As the Senate prepares to decide on the nomination of John Tower this week, the public`s perception that he is irresponsible may be as damaging to his chances of being confirmed as his alleged improprieties.
Senators who visited their home states during the weeklong Presidents`
Day recess found people either uninterested in Tower or opposed to his nomination for defense secretary.
Taken together, those two sentiments could make it politically easier for some senators to oppose Tower, if they find sufficient other less political reasons to do so.
The public controversy about the nominee has not swayed President Bush, who continues to believe that his loyal championing of his fellow Texas Republican will prevail in the end.
”Maybe some of his advisers told him he looked good standing by (Vice President Dan) Quayle when he did, and he should do the same with Tower,”
said Sen. Albert Gore (D., Tenn.), who joined in the Senate Armed Services Committee`s 11-9 rejection of Tower on Thursday.
”The difference is, the Senate doesn`t have to confirm his choice for vice president.”
But Bush has a long history of ignoring public perception when it collides with personal loyalty. As chairman of the Republican National Committee under President Richard Nixon, Bush refused to abandon the embattled predident in the face of the Watergate scandal.
As vice president, he stood by President Ronald Reagan in the Iran-contra controversy.
Bush`s loyalty again stands out in his defense of Tower. ”He is my choice, my only choice, and I am standing with him,” he said Friday in Tokyo, where he attended Emperor Hirohito`s funeral.
Bush also said Saturday that he will meet individually with 10 or more Democratic senators after he returns to the White House on Monday. He will need Democrats` help to win the Senate vote.
Tower, meanwhile, is going public in his defense. He was booked onto a Sunday morning network television interview show-ABC`s ”This Week With David Brinkley”-and is planning a speech, probably Tuesday, at the National Press Club.
Democrats on the Armed Services Committee based much of their opposition on results of FBI investigations into allegations of excessive drinking and improper relationships with women, as well as questionable dealings by Tower as a consultant with defense contractors.
Republicans interpreted the FBI reports differently, saying they were not conclusive. But Tower`s defenders were hampered in altering public perceptions because the results of the investigation have not been made public.
The Republicans are preparing an edited or ”sanitized” version of the FBI report that can be made public before the full Senate vote on the nomination.
While the controversy over Tower had been simmering for weeks, it began to intensify after senators made trips home and discovered what much of the rest of the country already knew: John Tower had become a laughingstock, the butt of not-so-clean jokes, and a cause for lifted eyebrows over questions of his personal behavior.
Sen. Richard Shelby (D., Ala.), a member of the Armed Services Committee who voted against Tower, said a majority of people he had heard from were against Tower.
”I`m sure there`s some concern across America from what has come out so far,” said Shelby, who said he started out as a Tower supporter but switched because of the alleged drinking problems.
Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R., Kan.), who has led the administration`s fight for the nomination, blames the news media, in part, for the negative public perception of Tower.
”There wouldn`t be any reason to be for him if you watch the evening news or read the newspapers,” Dole said. ”It`s all against him. It`s all about a ballerina dancing on a piano or some rumor like that.”
While Bush insists that he will fight for his nominee to the end, leading Democrats are signaling that perhaps he should save himself the trouble.
Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D., Me.) said the unusual rejection by the committee will have ”significant weight” in the Senate debate over the nomination, which is scheduled to begin Wednesday.
As pressure developed for Bush to withdraw the nomination in order to avoid a bruising battle with the Senate, Mitchell suggested that a replacement candidate would probably be approved quickly.
Already being mentioned are Donald Rumsfeld, former President Gerald Ford`s defense secretary, and Martin Marietta Corp. Chairman Norman Augustine. Bush does have a comparatively easy out, if he were to choose to take it. Tower could withdraw himself from consideration, saying he did not want to hold up the new president`s defense policy any longer, especially during a time when the budget and military spending in particular are so crucial.
But Bush has made it clear that he is not about to back off, and Tower himself, through a spokesman, insisted he would not withdraw.
Of at least as much concern as the delay in implementation of Pentagon policy is the battering Bush will take during his fight for Tower. When Reagan`s Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork insisted on a Senate vote even though he knew it would go against him, it gave Bork opponents more opportunity to sound off.
The same could happen with Tower as Republican charges of partisanship grow old and Democrats fight back.
”I am unable to comprehend why it is partisan for 11 Democrats to vote against the nomination and not partisan for nine Republicans to vote for it,” Mitchell said of the committee tally against Tower.
The White House will have to secure the votes of at least five Democrats, and lose no Republican defectors, to confirm Tower, because the Democrats hold a 55-45 margin in the Senate. Quayle, as president of the Senate, would presumably break a tie vote in Tower`s favor.
One senator likely to be a target for the administration is Tower`s fellow Texan, Democratic Sen. Lloyd Bentsen. A spokesman for Bentsen said the senator had not yet made up his mind on the nomination.
