McCain assails religious right on Pat Robertson's home turf

Bush accuses rival of 'shamelessly using religion'

February 28, 2000
Web posted at: 6:09 p.m. EST (2309 GMT)

VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia (CNN) -- Arizona Sen. John McCain travelled to the home turf of Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson on Monday, and delivered a stinging critique of some religious conservatives who are supporting his GOP presidential rival George W. Bush.

McCain, campaigning in Virginia just one day before the state's primary, said that the targeted evangelists, among others, have "turned good causes into businesses."

The Texas governor responded to the speech by accusing McCain of "shamelessly using religion to get ahead" and touted himself as the only GOP candidate who is "a uniter, not a divider."

Sen. John McCain spoke Monday in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

"I am a pro-life, pro-family fiscal conservative and advocate of a strong defense, and yet, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and a few Washington leaders of the pro-life movement call me an unacceptable presidential candidate," McCain said in speech to some 1,500 people at Cox High School in Virginia Beach.

"They distort my pro-life positions and smear the reputations of my supporters because I don't pander to them, I don't ascribe to their failed philosophy that money is our message."

Robertson sponsored automated phone calls to voters prior to the Michigan Republican primary last week criticizing McCain's record on abortion, and calling key campaign aide Warren Rudman a "bigot" for criticizing Christian conservatives.

McCain was careful to focus the brunt of his sharp message on Robertson and Falwell -- founder of the Virginia-based Moral Majority -- along with other "self-appointed leaders" he said had "lost confidence in the Republican Party."

"Let me be clear: Evangelical leaders our changing America for the better," McCain said, citing the efforts of Chuck Colson, a former Nixon aide who runs a Christian outreach program for prison inmates. He also paid homage to Dr. James Dobson, the founder of the Washington, D.C.-based Christian group, Focus on the Family.

Dobson does not support McCain.

McCain also brought along former presidential rival Gary Bauer, a conservative activist who endorsed him last month. "If this were an attack on Christian conservative voters, I wouldn't be here," Bauer told reporters before the speech.

Nonetheless, McCain was unrelenting in his assault on Robertson -- whose Christian Broadcasting Network is based in Virginia Beach -- likening Robertson and Falwell to controversial African-American leaders "Louis Farrakhan and Al Sharpton on the left."

He said Robertson in particular was no better than the union bosses he accused of neglecting the needs of American families to better themselves.

"The union bosses who have subordinated the interests of working families to their own ambitions -- to their desire to preserve their own political power at all costs -- are mirror images of Pat Robertson."

McCain's remarks come just one day after Bush sent a letter to New York Catholics saying he "regretted" that he did not speak out against the anti-Catholic views of Bob Jones University during his appearance at the South Carolina Christian college earlier this month.

McCain, whose campaign also sponsored phone calls in Michigan that painted Bush as an anti-Catholic, continued to jab at Bush for the Bob Jones appearance.

"I'm a Reagan Republican who will defeat Al Gore. Governor Bush is a Pat Robertson Republican who will lose to Al Gore," said McCain, who again stressed his GOP credentials on abortion, taxes and defense while continuing to preach his reform message.

"It's conservative to pay down the national debt, to save Social Security and Medicare, to insist on local control of our children's education. It's conservative to expose the pork barrel spending practices of both political parties," he said.

"Those who purport to be defenders of our party, who in reality have lost confidence in the Republican message, are attacking me. Their are people who have turned good causes into businesses."

McCain also said he was proud that his victories in New Hampshire and Michigan came largely because of the support of independents and Democrats who were allowed to vote in the Republican contests in those states.

"The essence of evangelism is to seek converts," said McCain. "My campaign is bringing new people into the Republican party every day."

McCain's aides believe that the religious right affiliation may help Bush in Virginia, but will hurt him in New York and California, where the Christian Coalition is less of a force.

In a single frenzied day, McCain also planned to hit the stump in North Dakota and Washington state -- which also holds GOP contests Tuesday -- before ending up with a late rally in California.

Polls last week had shown McCain only 10-12 percentage points behind Bush in Virginia and even with him in Washington. Both men are frantically scrambling for advantage ahead of the March 7 contests, which included California and New York.

