9/18/00 4:00 p.m.
Bush Hits Back
The offense on the issues begins.

By NR's John J. Miller & Ramesh Ponnuru

eorge W. Bush's speech to the California Republican convention on Saturday could be the beginning of his rebound. Republicans have been waiting for him to start making the case against Al Gore's policies. On Saturday, he did.

And he did it well. He neatly tied a criticism of Gore's "targeted tax relief" to his own self-presentation as a "uniter, not a divider": "My opponent's theory is that only the 'right' people should get tax relief. That is what Al Gore calls them, the 'right' people. But there are no right Americans or wrong Americans. Tax relief should be aimed at one big target, so you can't miss: Everyone in America who pays income taxes."

Bush hit Gore on spending, charging that his budget would go into the red "by as much as $900 billion." He hit him on Social Security for relying on "accounting gimmicks and massive IOUs that our children will have to pay." And he hit him on Medicare for wanting seniors "to join a government HMO for drugs." Bush added, "The Vice President says he believes in health-care choices — and he has made yours for you."

Bush never used the word "liberal," in keeping with his campaign's odd aversion to the word. But the thrust of his speech was that Gore is an Old Democrat: "My opponent's ideas are shaped by a quarter century in Washington — and they were tired even when his career began. . . . The Vice President talks about 'the people versus the powerful.' But in all his plans, who ends up with the power? Who always ends up making the choices? Not taxpayers, but tax collectors. Not senior citizens, but HMO overseers. Not parents, or even teachers, but some distant central office. He says he wants to help 'the people.' If only he would trust them."

Bush should keep up this attack. Indeed, he should expand on it, portraying Gore as a threat to both the Old Economy (because of his environmentalism) and the New (the lawsuit against Microsoft, Internet taxes). Will such a message win Bush the election? No. But it's a start.

Getting Schooled
We've been skeptical about Bush's efforts to wrest the education issue away from the Democrats, but there is now some powerful evidence that the campaign is working: The Democrats appear to think so, too. How else to explain the new ad the DNC is running in most of the swing states. It starts out with Gore saying "George Bush and I actually agree on accountability in education." He then outlines his (mostly meretricious) proposals on education without again referring to Bush. From the script, in fact, it's hard to tell that the proposals Gore is outlining are not additional points of agreement between them.