Bennett, Conservative Bulwark, Likes McCain

Presidential candidate John McCain, who has faced relentless attacks on his Republican credentials from rival George W. Bush, received a boost Thursday from influential conservative leader William J. Bennett.

In an interview with The Times, Bennett--a former Education secretary under President Reagan who has advised both Bush and McCain this year--condemned the recent direction of Bush’s campaign and said McCain is impressive.

“You can make the call right now that it is pretty clear that John McCain is a better bet for winning the presidency for the Republicans than George Bush,” Bennett said.

Bennett, the author of the best-selling “Book of Virtues” and a leading conservative thinker on social policy, stopped short of formally endorsing McCain, saying he wanted to continue advising both men.

But Bennett said Bush had created “long-term real problems” for himself in South Carolina, although he won the primary there.

Bush had made major mistakes both by failing to condemn Bob Jones University’s ban on interracial dating when he spoke there, Bennett said, and also by refusing to repudiate automated telephone calls to voters by Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson accusing a prominent McCain supporter, former New Hampshire Sen. Warren B. Rudman, of bigotry against Christians.

Bush “works two years building a ‘compassionate conservative’ image, but in South Carolina he looks like not only a conventional conservative but the worst kind of caricature, a liberal caricature, of what a conservative is,” Bennett complained.

Responding to Bennett’s comments, Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said: “Bill Bennett is one of the brightest minds in the Republican Party, and we would hope that neither Secretary Bennett or anybody else would suggest that the politics of guilt by association should be allowed to take root.”

Fleischer added: “The governor denounced the ban on interracial dating, and he immediately denounced the anti-Catholic statements that were made when he was informed of them.”

Ex Post Facto Dating Ban Criticism

Bush did not address the ban on interracial dating in his speech at the campus but did criticize the practice later when questioned by reporters.

The university lost its tax-exempt status because of its discriminatory policies, and Bob Jones Jr., the son of the school’s namesake, once labeled the pope “the antichrist.” Bush, noting one of his brothers is Catholic, said he was appalled when the McCain camp suggested he held anti-Catholic sentiments.

In public, Bush has refused to endorse or condemn the Robertson phone calls. Privately, Bush aides said they have urged Robertson to drop the telephone campaign against McCain. “It was hurtful and never should have been done,” said one senior Bush aide. “On a staff-to-staff level, we have asked him to back off. The Robertson people were contacted and asked to knock it off.”

Robertson was called on Wednesday, after Bush’s staff was told by reporters that voters in Virginia, which holds its Republican primary Feb. 29, might be receiving phone calls from the Christian Coalition leader. Bush’s staff said Robertson replied that it was not true and that no more calls would be made anywhere.

Appearance at University

McCain campaigned Thursday in California, appearing before an overflow crowd of more than 1,800 students and community members at Cal State Sacramento.

McCain picked up the endorsement of San Diego Mayor Susan Golding--the second high-profile Republican leader in California to switch allegiance from Bush to McCain in two weeks. Secretary of State Bob Jones, the highest-ranking Republican officeholder in the state, jumped to the McCain camp Feb. 15.

The McCain rally was a raucous affair. One protester had to be escorted from the room after she repeatedly interrupted McCain’s speech to accuse him of racism for his using a slur to describe his Vietnamese prison guards. Another half-dozen protesters waved posters outside. A man in a tie-dyed Grateful Dead T-shirt waved a sign that said, “Hippies for McCain.”

Former Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) on Thursday called on Bush and McCain to stop bickering, noting that he ended his unsuccessful race for the White House four years ago “battered, bruised, broke.”

Dole was the subject of hard-hitting ads by Steve Forbes, and many GOP members believe those attacks hurt Dole in the general election against President Clinton.

“The goal is winning in November, and, believe me, it will be much more difficult if our eventual nominee, fairly or not, is defined by inaccurate charges and countercharges from whatever source,” Dole said in a statement.