ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, August 16, 1996 TAG: 9608160071
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SAN DIEGO
SOURCE: From the Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press
NOTE: Lede
Offering himself as a ``bridge to a time of tranquility,'' Bob Dole accepted the GOP presidential nomination Thursday night vowing to restore heartland values of faith and trust to a White House he called captive to elitists ``who never sacrificed, never suffered.''
He promised sweeping tax cuts to revive America's economy and old-time leadership to reverse what he called the country's moral slide, and pledged to create an administration ``that is able, honest, and trusts in you.''
The 40-minute address to 1,990 cheering delegates served as a call to arms against the Clinton administration, by the candidate who described himself as ``the most optimistic man in America'' and a link to the nation's past.
The fundamental issue, he said, is ``not merely whether the people trust the president, but whether the president and his party trust the people, trust in their goodness, in their genius for recovery. For the government cannot direct the people, the people must direct the government.''
Dole said he wanted to ``set a marker,'' to ``uphold a standard,'' to repair a nation that has lost its moral compass and become obsessed with material success.
``It is demeaning to the nation that within the Clinton administration a corps of the elite who never grew up, never did anything real, never sacrificed, never suffered, and never learned, should have the power to fund with your earnings their dubious and self-serving schemes,'' he said.
Dole had called Thursday night's emotional address the most important speech of his 35-year career, and described his race for the presidency as ``one last mission'' in service of his country.
He faced head-on the issue of age - one that has dogged his campaign since the primaries. ``Age has its advantages,'' said the man who would be the oldest ever inaugurated for a first term as president.
``Let me be the bridge to an America that only the unknowing call myth,'' Dole said. ``Let me be the bridge to a time of tranquility, faith and confidence in action. To those who say it was never so, that America has not been better, I say: You're wrong, and I know because I was there. I have seen it. I remember.''
Keenly aware that most Americans know little about Dole, the GOP aired a video on the life of the former Kansas senator that was largely filmed in his native Russell a few weeks ago.
In his speech's most personal passage, Dole picked up on the theme, recalling his rural roots, the parents he loved and the landscape that made him the man he is today.
``I come from good people, from very good people, and I'm proud of it,'' Dole said, invoking memories of his parents, Doran and Bina. ``There's no moment when my memory of them and my love for them does not overshadow anything I do - even this, even here.''
Dole took Clinton to task for reducing the 1992 election to the slogan ``It's the economy, stupid,'' saying, ``In the last presidential election, you, the people, were gravely insulted.''
`` The high office of the presidency requires not a continuous four-year campaign for re-election, but rather, broad oversight and attention to three essential areas - the material, the moral, and the nation's survival, in that ascending order of importance.''
In 1992, ``You were told that the material was not only the most important of these three but, in fact, the only one that really mattered. I don't hold to that for a moment.''
``I do not appreciate the value of economic liberty nearly as much for what it has done in keeping us fed as I do for what it has done in keeping us free. The freedom of the market is not merely the best guarantor of our prosperity, it is the chief guarantor of our rights. A government that seizes control of the economy for the good of the people, ends up seizing control of the people for the good of the economy.''
He segued to his own economic plan, which is based on a 15 percent across-the-board tax cut, a 50 percent cut in the capital gains tax, an expansion of individual retirement accounts, a revamping of the Internal Revenue Service and a $500 per child tax credit for low-and middle-income families.
To rebut Democratic criticism that this is impossible without spending cuts that would hurt the needy, Dole recalled the train trips his dad would take from Kansas to Michigan to visit his gravely wounded son.
``My father was poor,'' Dole said. ``And I loved my father. Do you imagine for one minute that as I sign the bills that will set the economy free I will not be faithful to Americans in need? You can be certain that I will, for to do otherwise would be to betray those whom I love and honor most - and I will betray nothing.''
Jack Kemp, who delivered his acceptance speech as the nominee for vice president before Dole, spoke as well of his modest upbringing and praised his parents, who taught him to ``never give up.''
Kemp said he and Dole intended to ``take our message of growth, hope, leadership and cultural renewal to all Americans.''
Dole characterized his acceptance speech as one of the three most critical moments of his entire campaign. The first - choosing Kemp as his running mate - was widely viewed as a strategic success. The last - a series of televised debates against Clinton - still looms ahead.
The acceptance speeches capped a convention bathed in harmony to an extent that few had dared imagine only a few ago.
``It could have been a disaster and that was averted,'' said Rep. Rick Lazio of New York.
Added Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania: ``It's remarkable we were able to pull this off. Two weeks ago, there was real concern this could be a funeral march. I was not looking forward to coming to San Diego. I had real concerns about whether Bob Dole would hit is stride. He's on target. We have a race now.''
LENGTH: Long : 109 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Delegates cheer as Republican presidential nomineeby CNBBob Dole and his wife Elizabeth wave to the crowd Thursday in San
Diego. color.