A NEW GOP?
July 31, 2000

The Republican Party is presenting a new face during its convention to reflect George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism." Three party members discuss this new direction for the GOP.

Online NewsHour Special Reports: GOP Convention 2000 Text of the 2000 GOP Platform Election 2000 July 27, 2000: Protestors plan their actions at the conventions. July 26, 2000: Dick Cheney's record July 25, 2000: Shields and Gigot on the Cheney Choice. July 24, 2000: Courting the Latino vote. July 21, 2000: A look at the so-called Veepstakes. July 7, 2000: A look at Vice President Al Gore's education record. July 6, 2000: A look at Texas Gov. George W. Bush's education record. June 26, 2000: The Green Party nominates Ralph Nader. April 27, 2000: Texas Governor George W. Bush. March 14, 2000: Vice President Al Gore Browse the NewsHour's coverage of politics     GOP 2000 Convention	MARGARET WARNER: Governor Bush and the Republican Party is trying to shape - we're going to take a look at right now. And for perspective we turn to Congressman Peter King of New York, Ralph Reed, an adviser to the Bush campaign, former director of the Christian Coalition; he's now president of a political consulting firm; and author David Frum, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative policy research organization. Welcome, gentlemen.
	A disconnect between convention and platform?
	David Frum, here we had the opening night of the convention, the Republican Party - they're talking about education. They're talking about parenting. What do you make of the whole tenor and cast of this convention, the image it's trying to project? DAVID FRUM: Well, this is like that scene in "Singing in the Rain" where the sound track and the video track don't quite mesh, you know, with the silent film actors. You look at the platform. This is a staunch, firm conservative party. It's an excellent platform from a conservative point of view with strong views on missile defense and on privatizing Social Security. The images that they're projecting, however, are not just soft but also rejecting traditional Republicans like federalism -- which would say education is not a federal matter. And these two things are intention, and the hope is, I think, that each - different audiences will hear different portions. The question will be what happens if the same audience hears both. MARGARET WARNER: Do you see it that way - that the face of this convention really is not the true face of the Republican Party. REP. PETER KING: I think it is true face. I think over the past few years we've gotten away from the traditional Republican conservative values. I think education should be a strong Republican position. I think we got ourselves sidetracked. We went off on some other issues. We got caught up in the whole matter with President Clinton, but I think that is a genuine selling of the Republican position, and we're doing it in a way that the average person can understand. So, I mean, David is right, and I'm right, I think. Everybody's saying the same thing. The fact is I would much rather have policies coming across to people in terms they appreciate and understand. MARGARET WARNER: Governor Bush insisted on this face of the convention. Why, Ralph Reed? RALPH REED: Well, I think it was a matter of grassroots also wanted that face. I mean, let's remember that we as a party - not just Governor Bush - but all of us, those at the grassroots for whom this convention really reflects our will. I mean, after all, Governor Bush was not imposed on this party. He won the primaries overwhelmingly. The grassroots wanted him to be the nominee, and what - what has happened, Margaret, is we allowed for too long issues that were critical to our country like education, health care, and the environment, to be conceded to the other party. That was a mistake; we're not going to do it anymore. Now, we're going to have different views than them. Our agenda for those issues is very different than the Democrats. But we're going to make our views known, and we're going to make it a priority. MARGARET WARNER: As opposed to just ceding the entire field for those issues? RALPH REED: Well, the Democrats recognized going into '92 that they had ceded defense, crime and welfare to us, and they changed that. We're now going to change that for health care, environment, and education.
	A winning strategy?
	MARGARET WARNER: Is, in fact, Governor Bush doing - trying to do to the Republican Party what Bill Clinton did to the Democratic Party, which was try to reshape it in a more centrist direction? DAVID FRUM: I don't think that those terms exactly govern it. I think one of the things that he's trying to do -- and it's a terrific gamble -- is his vision is that the Republicans do better in a low intensity environment, that the less people care, the less enthusiasm his side has and the other side has the better he'll do. That hasn't always worked in the past. MARGARET WARNER: You're saying that because you're saying that the base won't be energized, the conservative base? DAVID FRUM: These are issues that I think the Republican base and the Republican non-base both say, yeah, those are moderately important things, but they are not the issues that really get people to the polls, really get them excited, really get them watching television. This is not exciting television, and I don't think that happened by accident, that Mr. Bush believes that a low intensity environment is his best one, and what the great risk for him is that the great Republican victories in the past have been won in high intensity environments, that the Republican issues are issues that people really care about. MARGARET WARNER: And you see it just the other way? You think this is a prescription actually for winning? REP. PETER KING: It is, and I think also the American people have made it clear they want integrity restored to the White House but they don't want partisanship. One way to show integrity, one way to show leadership is to do it on issues that are not necessarily partisan but have a philosophical component. Education being a main one, health care being a main one; environment being one. These are all issues where George Bush can show that he is prepared to lead, that he is different from his predecessor, he is a man of integrity, but he's not going to do it by banging people over the head with corruption issues and impeachment issues. RALPH REED: I would just say, by the way, to David's point that, I mean, it depends on how you define high intensity. I mean, the Cow Palace in 1964, when Nelson Rockefeller was booed into submission was intensity. Pat Buchanan declaring a culture war at our '92 convention. I was on the floor during that speech. There was a lot of loud cheering. You know, we carried 16 states that fall, and what Governor Bush has shown this part is a new way. He's made it clear that you don't have to have this false dichotomy between both conservative and compassionate. You can be both. And what's happened, the result is is that when he first ran in '94, we held nine out of twenty-eight statewide offices in Texas. Today we hold twenty-eight out of twenty-eight. He's doing something right. The national party has a lot to learn from George W. Bush, and it should do so.
	Victory without a mandate?
	MARGARET WARNER: So what's wrong with that vision, David Frum? DAVID FRUM: Well, two things. It may well be brilliant. It may well work superbly. MARGARET WARNER: But on a sustentative basis? DAVID FRUM: One of the things that George Bush is going to have trouble asserting when he gets to office is that he's got a mandate for government. The Republicans have been since 1980 the party of reform. Democrats have been the party more or less defending the status quo. Their great accomplishments were the 1930s and 1960s. One of the reasons that we, that our face is so much more bruised than theirs is because we've been on offense, and you get kicked in the head more. And the Republicans continue to be the party of major change and reform. The privatization of Social Security is no small matter. And if you have not amassed, if you have not amassed popular support, it's hard to get much done. I'd simply say that politics is like the old Babe Ruth home run in baseball, where you have to point precisely to the place in the stands where you're going to hit the ball; and if you haven't done it, you don't have a mandate. MARGARET WARNER: So let me just go back to Ralph Reed and then quickly to you, Peter. Do you agree with David Frum that he may have trouble actually advancing a very conservative agenda if he hasn't run on one? RALPH REED: I think, in fact, he is. I think he's running on the boldest reform agenda - the nominee of either party - since Reagan in '80. MARGARET WARNER: Sorry. We have to throw to Jim. Back to you, Jim.