton Astrodome in Houston. Bush offered an irate defense ofOP fat cats gave Bush only a tepid response. (^)
In the words of Elizabeth Ray, a local Republican candidate for district judge, "I thought the dinner
was very subdued. Halfway into [Bush's] speech, people were still not clapping at some of the
traditional times, and I thought to myself, 'This is a very odd crowd.'" "It wasn't a pep rally," agreed
her husband, a Houston business consultant. The heart of Bush's highly piqued performance was inthese lines:
Anyone who says we should retreat into an isolationistic cocoon is living in the last century, when
we should be focused on the next century and the lives our children will lead. And they should
know America's destiny has always been to lead. And if I have anything to do with it, lead wewill...I'm not going to let liberal Democratic carping keep me from leading.
When Bush said "carping," he seemed to spit and hiss at the same time. Then, with his bile and
andrenaline building to a crescendo of rage, Bush recalled the Gulf war and how far Schwarzkopf
would have gotten if Congrecarpers telling me how to run that war," Bush exploded in a paroxysm of fury. Tss had been in command. "Thank God I didn't have to listen to thesehe implication was (^)
also clear: to checkmate Congress, go to war.
It was during this trip to Texas that Bush began spouting his favorite anticyclical line, that it was a
great time to buy a house and to buy a car. Many people across America thought that they werehaving enough trouble buying groceries.
Bush's outburst this time reflected the rising tide of public awareness of the economic depression,
and demands that he change his policy. Senator Mitchell had assailed Bush with unusual energy,
noting that "President Bush's record for economic growth and job creation is worse than for any
frankie
(Frankie)
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