GEORGE BUSH, STOP THE RED-BAITING * Bush's latest attack on Bill Clinton for a trip he took 23 years ago is a pathetic attempt to divert the American people from the worst economic record in 50 years. It is a sign of pure desperation. * Bush said last night it's been an ugly political year. He's right -- and he's responsible for it. It's smear campaigns like he's running that have turned off the American people. * The American people don't want to hear about Bill Clinton's 1969 itinerary, they want to hear about the course America is going to take. Bill Clinton has a plan to create millions of new jobs, provide every American with affordable health care, and improve our schools. George Bush can only offer more of the same. * Because the Republicans have such a miserable economic record, they've resorted to lobbing hand grenade after hand grenade, hoping that one will explode. Even as he was attacking Clinton, Bush told Larry King, "I don't have the facts." * Consider the source: these scurrilous charges were started by Bob Dornan ranting on the House floor, who admits he has no evidence and was "speculating." They were picked up by the Washington Times, and fanned by Bush deputy campaign director Mary Matalin and press secretary Torie Clarke. And we all know who gives them directions: James Baker, the former Secretary of State. * One sign of Bush's desperation is his moving to a direct attack on Clinton's opposition to the Vietnam war. Recall Bush's 1989 Inaugural Speech when he pledged to the American people to end divisions over the war: "[The Vietnam War] cleaves us still. But friends, that war began in earnest a quarter of a century ago; and surely the statute of limitation has been reached. This is a fact: the final lesson of Vietnam is that no great nation can long afford to be sundered by a memory." 1/20/89 * There's a name for Bush's attack -- red-baiting. Bush might have been a good candidate during the Cold War, he's not a candidate for the future. With this latest slur, he sounds like Joe McCarthy. Next thing he'll be calling for the revival for the House UnAmerican Activities Committee and blacklisting. * George Bush is nothing if not inconsistent. He attacks Clinton for not remembering who he met in Moscow 23 years ago, but Bush can't remember who he met with during the Iran-Contra scandal in 1986. He attacks Clinton for going to Moscow one year after the Soviets crushed the Czech reformers in Prague, but as President of the United States, Bush sent his national security advisor Brent Scowcroft to China within weeks after the Chinese brutally crushed the democratic student protest in Tianamen Square. * As all Rhodes Scholars are encouraged to do, Bill Clinton traveled as a tourist during his 40 day winter break in 1969. He visited several countries in Northern Europe during December 1969 and early January 1970. * Moscow was just one of many places Clinton visited as a tourist during his Northern European vacation. He traveled alone, without a sponsor, and he paid his own way. * At least eight of the 32 Rhodes scholars in Clinton's class also traveled to Moscow on their own or in small groups. There were no restrictions on traveling to Moscow. It was very inexpensive. * Clinton's travels took him to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and Prague, Czechoslovakia before returning to England. Clinton traveled Europe as a tourist -- not to attend any meeting or demonstration. While in Norway, he visited a friend from Hot Springs who was attending Oslo University. He met Father McSorley coincidentally at the Oslo train station, they traveled to the University where Clinton was introduced to McSorley's friends, and then Clinton went to visit his friend. * Clinton spent Christmas in Finland with the family of a college friend before heading to Moscow where he spent five or six days touring. * Clinton has repeatedly said that he opposed the war in Vietnam and that he attended several anti-war marches. He participated in no anti-American demonstrations. -30-30-