Spirited Clashes Mark Intense GOP Debate

In a debate that displayed raw ideological and personal disputes, George W. Bush and John McCain clashed here Tuesday night over abortion, campaign finance reform, taxes, the use of military force and the conduct of their campaigns.

With each man frequently emotional--and at times downright angry--the debate crystallized the tension that has intensified between Bush and McCain as their contest has sharpened. The two seemed like contenders in a title fight who had accumulated a long list of grievances over 14 rounds--but were committed to keep punching.

Bush indignantly jabbed McCain over an ad the senator ran this month comparing the Texas governor to President Clinton; McCain fired back that Bush crossed the line recently by appearing with J. Thomas Burch Jr., the leader of a veterans’ group generally considered a fringe organization, who accused McCain of abandoning veterans.

“Now I don’t know if you can understand this, George, but that really hurts, that really hurts. . . . You should be ashamed,” said McCain, who spent five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

Bush said that Burch had not been speaking for him, but he didn’t disavow Burch’s charges. And throughout the evening, Bush repeatedly argued that the senator from Arizona was guilty of the same sort of attacks he had condemned. “You’re playing the victim here,” Bush said pointedly toward the end of the debate. “Remember who called who untrustworthy.” Bush even waved a flier he said McCain’s staff had distributed that accused him of threatening Social Security.

The 90-minute session, sponsored by a local business group and moderated by CNN’s Larry King, came four days before Saturday’s potentially pivotal South Carolina Republican primary. After trailing in the first days following his decisive defeat in New Hampshire, Bush has regained the lead in the latest South Carolina polls--including one published Monday by The Times.

Overall, the polls show Bush leading by margins of two to seven percentage points--a margin tight enough to keep both camps on edge. Former ambassador Alan Keyes, who also participated in the debate, lags in the low single digits.

Keyes still positioned himself as the fulcrum in several of the evening’s most contentious exchanges. Perhaps the most emotional moment came when Keyes, an African American, attacked Bush for appearing at fundamentalist Bob Jones University this month without criticizing its ban on interracial dating. “Going in, taking the applause, risking nothing because you refuse to raise the issues: That’s what G.W. Bush did,” Keyes charged.

Keyes then turned on McCain, who has not appeared at the school, saying McCain should have gone to Bob Jones to criticize the policy in person--as Keyes did.

Other Points of Contention

Bush protested that his appearance in no way meant he endorses the school’s policy. McCain said he had not been invited and if he had, “I would have started by saying . . . ‘Look, what you’re doing in this ban on interracial dating is stupid, it is idiotic and it is incredibly cruel to many people.’ ”

The three men later clashed over abortion. As in earlier debates, Keyes questioned McCain’s commitment to banning the practice; McCain angrily told Keyes to stop lecturing him. McCain turned on Bush, alleging that Bush was being inconsistent by saying that he supported maintaining the GOP platform’s call for a ban on abortion, while he supported exemptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. Bush said the platform language was broad enough to encompass his views, though in fact it does not specify any exemptions.

Throughout the debate, each of the leaders repeatedly stressed messages aimed at activating their own strongest supporters.

At several points, Bush pushed hot buttons that evoke passionate responses among Christian conservatives--a powerful constituency in the state that he is counting on heavily.

At one point, Bush alleged that former New Hampshire Sen. Warren B. Rudman--a top McCain supporter--had accused the Christian Coalition of being “bigots.” The citing of Rudman, who believes abortion should remain legal, echoed an ad running in the state from anti-abortion groups charging that McCain might name the former senator as his attorney general. Later, Bush suggested that the Log Cabin Republicans--a gay group--had committed to supporting McCain, which McCain instantly denied.

Bush also expressed his commitment to banning abortion in some of the strongest language he has used. “I believe the next president should set this goal for America: every child, born and unborn, protected in law and welcomed into life,” he said.

McCain seemed to have his eyes on the reform-minded independent voters who have powered his insurgent bid. While denouncing Bush’s attacks, McCain also reiterated his commitment not to run any further negative ads--a promise that has drawn loud applause from his supporters at rallies this week. McCain also touted his work on political reforms, such as the line-item veto and a congressional gift ban.

Far more emphatically than in any earlier debate, McCain also insisted that the GOP had to fundamentally change direction to attract a broader electoral coalition.

“The Republican Party has lost its way,” McCain said. “They have selected an establishment candidate. . . . But they lost the last two presidential elections, they lost the last two congressional elections. And unless we open up this party . . . unless we get independents, reconstitute the old Reagan Democrats,” the party will continue to lose.

Sitting between Bush and McCain, Keyes repeatedly disparaged their conflicts as demeaning. Noting that CNN was broadcasting the debate worldwide, Keyes said: “Is this kind of pointless squabbling really what we want them to see?”

In the debate’s first section, all of the men took a hard line on foreign policy questions. McCain pledged to pursue a policy of what he called “rogue state rollback,” in which he would arm and support insurgencies meant to overthrow the governments in Iraq, Iran and Libya. Bush promised a tougher line toward China and repeated earlier promises to deploy an anti-ballistic missile defense.

Different Ideas on Troop Deployment

Bush and McCain banged heads again when asked about the conditions under which they would commit forces abroad. Bush insisted he would use force only “when it’s in our national strategic interest.” But McCain fired back: “It’s not that simple. . . . We can never say that a nation driven by Judeo-Christian principles will only intervene where our interests are threatened because we also have values.”

The two also reprised their long-running argument over their tax-cut plans, with McCain suggesting the Bush proposal unfairly tilts to the rich and shortchanges the needs of the Social Security and Medicare programs.

“If you pay taxes in America, you ought to get a tax cut,” Bush said, adding: “This language about Gov. Bush only has tax cuts for the rich sounds exactly like Al Gore.”

McCain countered that focusing on paying down the debt is “not the Washington mentality, it’s the grown up mentality.”