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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 18, 1992                   TAG: 9201200201
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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TO BE RE-ELECTED, ANY LIMIT TO WHAT BUSH WILL DO?

GEORGE Bush repeated his only deeply held political principle when he told an interviewer recently that he would do whatever it took to get elected in 1992.

He has shamelessly used critical American social problems for political advantage, driving wedges between races, genders and classes through the Willie Horton ploy, his manipulation of civil-rights law and the appointment of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. He has toadied to right-to-life extremists by adopting policies that aggravate world population problems, threaten the doctor-patient relationship and the First Amendment, and inhibit medical research using fetal tissue.

Now we see a new tactic emerging. He has invited at least two foreign governments to actively support his candidacy. On Jan. 10, the Washington Post reported: "A sharp drop in oil prices and comments by a senior U.S. official have revived speculation about a secret Saudi Arabian commitment to drive prices down in order to stimulate the U.S. economy and help President Bush gain re-election."

In the same edition, Evans and Novak wrote: "Behind Japanese tactics is the scarcely concealed judgment by government officials that George Bush, whatever his defects, is infinitely superior to any Democrat who might be elected president next year."

You have to wonder whether there is any limit to "whatever it takes." AUGUSTUS C. JOHNSON SYRIA

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