Bush deeply concerned about Clinton’s “lack of respect” for office

Scott Sonner

Sunday, Jan. 24, 1999 | 11:19 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Former President George Bush said Saturday he was "deeply concerned" about President Clinton's "lack of respect" for the presidency, but is confident any embarrassment to the country will be short-lived.

"I have tried to stay out of all the Washington mess," Bush said at the end of a keynote address to the Safari Club International's 27th annual hunters' convention.

"But I must confess I have been deeply concerned by what appears to be a lack of respect for the office I was so very proud to hold," he said in a speech at the Reno Hilton Hotel-Casino.

"You probably worry about all this just as I do. Just as my sons and my daughter do. And as Barbara does," Bush told the international crowd of big-game hunters and conservationists.

"Our country is strong and it is resilient. And the presidency, the office of the presidency, is strong and it is resilient. ... The trials of the present will soon pass away and once again our country will be respected and strong around the world," Bush said.

Bush, who worked the crowd at the large trophy hunting convention with retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, was met with strong support for a presidential bid in 2000 by George Bush Jr., the Republican governor of Texas.

"He comes from good stock," said Robert Charlton, a knifemaker from Tyner, N.C., selling his goods at the convention.

"I'd certainly like to see him run if he's anything like his dad," said Bradford Williams, a sculptor from Belfry, Mont.

Bush and the retired general who followed his orders in Desert Storm spent two hours on the convention floor Saturday, shaking hands with some of the 900 artisans and gunmakers and having their pictures taken with supporters.

"The programs he put into effect made the economy what it is today. I hope his son runs," said Patricia Owel of Kalamazoo, Mich.

"And maybe Elizabeth Dole could be his running mate," added David J. Owel, her husband.

Criticism of President Clinton flowed just as freely as the praise and admiration for Bush and his sons. Jebb Bush is governor of Florida.

"Mr. Clinton is a pretty trashy individual," said Kenny Jarrett, who owns a rifle company and a farm and hunting plantation in Jackson, S.C.

"If he'd 'fessed up about it all, it probably would have gone away. But he perjured himself. If I'd done that, I'd be sitting in the jailhouse," he said.

Jarrett, who talked briefly with the ex-president Saturday, said Bush "and Barbara are such a decent all-American couple."

George Bush Jr. was the one talked about most as a possible presidential candidate in two years.

"I'd probably vote for him and I'm a Democrat," said John Shafer, a wildlife jeweler from Orange County, Calif., who said it was "overwhelming" to see Bush.

Bush, a longtime supporter of the club, was dressed in a gray suit and leather dress shoes. But Bush examined the horned-back frog skins at the Loveless boot stand, an Oklahoma City-based bootmaker where he once purchased cowboy boots.

Secret Service agents kept reporters away. Bush laughed with several gunmakers and told Jarrett he shot his first quail in 1939 in South Carolina "about 30 minutes from our house," Jarrett said.

Schwarzkopf helped present awards. Honorees included Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania and Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, chairman of the House Resources Committee.