A Sneak Preview

MEANWHILE, The former Reagan White House aid, Nixon speech writer, CNN Commentator and conservative columnist Pat Buchanan was also making his OWN run on the Presidency in both '92 and '96, only as a candidate for the Republican Party ticket. Like Perot, Buchanan believes in a "Fortress America" — meaning less foreign military intervention, as well as stricter immigration laws and tougher trade tariffs — and this anti-"New World Order" stance gave him surprisingly strong support in the early primaries...

UNLIKE Ross, however, Pat also makes a lot of noise about such moral issues as abortion and gay rights, and this aspect of his schtick wound up turning off a lot of would-be supporters, especially after his infamous "cultural war" speech at the 1992 Republican National Convention — which, in spite of its intended "reclaiming of traditional values" theme still scared the bejesus out of anyone who WASN'T an American-born white Christian straight person, while even horrifying a lot of them as well! (Buchanan ALWAYS seems to be frightening or offending people he claims he doesn't intend to frighten or offend).

That speech also helped to torpedo George Bush Sr.'s re-election bid, which exacerbated the animosity that already existed between the uncompromising Buchanan and the eternally compromised Bushes.