Off the Record

One year after student protestors first began massing on Peking’s Tiananmen Square, George Bush has become the number-one loser thanks to his weak response to Deng Xiaoping’s ongoing crackdown. Although the Democrats failed to pass a bill on the subject over his veto, the affair has not been without its cost. Many Republican senators are still bitter over the President’s attempt to renege on a promised executive order to protect Chinese students here in the U.S.

The flap began in January, when GOP senators barely managed to beat back an override of the veto of the China Student Bill. Many of them supported the President only because he went all out on the issue. One staffer tells us that White House officials actually threatened GOP senators that the President would not campaign for anyone who voted to override. The President also gave assurances—including a handwritten note to Senator Connie Mack (R., Fla.)—that an executive order would be “better” than the legislation. But two months later, despite several claims by the President that he had issued such an order, the Federal Register had yet to publish one.

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One year after student protestors first began massing on Peking’s Tiananmen Square, George Bush has become the number-one loser thanks to his weak response to Deng Xiaoping’s ongoing crackdown. Although the Democrats failed to pass a bill on the subject over his veto, the affair has not been without its cost. Many Republican senators are still bitter over the President’s attempt to renege on a promised executive order to protect Chinese students here in the U.S.

The flap began in January, when GOP senators barely managed to beat back an override of the veto of the China Student Bill. Many of them supported the President only because he went all out on the issue. One staffer tells us that White House officials actually threatened GOP senators that the President would not campaign for anyone who voted to override. The President also gave assurances—including a handwritten note to Senator Connie Mack (R., Fla.)—that an executive order would be “better” than the legislation. But two months later, despite several claims by the President that he had issued such an order, the Federal Register had yet to publish one.