Bush Assails ‘Vice President Gore’
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DETROIT — President Bush accidentally referred to Democratic vice presidential candidate Al Gore as “Vice President Gore” during a question-and-answer session in Detroit on Thursday.
Bush was in town to outline his latest economic game plan and criticize the Democratic ticket of Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton and Tennessee Sen. Gore for their stand on fuel economy standards.
Clinton favors raising the average fuel economy benchmark to 40 miles per gallon by the year 2000, from 27.5 m.p.g. now--but has qualified that standard recently, saying he won’t force manufacturers to do the impossible.
Bush said Clinton’s proposal would devastate the U.S. car industry and called Gore’s pro-environment philosophy “scary.”
“In the name of environment, Vice President Gore has been talking about the combustion engine being the worst threat to society--I have to be careful how I quote him, but look it up in his best-selling book--it is scary. It is bad and Gov. Clinton ought to repudiate him,” Bush said in response to a question about fuel-economy standards.
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