Web posted February 29, 2000

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By Mike Glover
Associated Press Writer

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- John McCain condemned Christian conservative leaders Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell as ``agents of intolerance'' today and warned his Republican Party against ``pandering to the outer reaches of American politics.''

His rival for the GOP nomination, George W. Bush, responded that McCain ``obviously wants to divide people into camps'' and accused him of playing on ``religious fears.''

In a stinging rebuke delivered in the evangelists' home state, McCain was careful to say he wasn't attacking religious conservative voters, only ``a few of their self-appointed leaders.'' McCain said his anti-abortion record was misrepresented and one of his national campaign co-chairs smeared ``because I don't pander to them.''

Speaking the day before Virginia's GOP primary, McCain called himself a ``Reagan Republican'' and termed Bush a ``Pat Robertson Republican'' who couldn't defeat Al Gore if the vice president is the Democratic nominee.

``Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell on the right,'' McCain, who has appealed to independent and Democratic voters, said in speech to about 1,500 people at Cox High School.

Speaking to reporters in Bellevue, Wash., today, Bush said the party needs a presidential candidate who would unite people instead of playing ``a political game'' of ``pitting one group of people against another.''

``He's playing the religious card, that's not Reaganesque,'' Bush said. ``That reminds me of the current administration.''

In Richmond, Sen. John Warner, a moderate Republican campaigning for Bush, also was critical of McCain's remarks: ``I have to tell my old friend to pull back on his throttle and quit trying to fire heat-seeking missiles up everybody's tailpipe.''

Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority, and Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition, did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press.

McCain brought former presidential rival Gary Bauer, a conservative activist, along to help mollify voters his remarks might offend. Bauer, who was on stage as McCain spoke, told reporters, ``If this were an attack on Christian conservative voters, I wouldn't be here.''

McCain said he spoke out in part because of negative campaigning against him by religious leaders. In Michigan, Robertson used recorded telephone messages to call former New Hampshire Sen. Warren Rudman, a McCain co-chairman, a ``vicious bigot'' who attacks religious conservatives.

McCain said such tactics ``shame our name, our party and our country.''

McCain aides compared the attack to a 1992 move by President Clinton criticizing rap singer Sister Souljah, a move where Clinton cast himself as a moderate.

The speech followed McCain's criticism of Bush for speaking at a Christian university in South Carolina that has been criticized for spreading anti-Catholic views. After weeks of defending his decision to speak at Bob Jones University, Bush sent a letter Sunday to Cardinal John O'Connor, the leader of New York's Catholics, saying he deeply regretted ``causing needless offense'' by not more clearly ``disassociating myself from anti-Catholic sentiments and racial prejudice.''

Bush's top strategist, Karl Rove, today accused McCain of using the Bob Jones controversy to portray Bush as a bigot and divide voters by religion. ``This is a reprehensible attempt to bring religion into American politics in a very ugly way,'' Rove said on ABC's ``Good Morning America.''

In California today, a poll found Bush leading McCain by 20 percentage points among the Republican voters who will choose delegates, but tied with McCain for the popular vote that includes Democrats and independents.

With the state's March 7 primary approaching, a high-profile showdown in California seemed threatened when McCain said he wouldn't appear at Thursday's scheduled debate in Los Angeles. McCain said today that Bush dallied in committing to the event, and by the time Bush agreed McCain was already locked into a campaign schedule he didn't want to change.

Bush denied causing delay and demanded an explanation for why McCain is missing the debate.

The decision to skip the debate was the subject of heated discussion within the McCain campaign, with his California advisers warning that he needed the free media exposure and couldn't appear to take California for granted.

The Field Poll found Bush leading McCain, 48 percent to 28 percent, among Republicans likely to vote in the California primary. The poll conducted Tuesday through Sunday surveyed 1,447 registered voters with an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points for likely voters, 5 points for Republicans.