Campaign 2000

Read these excerpts, and then click on the link and read the article for yourself. Headline: Spying circus flies in to give Bush blessing.

Extracts:

1. IT WILL be a curious spectacle. Former and present American spy chiefs will mingle with ex-KGB agents. George Bush, the former American president and leader of the Gulf war coalition, will address them, as will his son and namesake, attempting to prove that he is ready to shoulder the burden of running a strife-torn world.

2. However, the [upcoming] conference [in College Station, Texas] will offer more than a forum for cold war reminiscences: the heroes of the old order are expected to give a symbolic blessing to a presidential candidate perceived as inexperienced in international intrigue. George W Bush, the Texas governor, has developed a worrying habit of making mis-statements on foreign policy; and while Al Gore, the vice-president and Democratic presidential candidate, has his job in the White House to promote him on the international stage, Bush must rely on his father - and some of the most celebrated allies of his administration.

3. Every surviving former head of the Central Intelligence Agency is expected.

4. In exchange for his tips, "Pop", as the Bush family calls him, expects to be fed all the juicy gossip from the presidential trail; and his hosting of the intelligence conference is evidence of a bigger role he is about to play.

5. Such an array of cold war veterans will strengthen the perception that, whatever the younger Bush's shortcomings when it comes to identifying foreigners - his gaffes have included misrepresenting the Timorese as "Timorians" and confusing Slovakia with Slovenia - he can tap a wealth of wise minds to keep him on course. On domestic issues, there is more of a danger for Bush in being so beholden to the members of his father's administration.

Story originally found here.
Article pasted below in case The Times takes it down.

September 26 1999
UNITED STATES Spying circus flies in to give Bush blessing
By Matthew Campbell, Washington

IT WILL be a curious spectacle. Former and present American spy chiefs will mingle with ex-KGB agents. George Bush, the former American president and leader of the Gulf war coalition, will address them, as will his son and namesake, attempting to prove that he is ready to shoulder the burden of running a strife-torn world.

After a bizarre reunion of former spies and security gurus in Berlin recently, the next venue for the world's travelling circus of intelligence experts is Texas, where the George Bush School of Government and Public Service is hosting an event in November entitled US Intelligence and the End of the Cold War.

However, the conference will offer more than a forum for cold war reminiscences: the heroes of the old order are expected to give a symbolic blessing to a presidential candidate perceived as inexperienced in international intrigue. George W Bush, the Texas governor, has developed a worrying habit of making mis-statements on foreign policy; and while Al Gore, the vice-president and Democratic presidential candidate, has his job in the White House to promote him on the international stage, Bush must rely on his father - and some of the most celebrated allies of his administration.

Margaret Thatcher, who famously told the American president during the Gulf war "Don't go wobbly on me, George", has been invited to the conference. Every surviving former head of the Central Intelligence Agency is expected.

Their one-time foes will be represented by Oleg Kalugin, a head of Soviet counter-intelligence turned espionage pundit. The Texas governor will make a keynote foreign policy speech under the adoring gaze of his father who, with the exception of an occasional sky-diving expedition - his son calls him the "sky king" - has kept a low profile since leaving office. But his claims of being "out of the loop" do not ring true when it comes to his boy's campaign for the Oval Office.

Having reactivated his fundraising network to fill the young Bush's election coffers, he has been bombarding campaign headquarters in Austin, Texas, with e-mails on the Bush family internet system. In exchange for his tips, "Pop", as the Bush family calls him, expects to be fed all the juicy gossip from the presidential trail; and his hosting of the intelligence conference is evidence of a bigger role he is about to play.

To commemorate the fall of the Berlin wall a decade ago he will go on what amounts to a victory lap through Europe in November, celebrating the collapse of communism as an official guest of Germany and the Czech Republic.

The Texas gathering may further enhance nostalgia for the Bush era by bringing together some of its most venerable figures, including the former secretaries of state George Shultz, one of the young Bush's foreign policy tutors, and James Baker, the wily Texan who helped to craft the strategy that brought the cold war to an end.

Such an array of cold war veterans will strengthen the perception that, whatever the younger Bush's shortcomings when it comes to identifying foreigners - his gaffes have included misrepresenting the Timorese as "Timorians" and confusing Slovakia with Slovenia - he can tap a wealth of wise minds to keep him on course.

His best asset, however, may be Condoleeza Rice, 44, a Diana Ross lookalike and security adviser in the Bush administration. She is being tipped for national security adviser if Bush wins the election. On domestic issues, there is more of a danger for Bush in being so beholden to the members of his father's administration. Despite a brief skyrocketing in his poll ratings after victory in the Gulf, the former president was never a particularly popular figure and was blasted for raising taxes after his "read my lips" assertion that he would not do so.

With spin doctors worrying about the "daddy factor", Bush has struggled to craft his own vision on the home front, promoting a doctrine of "compassionate conservatism" to convince voters that there is more to him than the son of a former president cashing in on his fame. He sometimes speaks of his rebellious youth to prove how different he is.

Plagued by allegations that he used to enjoy drugs, Bush once joked that his father's idea of the perfect son was his rival, the dutiful, obedient Gore, whose personal failings do not appear to extend beyond enjoying the occasional cold beer. Even so, Bush's managers have concluded that a higher profile for the elder Bush could broaden his appeal: according to a recent poll in New Hampshire, a crucial state in the presidential contest, a quarter of Bush voters relate their support to their admiration for the former president. His bumbling demeanour and habit of becoming tongue-tied at the White House rostrum make him seem a beacon of decency compared with the evasive Clinton.

Bush's best qualities will undoubtedly be on display in a book of his letters the former president is about to release, called All the Best, My Life in Letters and Other Writings. Television appearances have been scheduled next month for the former president to promote the book - and, no doubt, his "rambunctious" son.