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Jewish World Review May 17, 1999 /2 Sivan 5759

Cal Thomas

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Econophone

Questions for Gov. Bush and the others

(JWR) ---- (http://www.jewishworldreview.com)
PERHAPS THE STRATEGY of elected Republicans to avoid criticizing the Clinton administration's foreign and domestic policies and instead allowing the president to destroy himself is working for now. But very soon Republicans will be demagogued again by this morally and intellectually weak inhabitant of the White House. If they want to win the presidency and maintain or expand their congressional majorities, they must come up with ideas that are better and unapologetically sell them.

Here are some questions that next year's candidates for high elective office -- especially Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the front-runner for the Republican nomination -- should answer.

1. Given the current moral confusion in the country and in the aftermath of the Littleton, Colo., shootings, we seem to have lost our way. What would you do as president to lead us out of the morass?

2. Do you favor a reduction in income tax rates? If so, which brackets would you reduce? Or does your preference run to across-the-board percentage cuts or "targeted'' tax reductions? If the latter, which targets?

3. If you oppose a tax cut, why? Is there an appropriate maximum or minimum tax on workers?

4. Would you reduce or eliminate the capital gains tax? If so, how and when?

5. Would you favor elimination of the federal estate tax, or would you just cut the rates or raise the exemption?

6. Since most Republican conservatives claim to be pro-life, what would you do to reduce the number of abortions? Do you support your party's abortion position as expressed in the national GOP platform?

7. Do you favor expanding civil rights legislation to include people on the basis of their sexual preference?

8. Will homosexuals be appointed to positions of trust in your administration?

9. The Navy claims shipboard pregnancies have not weakened fighting readiness. Do you agree? What, if anything, should be done to reduce pregnancies? What would you change concerning women in the military?

10. If you were president now, what would your strategy be concerning Slobodan Milosevic and his ethnic cleansing of Kosovo?

11. Would you send in ground troops?

12. Should our "constructive engagement'' with China be changed? If so, how and to what?

13. If you had been a senator, would you have voted to convict President Clinton and remove him from office?

14. If you are concerned about the lack of judicial restraint in the courts, how would you rein in judges?

15. What will you require from judges you consider for the bench?

16. What is your view of the state of our military? If you believe it is weak, what would you do to make it strong and how much would it cost?

17. What should be America's role in the world? How would you judge whether the United States should send troops to other nations?

18. Is it time for the IRS to be eliminated? If so, what should replace it?

19. Will your choice of a running mate reflect your ideology and principles?

20. Do you support the notion that we are "one world''? Should the uniqueness of the United States and the concept of nationalism be subsumed into a global economy and a society dominated by a world body, such as the United Nations?

There are many more pertinent questions, of course, but answers to these, especially from the front runner, would be a good start. It's not enough to cite polls and speak in nonspecific platitudes. No one deserves a coronation, but the public needs to know what a candidate believes and what he (or she) might do as president. In light of the flimflam man now occupying the space, some early truth and conviction would be a pleasant contrast.


Up

05/12/99: OAF-ish behavior explains U.S. mistakes
05/07/99: Israel's high-stakes election
05/04/99: Jeb Bush chooses to save kids, not institutions
04/26/99: Surrendering our civilization
04/26/99: War abroad, war at home
04/22/99: Those wild and crazy (Democrat) tax-cutters
04/16/99: Bubba’s contemptible behavior
04/14/99:Elizabeth Dole's choice
04/09/99: The taxman cometh
04/05/99: MEMO: MAKE LOVE AND WAR -- AND KEEP IT SIMPLE
03/30/99: Human-rights terror in China
03/25/99: Yasser Arafat:
bad cop, worse cop
03/23/99: Bubba’s multiplied lies
03/18/99: Reinventing AlGore
03/16/99:Americans get bull while China shops
03/12/99: Bill Lan Lee: Flouting the law
03/09/99: Don't worry about your child, be happy
03/08/99:The ‘lady' is a tramp
03/04/99: Proving myself to President Clinton
02/24/99: New slaves to a new slavery
02/22/99: Character-plus
02/19/99: GOP losers tell winner how to win
02/17/99: The Clinton legacy
02/10/99: More a man, less a president

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