THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 6, 1995 TAG: 9511060092
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
A dozen far-right conservatives Thursday pulled a spectacular metaphorical bombing run on retired Gen. Colin Powell, but the damage didn't amount to anything.
When the bombast cleared from their news conference en masse, polls showed Powell still at the head of the pack of presidential candidates even though he has not yet made up his mind to run.
The right wingers' ``venting'' (a popular alibi these days for throwing a tantrum in public) may have made life easier momentarily for their families, who have to live with the ever-wrathful right.
Their very frenzy in launching a pre-emptive strike in hopes of scaring Powell out of the race suggests how strong they fear him to be.
Remember how Powell announced with grim satisfaction at the start of the Persian Gulf War how our Army was going to cut off the head of the Iraqi snake? Thursday's tirade on the far right may prod him to lose patience, to stop playing Hamlet and begin running all-out for the Republican nomination.
If I were pondering entry into the race and Pat Buchanan double-dog dared me to do it, I'd jump in just to shut him up - and enjoy the scrap even in losing.
Not only the politicians but the pundits as well are offering advice to Powell. Columnist George Will posed a long list of questions that Powell should answer if he runs.
The inquiries show more about the state of Will's mind than anything else. Near the end of them, Will asks whether Powell thinks Anita Hill or Clarence Thomas lied during the committee hearings on the appointment of Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court.
It may be that both of 'em, looking at the same set of events, were lying, shading the truth here and there; but the readiness Thomas has displayed to deny others the very rungs of affirmative action he ascended makes me wary of his acrobatic mental processes.
At Powell's first major news conference, should he choose to run, one trusts that Will, with his little list, won't get the floor.
One thing most of Powell's GOP critics, including Will, share: They oppose his running for president; but they'd welcome his becoming a candidate for vice president on a ticket with some other candidate at the top.
They distrust Powell's support for abortion rights and some form of affirmative action and gun control, even though Powell modulated his views on a second try.
The use of a litmus test by either fringe of a political party may get the party in August the kind of candidate it adores; but it is not likely to attract the broad support necessary to win the general election in November.
A ticket shaped by the likes of right-wingers Gary Bauer and Paul Weyrich is a litmus test that not many voters would wish to take at the polls. by CNB