The Nashua Telegraph, July 9, 1995
Buchanan says GOP race a faceoff with Dole, himself:
Candidate takes hawkish trade theme to Harley-Davidson to
underscore support for tariffs.
By KEVIN LANDRIGAN (Telegraph Staff)
MANCHESTER -- Republican presidential hopeful Patrick Buchanan
said Wednesday that the 1996 campaign here has evolved into a
two-person race that he can win over Senate Majority Leader Bob
Dole, R-Kan.
"I get the sense that Bob Dole really has broad-base support.
He's the titular head of the party and spokesman for the party on
national television. But our campaign has the fire, the
intensity, the enthusiasm. It is really catching fire," Buchanan
said before leaving New Hampshire after a three-day swing.
"I think it is becoming a Buchanan-Dole race. I think it is
going to be a high-level, tough race. We think that down the road
we are going to gain ground, and we think we can win New
Hampshire."
Buchanan launched an aggressive strategy to take on Dole with
a news conference late Wednesday in New York, where he called on
the front-runner to help him change ballot access rules in that
state so the 1996 primary is a fair fight.
Current election laws for candidates are so rigorous that
it's now possible Dole would be the only Republican contender on
the ballot, according to Buchanan press aide Greg Mueller.
Back in New Hampshire, Buchanan told reporters his "America
First" approach to trade and opposition to global treaties is one
of the key things that will separate him from the major
contenders for the GOP nomination.
Buchanan said the majority of Americans are, after months of
public scrutiny, against the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
treaty. He argued that this is because the treaties threaten th
e loss of the nation's essential manufacturing job base.
The proof of that fact, Buchanan said, was that his
adversaries who supported NAFTA and GATT (--including Dole and
U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas --) won't talk about the issue on
the campaign stump.
"None of them. They are dead silent. Why? Because they know
it"s a great big albatross that can sink them," Buchanan said.
"I think we are winning the argument. We started off behind,
but we are winning."
Buchanan took his hawkish trade theme to Manchester
Harley-Davidson to underscore his support for tariffs to protect
American jobs.
Harley now has a 64 percent market share of the large
motorcycle market worldwide, but it wasn't always that way,
Buchanan said.
A decade ago, then-President Ronald Reagan imposed hefty
tariffs on large Japanese motorcycles because makers from that
country allowed its manufactures to export large volumes of
motorcycles and sell them at below cost.
Buchanan said he would protect American markets by launching
a similar trade war with countries that did not fairly compete
for the sale of goods in the global marketplace.
"I would say to my critics, `Would it have been better to
have lost this company?' Harley-Davidson is as American as
Coca-Cola or General Motors," Buchanan said.
As for the Clinton-Japan trade talks over car imports,
Buchanan called the controversy a "charade."
All the commitments made by the Japanese government on market
penetration of American automobiles are voluntary and therefore
will not be enforced. "The Japanese have won this faceoff,"
Buchanan said.
Had he been president, Buchanan would not have proposed the
100 percent tariff on luxury Japanese automobiles as Clinton did
--"That amount was ridiculous," Buchanan said. Instead, the
candidate said, he would have pressed for a small but broad
tariff to force Japan into meaningful concessions.
In the meantime, Buchanan said he would have taken the revenue
from the tariff and used it to cut taxes on small businesses in
the U.S.
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P.O. Box 1008 Southern New Hampshire since 1832.
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