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Buchanan says he's 'seriously' considering Reform Party runGOP 'Xerox copy' of Democrats, conservative commentator says
September 12, 1999 WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, September 12) -- Conservative commentator and GOP presidential candidate Pat Buchanan said Sunday that he is "seriously" considering bolting the Republican Party and seeking the Reform Party's nomination for president in 2000. 
Buchanan said he expects to make a decision by October 15, after consulting with Reform Party founder Ross Perot and its only major elected figure, Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura. He said his sister and political adviser, Bay Buchanan, has been discussing a possible candidacy with Reform officials. "I cannot endorse the Republican nominee as of now. I cannot make that commitment because my party at the national level has become a Xerox copy, basically, of the Democratic Party," Buchanan said on CBS' "Face The Nation." Buchanan chided GOP leaders, including front-running Texas Gov. George W. Bush, for supporting world trade agreements, most-favored-nation trading status for China, intervention in Bosnia and Kosovo and "open borders (and) immigration." "Mr. Bush is even in favor of expanding our Department of Education," Buchanan said. "I think what we have is a one-party system in Washington, D.C., that is masquerading as a two-party system. And I think what we need is a real opposition party, a party that can become a second party and maybe a first party," he said. Buchanan, who worked in the Nixon and Reagan White Houses and is the former co-host of CNN's "Crossfire," unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination in both 1992 and 1996. After those defeats, he urged his conservative supporters to back the GOP nominees, former President George Bush (Gov. Bush's father) and Bob Dole. But this time around, Buchanan said the process of picking a Republican nominee has become "a very closed and rigged system." "Right now, in the Republican primaries, you've got two candidates with almost $100 million to spend by February (2000)," he said, referring to Bush and multimillionaire magazine publisher Steve Forbes. Asked about polling data showing that a third-party Buchanan candidacy would siphon away support from Bush and help the Democratic front-runner, Vice President Al Gore, Buchanan conceded that "there are some issues in which the Republicans are better than Democrats." "But if you allow that kind of thinking to dominate, you will never do what you believe is right," he said. Buchanan also made it clear that if he seeks the Reform Party nomination, he will not abandon conservative social issues, such as opposition to legal abortion, that he has championed as a GOP candidate -- even though the Reform Party has generally steered clear of such issues. "If I go into the Reform Party, I will carry with me my convictions, my beliefs, my ideals. One of those is that all human life, innocent human life, is sacred and cannot be taken," he said. "Clearly, on life, there are many members of the Reform Party who disagree with me. But I will tell them honestly, if I get into the race, I'm pro-life." Written by Richard Shumate. |
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