Dole, Less Concerned About Image, Stresses Toughness

Bob Dole is talking tough.

Campaigning through the South, the Republican senator from Kansas is talking tough about America’s foes, its friends, the Congress and those seeking “to give peace a chance.”

Through much of this race for the presidency, Dole has been sensitive about criticism that he sometimes comes across as too tough, too mean.

But now with the campaign turned to the South, where toughness seems not to be a liability among Republicans, Dole sounds distinctly less self-conscious about his image, and sometimes he really pours it on.

“You got to be tough in this business,” he told a crowd of 400 at the University of South Carolina here Saturday. “Some people say, Bob Dole, he’s tough. Well, I am tough. You got to be tough.”

A List of Fights

Then, one by one, Dole went down a list of fights he is ready to pick to prove it.

His speech included some elements that have become keystones in the Dole campaign presentation, as well as some new and newly emphasized ingredients. A sampler:

PANAMA--Of Gen. Manuel A. Noriega, the embattled Panamanian military leader who was indicted on drug charges by a U.S. grand jury earlier this month, Dole said: “If I can give him any advice it would be to take off, get lost, go somewhere. Get out of our way. Nobody is going to threaten American interests as important as the Panama Canal or the lives of Americans living there. So you need somebody tough.”

Ten years ago the Senate ratified the treaty turning the canal back to Panama. Dole was one of 32 senators who voted against the treaty.

Tells Opposition

“We shouldn’t have given away the Panama Canal in the first place. I said then we’re going to rue the day,” he said. The audience cheered its approval.

ALLIES--Dole noted that U.S. allies, in particular Britain, West Germany, Italy and Japan, continue to express concern about the impact of the U.S. budget deficit on the international economy.

“We’re going to tell our allies: We’ve got plans for you. If you want us to reduce our deficit, you start picking up the tab around the world for a few things. We’ve been doing it for 40 years,” he said, raising more cheers. He added, “So, you gotta be tough.”

PEACE--The line “give peace a chance,” originally from a song by John Lennon, has been used occasionally during the campaign by Dole’s leading opponent, Vice President George Bush.

Dole, who has his eye on shoring up support among conservatives for the South Carolina primary next Saturday, did not mention Bush by name, but the allusion seemed clear enough.

“You need somebody tough when you’re dealing with Ortega and Castro and Gorbachev,” he said Saturday, referring to the political leaders of Nicaragua, Cuba and the Soviet Union.

“They go around saying: ‘Give peace a chance.’ And the liberals and the Congress say: ‘Give peace a chance.’ What about Gorbachev giving peace a chance? What about Ortega giving peace a chance? What about Castro giving peace a chance?”

CONGRESS--”It’s going to take a tough guy, maybe an Ike Eisenhower or a Harry Truman, to stand up to the Congress next time around and say, you are not going to raise taxes on American working people; you’re not going to raise taxes.”

Dole said he is tough-minded enough to force a constitutional confrontation with Congress over the line-item veto.

Such a veto power, which most governors have, permits a chief executive to reduce spending in individual bills without vetoing the whole package.

“If they (members of Congress) won’t give the line-item veto, I’ll use the President’s veto authority that’s now in the Constitution as a line-item veto. . . . Then we’ve got a constitutional question involved.

“We’ll go to the Supreme Court. It’s never been tested in the history of this country. Bob Dole will challenge the Congress. You’ve got to be tough to challenge the Congress.”