Dole Finds Fault With Gore’s West Point Visit

Vice President Al Gore will visit the U.S. Military Academy this weekend to preside over commencement ceremonies and remind listeners of his commitment to defense with a speech on military preparedness.

But one Army veteran will not be cheering.

Former Sen. Bob Dole, who fought with the 10th Mountain Division in World War II, was informally invited to speak at the academy five years ago--and then the invitation was withdrawn by the Pentagon on grounds that such an appearance would be political. The Kansas Republican, then Senate majority leader, was the GOP presidential nominee in 1996.

Now Dole wonders if it is a double standard to give such a political windfall to incumbents only, a spokesman said.

“We just think if it’s good for the goose, it should be good for the gander,” said Doug MacKinnon, a spokesman for Dole at his Washington law office. “If it’s not appropriate for the Senate majority leader, then we think it’s not appropriate for the vice president when he’s a presidential candidate. . . . We just want a level playing field.”

Officials at West Point and the Pentagon said that such appearances run counter to what they say is a long-standing policy that bars any appearance on military installations that could be construed as political. Candidates can appear at official functions when they are invited but they cannot give stump speeches, take questions from reporters, pose next to tanks or fighter planes or make any other campaign-style gestures.

Exceptions are made for the president, the vice president and the speaker of the House--but not the Senate majority leader.

This was a disappointment to Dole, who had been invited by the West Point superintendent and promised that he could lead a parade of cadets. The senator, who was badly wounded by a German sniper in the invasion of Italy, had begun to write remarks for the event when his appearance was canceled, MacKinnon said.

Gore will speak on security threats facing graduating cadets and on national missile defense, which has become one of the most hotly debated defense issues, the vice president’s staff said.

Still, said Gore campaign spokesman Doug Hattaway, the commencement exercise is “not a campaign event and he’s not making a political speech.”

Though the vice president has sought to show his commitment to a strong defense, Hattaway said, the appearance “doesn’t play into this campaign all that much.”

Also, he said, “I don’t want to second-guess a policy of the Pentagon.”

Maj. James Whaley, a West Point spokesman, noted that then-Vice President Bush, the father of Gore’s GOP opponent, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, appeared at West Point commencement exercises in 1988.