Clinton speaks on
Gore, hate crimes
■ Clinton condemned the
GOP’s stance on hate-crime
legislation at a luncheon with
gay Democrats in Texas
By Sonya Ross
Associated Press Writer
DALLAS — President Clinton
accused Republican congressional
leaders Wednesday of deliberately
ducking his long-languishing hate
crimes legislation because they fear
it would split the GOP base.
“If it doesn’t get to be law, it’s be
cause the leadership doesn’t want
it,” Clintoji said during a fund-rais
ing luncheon in Dallas with gay De
mocrats. He noted that, in light of a
spate of hate crimes in recent years,
more Americans and a majority of
lawmakers in both parties support
the bill.
“There has been a sea-change
movement,” Clinton said. “More
and more people are identifying
with our common humanity. In
creasingly, society is moving to
higher and higher levels of decency
and justice. It’s just a question of
whether the leadership ... stays to
the right of the country on this is
sue.”
Clinton was in Texas to help
raise money for his party and to at
tend a “Texas Tribute” in his honor.
The three events he attended
Wednesday were meant to raise
$1.5 million for Democratic candi
dates.
Dallas lawyer Larry Pease, one of
the guests at the $5,000-a-plate
luncheon, called the event “an em
powering session,” adding, “It was
historic because never before in
this country woidd a president sit
down with such a small group of
people that used to be considered a
political liability but now are a
powerful voting block.”
The luncheon was held in a pri
vate home in an affluent Dallas
neighborhood. About 10 protesters
from a group called Free Republic
waved anti-Clinton placards on a
sidewalk about a block away. “We
don’t appreciate his lies, his perjury
and his obstruction of justice,” said
Mari Thompson, who said the
group was not there to protest gay
rights.
Clinton described the presiden
tial candidates, Texas 'Gov. George
W. Bush and Vice President Al
Gore, as “two fundamentally patri
otic people” whose vastly different
views on the economy are being
blurred by “daily coverage of this or
that flap” over smaller matters.
“Sometimes, I get the feeling the
flaps are being deliberately used to
obscure the underlying reality,”
Clinton said. He said Republicans
are “driven by ideology and con
trol, not by evidence” that the poli
cies he and the Democrats have es
poused on Medicare are more
effective.
“They are totally undeterred by
the evidence,” Clinton said. “The
vice president will be elected if
people understand exactly what
the choices are.”
Before leaving for Texas, Clinton
said Congress’ Republican leaders
thwarted the hate-crimes bill be
cause they are worried that its pro
visions covering gays and lesbians
might anger the GOP’s conservative
core.
More and more people
are identifying with our
common humanity. In
creasingly, society is mov
ing toward higher levels of
decency and justice.
President Clinton
“I think they think it will split
their base or something,” Clinton
said. “I just hope and pray we can
do it. If we can’t do it, what does
that Senate vote mean? Was it just
some stunt?” he asked, referring to
the Senate’s 57-42 vote in favor of
hate-crimes provisions in June.
A spokesman for Senate Majori
ty Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., de
nounced Clinton’s remarks as
“demagoguery at its worst.”
“Pitting one group against anoth
er in order to gain personal elec
toral advantage is bad even for Pres
ident Clinton,” said Lott
spokesman John Czwartacki said,
adding that it “is certainly not our
inclination” to put the bill to a vote.
The anti-hate-crimes bill would
define crimes against homosexuals
in much the same way as racially
motivated crimes. Clinton often
raises the subject on visits to Texas,
site of the 1998 dragging death of
James Byrd by a trio of white men
who hoped to launch a race war.
Clinton’s plan would add crimes
motivated by sexual orientation,
gender or disability to the list of of
fenses already covered under a
1968 federal law, and allow federal
prosecutors to pursue a hate-crime
case if local authorities refuse to
press charges.
The legislation also provides as
sistance to local law enforcement
agencies in investigating hate
crimes.
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