D'Amato Urges GOP Strategists to Reconsider '94 Wins

Aired May 3, 1996

JUDY WOODRUFF, Anchor: As we've reported, Senator Al D'Amato of New York has joined a throng of GOP finger-pointers, saying the party is `going to be hurt in November if Speaker Newt Gingrich and House Republicans don't moderate their message.' My colleague Bernie Shaw spoke with D'Amato, who is co- chairman of the Dole National Campaign Steering Committee, just a short time ago on Capitol Hill.

BERNARD SHAW, Anchor: What is the situation for your candidate, Senator Bob Dole? Is there an element of desperation, of concern or what?

Sen. ALFONSE D'AMATO (R-NY), Dole Natl. Campaign Steering Cmt.: Well, certainly we have to be concerned. But I feel very confident that if we get on our program, a program of less government, of less spending, of more individual freedom and rights, that we're going to win. People want that. That's what they voted for in 1994. They voted against the broken promises. If you remember, candidate Bill Clinton said, for example, I'm going to cut taxes. He said, I'm going to change the way we run government. And then came increased taxes. And then tried to impose the largest health care plan that would have come into everyone's home. I mean, it would have been massive disruption, and people said, no way. So, what I'm saying is, we had better begin to look at those 1994 election results in the light of reality, not in the light of some political philosophy that would people believing that we're going to cut health care benefits for senior citizens. People didn't vote for that.

SHAW: But the speaker's spokesman says that you misread the '94 election. Here you have Senator Dole's co-chairman of his national presidential campaign criticizing and trying to get the party to focus in a certain direction, and then you have the speaker's mouthpiece coming back and saying, D'Amato is wrong.

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D'AMATO: Well, the speaker's mouthpiece hasn't been doing a very good job. As a matter of fact, it seems to me that the speaker, who's tremendously bright and tremendously talented, has had many of his messages totally misconstrued. And I think he ought to concentrate on basic one on one communication. We want workfare, not welfare. That should be on our agenda. Most Americans want to change the system that's broken down. Most Americans want a criminal justice system that begins to crack down on the criminals and protect innocent citizens. Most people want to see that taxes are reduced. They don't want to see those services to senior citizens cut. They don't want to hear about that you're going to be cutting education. They don't want to look and feel like this is a government that doesn't care about its people and its needy. And so, it would seem to me that they had better, Mr. Blankley [sp], had better take a look at the election results and stop interpreting them through the eyes of this mythical Contract With America that they claim the people voted for. Less than 10 percent of the people knew anything about the Contract With America. And by the way, there's some good things in the Contract With America. But what we have to do is get back to reality. People don't want a revolution. They want an evolution. They do want change. They want smaller government, less government. They want workfare, not welfare. They want a criminal justice system that responds. They want lower taxes. That's what we should be working for.

SHAW: On the very points you just made, are you saying publicly what Bob Dole is saying privately?

D'AMATO: No, I'm speaking for myself. I haven't made these observations with the consent or with the knowledge of Senator Dole. This is a statement, by the way, basically that I made in Harvard in September. You'll find these ideas reflected in my writings in my book last year in which I said we make a great mistake if we misinterpret the victory of 1994 as one that would bring about this revolution.

SHAW: Senator, a strategic question. In your judgment, how long can this veering off course, as you've flagged it, go on before it really begins to hurt your candidate mortally?

D'AMATO: Well, I think if we get on- and I believe that Senator Dole will come forth with a legislative agenda that begins to meet the needs of the people - and when the people see that, and when they see the challenges that we're going to put to this administration as to whether or not they're truly going to stand up and vote for the kinds of changes that the president has talked about. By the way, he's one of the best campaigners I've ever seen. But he says one thing and does another.

SHAW: Should Bob Dole name his running mate, vice-presidential running mate, as soon as possible?

D'AMATO: No. Absolutely not. This is a process by which he has got to carefully consider all of the available candidates, wait until the convention, don't take the buzz and the pop out of the convention, and keep his cards very close to his vest. And I still believe that we have an opportunity to attract the best and the brightest.

SHAW: Senator D'Amato, for your time, thank you for Inside Politics.

D'AMATO: Thank you.

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