Buchanan Declares Culture War

Patrick J. Buchanan, struggling to jump-start his stalled presidential bid, today opened his general election campaign with an assault on Hollywood and "cultural Marxism" in an appearance at Bob Jones University.

Buchanan warned an enthusiastic gathering of about 2,000 students, faculty and local supporters that the courts and the media elite "are abolishing America, they are deconstructing our country . . . they have dethroned our God." He declared that gay rights proponents have dominated television and movies and contended that homosexuality "always has been associated with social decadence and national decline."

Bob Jones III, the university president, almost endorsed Buchanan after the speech, saying that if anyone can defeat Democratic nominee Al Gore "it will be someone who stands up, speaks up and will not shut up, and really does not care whether he wins an election." Jones suggested that "America will probably not survive another election as a free people if the Democrats get back into office."

Barely in single digits in the polls, still recovering from gallbladder surgery and unlikely to be invited to debate on television, Buchanan pointedly chose the university, famous for its former ban on interracial dating and its leaders' anti-Catholic views, as a way to gain public attention.

After months of political and legal battling, Buchanan just last week received $12.6 million from the Federal Election Commission as the Reform Party nominee. He intends to spend most of the money advertising on Christian and talk radio stations in an attempt to win at least 5 percent in the general election so the party will qualify for federal money in 2004.

In an interview before his speech, Buchanan, who has lost weight since having his gallbladder removed a month ago and follow-up procedures to dislodge a gallstone from a liver duct, said he is not optimistic about his chances of winning a substantial percentage of votes on Nov. 7 if, as he expects, he is kept out of the debates.

In 1992 and 1996, Buchanan was a political powerhouse, providing the strongest challenges to the nominations of then-President George Bush and former senator Robert J. Dole, and winning the New Hampshire primary in 1996.

In this election, however, Buchanan never gained traction in the GOP. Last October, he jumped to the Reform Party, which had the attraction of the $12.6 million in federal money and an invitation to the debates if 15 percent of voters polled supported him.

Instead of moving up in the polls, however, Buchanan has collapsed to near-asterisk status. The Reform Party became a laughingstock after a meeting in Dearborn, Mich., turned into a brawl. Then many Reform Party leaders who had worked for Ross Perot in 1996 and 1992 were pushed to the sidelines by Buchanan backers, and the battle for the nomination turned into a bizarre contest between Buchanan and John Hagelin, the Natural Law Party's nominee.

Buchanan said he chose to speak at Bob Jones University because "people are going to take note of it."

The school became the focus of controversy after both Republicans and Democrats criticized Texas Gov. George W. Bush (R) for speaking here during the South Carolina primary campaign. Bush disassociated himself from the university's ban on interracial dating and the Rev. Bob Jones's 1987 description of the pope as "an anti-Christ" who "brings a curse wherever he goes."

Buchanan, who is Catholic, today joined Bush in disassociating himself from those views but defended the university on other fronts.

"Their dating policy was rooted in biblical beliefs that we disagree with. But everybody who goes there, they are all volunteers, they all accept the code of conduct. Nobody is forced to go there," Buchanan said in the interview.