Radical Views, Not Race, Called Problem : Jackson Best Candidate but Can’t Win--Nixon

Former President Richard M. Nixon says that Jesse Jackson is a “brilliant campaigner” and the only interesting candidate seeking a presidential nomination this year but that he could not win because of his radical views.

The Washington Times reported Nixon’s comments in today’s editions from an exclusive interview this weekend at the former President’s home in Saddle River, N.J., with the newspaper’s executive editor, Arnaud de Borchgrave.

“He’s the best candidate and one of the very best of the entire century for either party,” Nixon, who was forced from office in 1974 in the wake of the Watergate scandal, was quoted as saying.

“Jackson’s problem is not the messenger, it’s the message. . . . He’s expressing a deep-felt radicalism, or liberalism, whatever you want to call it, which may be a majority in some areas but is a minority in the country as a whole,” Nixon said.

“And if he is nominated, it goes without saying he cannot win. But everyone is overplaying the fact that he would be a liability because he is black,” Nixon said. “That is simply not true. Jackson would be a liability because his views are radical.”

He said that Jackson “is the only interesting candidate in the race, either Republican or Democrat” and that, regardless of what happens, “Jackson has established himself as a force to be reckoned with in his party and in this country. . . . I disagree with Jesse Jackson, but I respect him. Brilliant campaigner.”

But Nixon said Jackson “would have to think long and hard before he would even consider to be No. 2 because even though the Democrats are probably going to lose anyway, he would certainly be blamed because he was black.”