12/20/00 10:10 a.m.
A Graceless Exit
Tom Ridge goes out, but not in style.

By NR’s John J. Miller & Ramesh Ponnuru

oor Tom Ridge. First the Pennsylvania governor gets passed over for a spot on the Republican presidential ticket, and now he won't be Secretary of Defense. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.

But don't get out your hankies just yet. Ridge is pretty good at feeling sorry for himself. He doesn't need your help.

On Monday, Ridge made it clear he didn't want to serve in George W. Bush's cabinet. "I assume President-elect Bush knows I will honor my commitment from last summer" to serve as governor through 2002, he said. Then he poked at his critics: "They apparently believe that because of one issue, I am not entitled to hold any post."

What he meant is that pro-lifers wouldn't abide a pro-choice pol at the Pentagon. The claim is patently absurd: The complaints about Ridge at Defense had nothing to do with his views on abortion, and everything to do with a congressional voting record that included opposition to President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, the MX missile, aid to the Nicaraguan contras, and nuclear testing, as well as support for the nuclear freeze. Forced to comment on this record, Ridge became, for lack of a better word, snippy: "Just because it went boom and cost a lot of money doesn't mean I voted for it," he explained on Monday.

If this is how Ridge continues to characterize SDI and the MX missile, it's further evidence of his unfitness for the Pentagon in a Republican administration.

There's also something fishy about Ridge's withdrawal story. According to a story in the Tuesday edition of the Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pa., Ridge told Dick Cheney in a December 6 telephone conversation that he wouldn't move to Washington. That's an unexpected claim, considering the Patriot-News previously had reported this Ridge comment, made that very day: "If I'm asked [to become Secretary of Defense], I'd have to consider it. The answer might be no, but I haven't been asked yet." Later that week, Ridge spokesman Tim Reeves also kept the door open in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer: "If Gov. Bush called, [Ridge] would listen and think about the arguments."

This recalls the experience of last summer, after Ridge rather obviously campaigned to become Bush's running mate. When it had become apparent there would be no need for the BushRidge.com web site Karl Rove had registered, Ridge explained that he had pulled his name from consideration weeks earlier. He wasn't content simply to have been one of several candidates up for the job — he wanted to the world to know that he had rejected Bush before Bush had rejected him. And now, it seems, he's playing the same game.

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