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Tough-talkin' Pat plays Dixie | page 1, 2
"You don't need some guy in sandals and beads in Washington telling you what to do with your education," said Buchanan, without identifying who exactly this latter-day hippie he was describing might be. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, perchance? Probably not. The students' questions appended a smidgen of comic relief to Buchanan's overheated oration. Laura Moser, 16, asked a stunning first question that shocked Buchanan speechless. She asked how Buchanan could guarantee he "wouldn't follow in Bill Clinton's footsteps." "I've never been asked that before," said Buchanan, red-faced. "There's never been nobody like Bill Clinton. Back in New Hampshire in 1992, I admired how he stood up, took his medicine and fought back." But then, Buchanan said, the president did some "shameful things." Finally, he recovered his poise enough to say that, if he is elected, he will "set a leadership that this generation can be proud of." He never did answer Laura's question, though. In answer to another question, Buchanan said he would put Supreme Court justices on the bench who will reverse the Roe v. Wade decision and turn abortion control over to the states. More cheers and applause from the students. Buchanan stayed long after the final bell rang, expounding on his policies for the next century to a handful of students, all of whom pledged they would tell their parents to vote for him. Later that evening, Buchanan met 100 supporters at the Embassy Suites (at $50 a head) to sign copies of his revisionist history, "A Republic Not an Empire," and to chit-chat about his view of the state of the world. He delivered his lecture in Oprah/Liddy style, roaming in front of his audience with a mike on his tie, rattling off a litany of what Americans should beware of in the next century -- global bureaucrats, the "dark age" of nation-states, big money in politics, superduper pensions for the likes of Clinton, Gore and even Newt Gingrich. "Newt will get $3-4 million in a pension," said Buchanan. "Of course, he'll need it for the alimony ..." Buchanan's choicest cuts, however, were saved for the Clintons. He said his wife Shelly couldn't make his appearance because she was "looking at a Senate seat up in New York." Buchanan told his supporters that he's already seeking a vice presidential candidate, preferably a anti-abortion Democrat and possibly a woman. Buchanan referred to his real competition -- the powerful Ventura wing of the Reform Party, which backs billionaire Donald Trump -- only in passing. "It will be a robust competition," Buchanan said. "And as for that tax of Trump's, let's see him give up 14 percent of his wealth first and then we will believe him." Those who paid $50 to mingle with Buchanan apparently left satisfied that he has a good chance to prevail over Ventura, Gore and Bush, not to mention all of those foreign leaders that George W. couldn't name a few weeks back. Just one thing: He might want to work up a little better response to young Laura Moser's question, just in case it pops up again somewhere down the line.
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