Bush defends endorsements, labels McCain a 'divider'

On the campaign trail in Washington state, Bush refused to disassociate himself with either Robertson or Falwell.

"They're supporters of mine, but I have all kinds of supporters," he said after an appearance at Bellevue Community College. "The Republican Party needs somebody who can unite our party, somebody who can bring people together."

Gov. George W. Bush

"You can't lead America to a better tomorrow by calling names and pointing fingers," Bush said, referring to McCain's speech. "He is a person who obviously wants to divide people into camps."

During his speech, Bush said that most Republican governors had endorsed his candidacy while most Republican senators, who knew and worked with McCain, had not endorsed their Arizona colleague.

"In the halls of the United States Senate, over 35 members, Republican members who know us both well, have stood up and said, 'We want George W. Bush,' " he said.

The Texas governor also repeated his promise of a tax cut if elected.

"The surplus is not government money, the surplus is the people's money," he said, adding, "It's conservative to cut taxes. It's compassionate to give people their money back."

Bush also touted himself as an inclusive reformer who had won support from Hispanics, women, Democrats and independents as well as Republicans in his home state of Texas. At the same time, he blasted McCain's attempts to cast himself as a Reagan Republican.

"He (McCain) invokes the name of Ronald Reagan yet at the same time plays on people's religious fears. That's not the politics of Ronald Reagan that I remember."

Bush again expressed regret over his appearance at Bob Jones University, but accused McCain on Monday of using the controversy to portray him as a bigot.

"I missed an opportunity to speak out, that's what I regret," Bush said Monday, noting that he did voice opposition to the university's ban on interracial dating in a news conference after the February 2 speech.

The Texas governor still appeared visibly irate over McCain's initial denial that his campaign ordered automated phone calls in Michigan last week that painted Bush as anti-Catholic because of the appearance.

"He looked at the national media right in the eye and denied being involved with the calls going into the state of Michigan ... and then yesterday in The New York Times admitted he knew something about it and approved the scripts," Bush told reporters.

Dems ready for Washington state 'beauty contest'

On the Democratic side, former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley wrapped up a six-day campaign swing through Washington State in hopes of winning Tuesday's "beauty contest" primary against Vice President Al Gore.

Although no delegates will be awarded in the non-binding popular vote, the results could determine the outcome of Washington's Democratic Party caucuses held the following week, which begins the process of awarding delegates to the party convention.

"This is the first step of the Washington two-step. If we do well on Tuesday, then we do well in the caucuses," Bradley told more than 300 supporters crammed into a middle-school auditorium in Vancouver, Washington.

Bradley held two last events in Seattle today -- greeting ferry commuters and attending a rally at the University of Washington -- before heading off to California, which is the big prize in his March 7 election showdown with Gore.

Although it is still unclear whether his Washington strategy will pay off, there is little indication that Bradley has gained substantial traction against Gore during the past week. Bradley himself played down expectations later on Monday.

"I knew we were against entrenched power, I knew it would be difficult and it has been," the former New Jersey senator said.

Having already lost to the vice president in Iowa and New Hampshire, Bradley has conceded that he needs to post some substantial wins March 7 if his campaign has any hopes of remaining viable against the Gore juggernaut. The vice president leads in more than a dozen states headed to the polls, in many of them by margins of more than 2-to-1.

Campaigning in Colorado on Monday, Gore largely ignored Bradley and instead focused his attacks on GOP rivals Bush and McCain.

"Both of the Republican candidates for president are in the hip pocket of the NRA (National Rifle Association)," Gore told a crowd in Denver. "They are both anti-environmentalists," he added. "Both of them have refused to raise the minimum wage, both of them want to take away a woman's right to choose."

With last year's school shooting tragedy at nearby Columbine High School still fresh in people's minds, Gore touted his gun control proposals.

"I believe its time to ban the assault weapons, and ban the Saturday night specials or junk guns. I believe it's time to have photo license ID's for the purchase of a new handgun.

Gore still managed to keep his eye on events in Washington. He phoned in radio interviews with Seattle radio stations from his hotel in Colorado while his campaign also released TV ads in the Evergreen State, declaring that "Al Gore wants to fight for you."

"I'm notĘtaking a single vote for granted," the vice president said.

CNN's Bob Franken, Jonathan Karl, Gary Tuchman, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.