THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 31, 1996 TAG: 9607310425
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: 56 lines
The ``struggle for the soul of the Republican Party'' continues today at a news conference, where Pat Buchanan will convey his disdain of GOP leaders' plot to shut him up at the convention in San Diego less than two weeks away.
It is doubtful that even verbose Buchanan can find words to express his ire at how party leaders are slickering him out of a chance to make a speech on prime time.
How crafty they are! A few days ago they arranged a harmony session for all the candidates Bob Dole defeated in the primaries.
All except Buchanan came and pledged support to Dole. They were as dutiful as so many shorn sheep.
But there is no Appomattox for Pat. To him, the race is still on, and he will not surrender before a show of defiance in San Diego.
In the next move, the marplots announced that the vanquished would not speak at the convention, at least not in the flesh, but each could make a brief video to be shown to the delegates.
When Buchanan spurned that offer, GOP Chairman Haley Barbour suggested that the convention staff pull together film footage from Buchanan's campaign and let him contribute a sound bite.
Think of the ignominy of it!
All of Buchanan's months of campaigning, aimed at securing him a place on the platform to bless his followers, would be reduced to a few-seconds sound bite.
Bay Buchanan, who manages her brother's campaign, denounced the ``shabby'' strategy and set the stage for Pat's eruption today.
The whole idea of putting the prime players on video is phony. There is fascination in seeing how the losers will take defeat, whether they will go out howling or with good grace - and in the flesh.
Why trek all the way to San Diego to see a mere video instead of the reality? It's as if when you go to the zoo you find that film has supplanted the animals.
In a further cheapening of the ceremony, after the video has flickered and died, will the convention cameras shift to the man, sitting in the stands, who then will be allowed another few seconds to stand in the spotlight and acknowledge the applause?
It is the final triumph of the reel over reality.
Barbour said the losing candidates do not have a right to speak, in person, to the delegates.
Bosh! Doesn't he recall the Democratic conventions that Jesse Jackson, after losing, held enthralled with his oratory?
``Politics is not a golf tournament,'' he said.
No, it's a brawl that Barbour is trying to turn into a tea party on tape.
In suppressing the sound and the fury, he also would remove the heart and soul from political conventions. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Buchanan by CNB