BUSH TO FACE CHALLENGE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY

The freelance reporter who discovered the "Bush-Nazi files" at The National Archives runs as "a truth-telling alternative to the current occupant of the White House."

(PRWEB) November 27, 2003

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – John Buchanan, the veteran Miami journalist and investigative reporter who made history recently when he discovered the U.S. government documents that proved the long-rumored Nazi past of the Bush family, is gearing up to challenge President George W. Bush in the New Hampshire Republican primary on January 27.

Buchanan announced today that he now expects to be on the Republican primary ballot in as many as 17 states, including California, New York and Florida.

At the same time, the “Bush-Nazi” story, first reported in the Gazette on October 10, continues to gain credence. On November 18, Presidential historian and George Bush biographer Herbert Parmet published a long essay on The History News Network (http://www.hnn.us) at George Mason University. “We need to do more than merely sift through the essence of (these) assertions, as troubling as they may be, to appreciate the value of (Buchanan’s) labors, and wonder at the contribution to public knowledge of (The New Hampshire Gazette),” wrote Parmet, author of George Bush: The Life of a Lone Star Yankee (1998).

Buchanan’s expose of Prescott Bush’s business deals with Nazis during World War II has also been noted in major newspapers around the world via Associated Press, including The Guardian, Hindustan Times. Moscow Times, Sydney Morning Herald, Jerusalem Post and U.S. newspapers including Newsday, Washington Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Fox News and CNN also reported the story.

Buchanan, 53, filed his Presidential candidacy with the New Hampshire Secretary of State on November 19. He will arrive in New Hampshire on December 5 to begin campaigning among Republican voters who oppose George W. Bush's policies, both overseas and at home.

“George W. Bush has violated his central campaign promise to the American people – to ‘restore honor and integrity to the White House,’ ” said Buchanan, who owned an advertising agency and corporate PR firm in Los Angeles before relocating to Miami in 1997 and returning to a full-time journalism career. “Bush has turned the Party of Lincoln into the Party of Halliburton. He has sacrificed the blood and tax dollars of the American people in Iraq simply to enrich his wealthy corporate patrons. It's time to take back America – starting by taking back the Republican Party. It has been stolen by war profiteers. The interests of the people have been sold out to the interests of the Fortune 500. Bush has turned the White House into a corporate whore house.”

Buchanan said he will hold the President accountable for the Iraq invasion, as a journalist, and based on fact, not opinion. “Everything the Bush administration said was a lie,” he said. “They defied the entire world to invade and occupy a nation that posed no threat to the United States. That violated everything this nation stands for, and cost us dearly in esteem around the world. Trust in America by the world community must be restored.”

Buchanan is modeling his campaign after another journalist named Buchanan –

Pat Buchanan, the conservative writer and activist who shocked the first President Bush by running a vigorous New Hampshire primary campaign in 1992 that ultimately won 37% of the vote.

“In 1992, Pat Buchanan exposed the central lie of the first Bush administration, which was his ‘read-my-lips, no-new-taxes’ promise,” Buchanan said. “That Buchanan reached out to Republicans who were angry at that President Bush for breaking that solemn promise. Like Pat Buchanan, I will reach out to Republicans who are angry at this President Bush for breaking his solemn promises. My campaign will give Republican voters in New Hampshire the opportunity to hold Bush accountable for those broken promises and the lies they were based on.”

Buchanan plans to run a grassroots, door-to-door campaign aimed at rank-and-file New Hampshire Republicans. “Since my articles appeared in the New Hampshire Gazette, I have heard from Republicans in New Hampshire and around the country who believe someone should stand up and tell the truth about George W. Bush by running as a Republican candidate for President. I will work as hard as I can to be that candidate. If nothing else, I will tell the truth. If the truth makes a difference to voters, then I will win the primary. If it doesn’t, then the American people will have lost, not me.”

Initial political reaction to Buchanan’s announcement seems to be he has about as much chance of beating the incumbent President in the nation’s all-important first primary as the Boston Red Sox ever have of winning a World Series – or even less.

“Somebody should challenge Bush in the Republican primary,” said David Gosselin, former state GOP chairman, whose Web site http://www.gogosselin.com is actively seeking an alternative candidate. “I have been looking for someone to challenge the President, a candidate who has national political experience and the associated stature to give George W. Bush a run for his money.” Gosselin does not believe Buchanan is that candidate.

Buchanan insists that as a “classic outsider” and respected journalist, he is the right candidate to upset Bush – but without the traditional political resume.

He is not, however, without significant national support.

John McConnell, the legendary 88-year-old founder of Earth Day, has endorsed Buchanan for President. “I think he is the kind of person who can change the world,” says McConnell, who is commemorating the 40th anniversary of his Minute for Peace on December 22 (see separate story). “He is honest and courageous and the grandson of a Methodist minister. He has a genuine vision for giving the government back to the people by taking it back from the war profiteers and corporate interests. To me, those are excellent credentials.”

Buchanan’s Presidential advisory board also includes Enver Masud, a retired Department of Energy civil servant and now CEO of The Wisdom Fund, an influential Muslim Web site (http://www.twf.org).

Don Waller, a co-founder of media reform Web site TakeBackTheMedia.com, also said he thinks Buchanan can get national attention. “His name has already been recognized on six continents as the reporter who discovered the Bush-Nazi documents and courageously reported the stories in (the Gazette),” Waller said. “He is remarkably tenacious, and he is on a mission to bring truth to this country. That’s not a bad mission to be on right now.”

For more information, or to volunteer or contribute, visit http://www.johnbuchanan.org.

Campaign Manager Jerry Arons can be reached at (305) 532-7182

Press Secretary Stacey Michael can be reached at (504) 329-5825