Foley to Yeutter: Don’t Mix War and Politics

House Speaker Thomas S. Foley said today that Clayton K. Yeutter’s judgment “deserted him” when President Bush’s choice for Republican Party chief attempted to inject politics into the Persian Gulf crisis.

“To try to raise a political scare tactic out of that is, I think, unwise,” Foley told reporters at his daily news conference. “I think his judgment has deserted him on this particular statement.”

Foley was reacting to comments that Yeutter, now Bush’s secretary of agriculture, made to the press in Lincoln, Neb., on Tuesday. Yeutter asserted that Democrats who had opposed giving Bush authority to take the nation to war should be voted out of office in next year’s elections.

“It is unfortunate, I would almost say disreputable” to suggest that Democrats should regret their opposition, Foley said. “If anybody’s going to regret something, Clayton Yeutter may regret that remark.”

In a Senate floor speech on Wednesday, Nebraska’s Democratic senator, Robert Kerrey, said Yeutter’s comments “trivialize the deep misgivings which all Americans have about sending our sons and daughters into combat.”

“These remarks are deeply troubling,” Kerrey said. “They attempt to politicize this war and to define victory in terms of electoral gain rather than policy achievements.”

Yeutter is expected to be approved for the top Republican post when the Republican National Committee meets Friday in Washington.

Commenting after a Rotary Club speech Tuesday, Yeutter said he hoped American voters would hold accountable those Democrats who voted against the resolution giving Bush authority to wage war against Iraq.

“I would guess that 90% of them now wish they had cast their votes the other way,” Yeutter said. “They picked the wrong side. If the conflict goes well, that will work against them.”

Yeutter said the vote would be “a very significant factor” in next year’s congressional and presidential election. Democrats are “scrambling rapidly now to try to rationalize their votes,” he said.