Word: hatchet
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Little wonder, then, that Dole has a dark side and that Bush, with his perky optimism, tends to bring it out. Dole has tried to suppress his brooding bitterness following his hatchet-man performance as the vice-presidential Republican candidate in the 1976 campaign. Since then, he has gone through two political make-overs designed to improve his body language and soften his style...
...confident that Robertson would be a competent president. His Yale degree proves he's no intellectual slouch, she says. And while the politicians have been making deals Washington, Robertson has been running one of the nation's largest cable networks. He is no hatchet man. And mom says he's friendly, with no Dolelike dark side...
...they suspected that this was more than a run-of-the mill interview. Multiple copies of the letter circulated to the campaign's wise men. Unlike those in other organizations, the Bush staff members are not gluttons for publicity; they can afford to be discriminating. If they sniff a hatchet job, they steer clear. On his copy of the letter, Bush wrote, "I feel comfortable with Rather. Make sure this guy gets reply soon." Campaign Manager Lee Atwater was dead set against the interview. He was wary of Rather, but he was in the minority...
Moments later Bush turned on Haig with the kind of ferocity that once gave Dole a reputation as a political hatchet man. "Let me turn it around -- what did you tell Nixon during Watergate?" the Vice President jabbed, referring to Haig's service in the White House bunker during the final days. The constricting format of the debate soon forced the Republican contenders to move on to far less electric issues. But the image lingered: Bush lashing...
...campaigned most of the week in New Hampshire, was by contrast the happy warrior. Every stop provided him with a new opportunity to needle Bush. Nothing too sharp, of course, because Dole knows he must be careful about his own image. "We don't want any of that hatchet stuff," he says with a not- quite-disarming smile. Still, Dole remains incorrigible. Even his blandest remarks about the Vice President have an edge. "George Bush and I have a lot in common," Dole said. Pause. "We're about the same height." Even when Dole claims that Bush is a friend...