(note: Each of the major candidates for President will be given a 
separate item in this conf for purposes of discussing their campaigns)

NAME: Bob Dole
AGE: 71
OCCUPATION: United States Senator (R-Kansas), Senate Majority Leader
CANDIDACY ANNOUNCED: April 11, 1995 in Topeka, Kansas
PLATFORM:
  *Lower taxes, smaller government, balanced budget
  *To rein in a federal government that has grown too "remote" and
   "isolated" from the american people.
QUOTES:
  
  "Let us reign in our government to set the spirit of the
   American people free.  Let us renew our moral convictions and
   strengthen our families by returning to fundamental values"

   "It is critical to have a president who knows what made America
    great and what has been sacrificed to keep us free, and who would
    do all in his power to lead America back to her place in the sun"

12 responses total.

After surviving eight years of Reagan, I shudder at the thought of another
old man with old ideas in the White House, as well as who would be Dole's
running mate, in which case I would pray for four years of continued good
health for Dole.

  Dole would love, just *love* to have Colin Powell as his running
mate

Bob Dole says he would like to set the spirit of the American people free.
He plans to do this by denying the women abortions, and forcing
non-Christians to observe and perhaps participate in Christian prayers
in the public schools. He'd also like to tell you which movies are OK
to watch. I'll take the "other" freedom. I don't think much of Dole.

  You need to understand that getting nominated by the Republican party
and winning the general election are two different things.  To get
nominated, Dole has to move to the right and calm down all the rightwing
gopers who control the strings (such as the christian coalition)  So he
uses this rhetoric to satisfy them, but believe me if and when he is
nominated, Dole will run as hard as he can back to the center.  All
the hardliners know that he is a moderate wearing conservative clothing
as it is, he's been around too long to completely change his stripes.  So
I'd expect to hear a totally different tone from him during the general
election

By the time he gets around to sitting in the oval office, he'd be, what,
74?  I sure hope he doesn't have Dan Quayle as a running mate.  I'm with
srw on the "freedom" stuff.  The religious right really scares me.  The
only possible good I can see coming out of them is that once their reign
of terror is over, people will realize that they and McCarthy had a lot
in common.  Anyone for bonking Dole over the head with a pineapple?

I think Kerouac's right about Dole, actually. I remember him as a moderate.
I'm steaming mad at him about chasing all those religious right votes, and
I don't intend to forgive him when he comes running back to the center.

Dole's age is a factor in considering the importance of the running mate, 
but I don't think Quayle will be a serious option for that spot.

  Okay, TIME magazine has a cover story this week on the Bob Dole age
issue.  He will be 73 by the time he takes this office.  Is this too
old? He's older than Ronald Reagan was in his second term and Regan
er...Reagan was falling asleep in his cabinet meetings and stopped
having press confs.
  Dole is obviously an active guy and young for his age, but is it 
worth the risk?  Do we really wante a president who is past retirement
age?  

I do not believe that age alone (or lack of it) is a useful criterion
for choosing a president. True, if he weren't able to function properly
that should be considered, but I am very much against taking age into
account in this process. 

Of course each person has to decide what criteria to vote on, but I
don't think age makes a good one. In fact, I will not vote for Dole for
completely different reasons.

I'm not sure I agree.  Health is an important factor.  Boris Yeltsin did
okay with unstable angina, but what if he went into intensive care with a
big heart attack?  And needed rehab for a prolonged time?  The chances of
major health problems grow with age.  I know many elderly people who are
vigorous and possessing of their full faculties.  But, before I installed
one of them as President, I might like to know that they passed a routine
physical.

I didn't say I objected to using health as a consideration.
Some people are healthier at 70 than others are at 50.
Going by health is fine. Going by age is just age discrimination.

Dole's age would not concern me (unless he chose Quayle as VP. :-)
His age does mean his election would be a step backward; with Clinton
the torch was passed to a generation shaped more by Vietnam than WWII,
and I think the lessons of Nam are important ones vis a vis, say, Bosnia.

Maybe it is time to revive this item. Dole has just plotted a mid-course
correction in his campaign. He announced a new "big-tent" strategy on
abortion. This consists of a declaration of tolerance, accepting that there 
are valid opinions on the subject besides his own. 
(Pete Wilson's Like Christine Todd Whitman's).

His attempt to moderate on this is likely to get the GOP fighting 
within itself, although his basic motivation probably stems from the
recognition that a lot of women vote. Dole personally still opposes 
abortion rights.

Here are some reactions:

"That won't wash," California Gov. Pete Wilson said. Speaking on behalf of 
GOP moderates, Wilson, who favors removing the abortion plank altogether, 
declared, "We feel strongly that the Republican Party can and should 
offer a more realistic and relevant response to questions about 
reproductive choice and privacy."

Republican National Coalition for Life chair Phyllis Schlafly released a 
blistering statement, accusing Dole of "trying to have it both ways." "It 
is insulting and unacceptable to single out the pro-life plank as the one 
which should be qualified by appeals to 'tolerance' and 'diversity,'" 
Schlafly stormed. "Bob Dole's straddling statement shows that he is 
gravely miscalculating the pro-life commitment of the delegates to the 
Republican National Convention."

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