Word: contra
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...dare performance at a Des Moines debate, Bush appeared to have whipped his wimp image. But the Vice President may need all the moxie he can muster, since he suddenly found himself bushwhacked over an issue he hoped had been forgotten: his role in the Iran-contra scandal. The fusillade of what-did-he-really-know charges came mainly from the press, but it was Alexander Haig who put them in sharp political focus when he asked during the debate, "If you can't answer your friends, what in heaven's name is going to happen next November...
That captures the inherent weakness of Bush's position. Unlike anyone else in the Iran-contra affair, the Vice President is bucking for a promotion. His problems are not based on legal culpability, although he will provide sworn testimony to the staff of Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh early this week. The issues in Bush's case are judgment and veracity. If he was as close to the President as he claims, why did he not recognize the warning signs (evident in the notes of his own meetings) of what was clearly an arms-for-hostages deal? As the proud author...
GEORGE BUSH HAS set for himself a difficult task: convincing the nation that he is at once the most engaged vice president in modern times and innocent of knowledge in the Iran-contra affair. We have long found his claim difficult to believe. Last week our doubts increased...
...program, which is taped in the Kennedy School's Arco Forum and broadcast on PBS, shouldn't be difficult to find in the schedule of a candidate who all but resides in neighboring New Hampshire. And Bush's television interviews to date have either preceded disclosures about the Iran-contra affair or been puff jobs during which the vice president has ducked tough questions...
That's why Bob Dole's recent, forceful questioning of Bush's Iran-contra role is entirely in order. We hope that Bush recognizes the validity of concerns about his knowledge of the fiasco and soon discloses his involvement. It is not a hopeful sign, however, that so far his only concrete response to his chief rival for the Republican nomination has been to suggest--apparently without merit--a conflict of interest associated with the handling of Elizabeth Dole's blind trust and to call for the Kansas senator to release income taxes for the past 10 years. Perhaps Dole...