President Bush on Monday repudiated an unusually vitriolic attack by his campaign political director on Gov. Bill Clinton`s character, campaign tactics and even his weight.
Despite the disavowal of a news release issued Sunday by Bush strategist Mary Matalin, Clinton aides suggested that the attack and an ensuing apology by Matalin had been orchestrated from the start by the Bush campaign to generate several days of negative publicity about the Democratic nominee.
Matalin`s release, which would be considered an extraordinary personal attack even in the late stages of a campaign, accused ”sniveling hypocritical Democrats” of running a campaign ”lower than a snake`s belly.” She contended that Clinton had used taxpayer dollars ”on private investigators to fend off `bimbo eruptions,` ” a reference to allegations of marital infidelity.
”You feel like a `one-man landfill?` ” Matalin continued, chiding Clinton for his weight-control efforts. ”No, Willie, it`s not those Wendy`s burgers or Dunkin` Donuts or even those scrumptious home-baked cookies. It`s that Alka-Seltzer feeling you get when you`re the leader of the `garbage load.` ”
Bush`s campaign staff had distributed Matalin`s release to reporters during the president`s trip to Chicago Sunday afternoon. Bush aides said the president was unaware of the attack until he read about it in newspapers Monday morning and was ”upset” when he saw it.
”This is not how I want to run the campaign,” he said through a spokeswoman. ”The president is determined to keep this campaign out of the sleaze business,” said the spokeswoman, Judy Smith.
But earlier in the day, before Bush disavowed the release, campaign spokeswoman Torie Clarke had scoffed at questions from reporters on the statement. ”I don`t accept your premise that it is an attack,” Clarke said. ”It`s the truth, pal.”
And Matalin`s apology was, at best, a grudging one.
”It would appear that I might have violated, at least in spirit, the president`s dictate to the campaign that we avoid references to Gov. Clinton`s personal life,” she said. ”I regret if the tone of my statement left the wrong impression.”
The White House said Matalin took ”full responsibility” for the news release, but the flap raised questions about who approved the release-if anyone did-and how high up the chain of command knowledge of the release went. ”I hardly think this was done in a vacuum,” said Clinton political operative James Carville. ”I don`t know if Bush saw that release before it went out, but certainly a lot of people did.”
The disavowal and apology also didn`t satisfy David Wilhelm, Clinton`s campaign director, who called the attack ”a classic” Bush technique intended to inject personal innuendo into the campaign while at the same time the president was appearing to distance himself from it.
”There`ll be three days of stories on this, which is what they set out to do,” said Wilhelm. ”She (Matalin) was just doing her job.”
At a news conference in Little Rock, Clinton concentrated on criticizing Bush`s position on health care issues and attempted to downplay Matalin`s criticisms.
”I can`t afford to be preoccupied by that sort of nickel-and-dime stuff,” Clinton said. ”I just blow it off. What they say about me doesn`t amount to a hill of beans. The American people are hurting-they want answers.”
Bush on Sunday had said Clinton`s health care plan would result in a state-run health system that would combine ”the efficiency of the House post office with the compassion of the KGB.”
Replied Clinton: ”The very idea that saying that the market-based proposals that I have made-which have been implemented successfully in other nations-the very idea of comparing them to the KGB or the House post office is amazing. It`s an act of desperation by an administration that for 12 years has ignored the health care needs of the American people.”
Clinton issued a fact sheet detailing the rising costs of health care and the growing number of uninsured Americans and said of Bush, ”He`s done nothing.”
”He should stop the campaign of blame and fear-mongering,” Clinton said.
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The latest exchange over the Matalin release and Bush`s statement on health care illustrate how the Clinton camp`s new ”rapid response” team is attempting to quickly counter political attacks.
”We`re doing all right,” said Carville, described by fellow Clinton staff members as ”the king of rapid response.”
The team swings into action twice each day, convening in the morning and again in the evening, said Dee Dee Myers, Clinton`s press secretary. Carville meets with 20 campaign department heads to survey news reports of the latest slings and arrows from the Bush camp.
When Clinton is attacked, the team immediately delves into the assailant`s backround, be it Bush or a surrogate Republican, searching the record for inconsistencies or contradictions and gleaning ammunition to launch a counterstrike before day`s end.
The idea is to formulate a response within hours and communicate it quickly throughout the campaign organization and to Clinton officials at the state level who can disseminate the response to local news media.
Clinton strategists believe they have to act aggressively to prevent a repeat of the 1988 campaign in which Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis took it on the chin from Bush.
”We can`t let charges hang out there unanswered,” Myers said. ”It`s been been very effective.”
On Monday, despite the successes of rapid-response, Carville appeared a bit shaken by the developments surrounding Matalin, with whom he has had a personal relationship.
”It ain`t the most pleasant thing in the world,” he said. ”But it was pretty inevitable that something like this would happen.”
As the campaign became increasingly mean-spirited last week, Matalin was quoted as calling Clinton a ”philandering, pot-smoking draft-dodger” in the New York Times.
While Matalin`s attacks may be calculated to keep the so-called character issue alive, they also have the effect of distracting attention from Bush`s efforts to get out his messages about ”trust” and ”family values.”
His remarks on health care competed for attention with Matalin`s release Sunday, and a two-state presidential speaking trip Monday was all but drowned out by the flap.
Bush, lagging behind 20 points and more in recent national polls, made a quick, 10-hour trip to shore up support in Georgia and Florida, states once thought to be reliably in the Republican column.
He made trust the rhetorical theme of the day.
”This election is not just about change, it`s about something else, a flip side of change, and that is called trust,” Bush told supporters at a shopping mall in Jacksonville, Fla.
He repeated the word a dozen times as he went over criticisms of ”the other side” on economic policy, on health care, on child care and on education.
”Trust the people you lead,” Bush said, explaining Republican preferences for minimizing government involvement in developing key industries. ”Trust parents,” he said, advocating government education vouchers for families to use to choose where they send their chidren to school.