On The Right - Alger Hiss case; U.S. apology to China; John McCain's presidential candidacy - Column

National Review, June 28, 1999 by William F. Buckley, Jr.

That's how it is in New Hampshire but, said the senator, there are 40,000 GOP voters there and McCain 2000 has 4,000 volunteers working for him under the direction of most-popular New Hampshire Republican Warren Rudman.

What about the domestic scene?

The problems are serious and drum home the relative demoralization of younger Americans, many of whom have not faced serious challenges. The pornography on the Internet is a chilling question, betokening a kind of moral listlessness that isn't healthy.

How much of all of this will get flushed out in the primaries?

There will be vigorous discussion.

How will he conduct his strategy?

Under no circumstances will he engage in a negative campaign. He knows George W. well and thinks he has done a fine job as governor, but he simply does not have the experience that McCain has. His strategy is to achieve by this fall the position of the alternative candidate, in effect a race reduced to Bush vs. McCain. The other GOP candidates? Fine men, he knows them all. Pat Buchanan is probably the GOP contender with whom he'd be happiest to spend an evening. But no, not Buchanan for president, given his positions on international commitments and international trade. The Democrats? Bradley is developing into a contender, but suffers from two disadvantages. He is dull, and he doesn't have a natural faculty for discerning which is really the most important problem on the horizon.

On the tactical front in Kosovo, we continue to suffer from Clinton's commitment to proceed through the entire operation without the use of ground troops. "The first thing you are taught at the Naval Academy is that you never tell the enemy what you will or won't do." The senator explained that, with the assurance that there wouldn't be a ground invasion, Milosevic was able to deploy his tanks individually, rather than grouping them together to guard against an invasion.

If we proceed with ground troops there will be deaths, of course?

Yes. The heaviest responsibility one exercises is the prospect of death for soldiers one sends out. "But to fail to run that risk when it is deemed necessary for the public interest is to shirk my own duty."

He concluded: He would make one promise to those he was addressing at dinner. "I will never embarrass you." Or was that, I would never embarrass you?

Sen. McCain didn't tell another of Mo Udall's lines, which was, "I've come in second in every primary, so I expect to be nominated on the second ballot."

-Universal Press Syndicate