American Notes Politics

It was perhaps a taste of campaign sniping yet to come. At the 23rd anniversary dinner of New York's Conservative Party, George Bush, already itching for the 1988 Republican nomination, went after a Democrat who claims that he is not seeking his party's nomination: New York Governor Mario Cuomo. Bush accused Cuomo of "pitting one American against another" and "telling us to be ashamed to stand up and say we're proud of this great land."

Bush's broadside seemed to be a deliberate misreading of recent remarks by Cuomo, who had expressed irritation at "increasing references to my ethnicity" and at speculation that an Italian American could not be elected President. Cuomo followed Bush's punch with a counterpunch. "There are few things more amusing in the world of politics," said he, "than watching moderate Republicans charging to the right in pursuit of greater glory." As if on cue, Bush headed back to Washington, where he endorsed prayer in public schools and "the sanctity of human life" as keynote speaker at the Liberty Federation, the newly christened parent group of Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority.