Write-in candidate calls Bush irresponsible

Bashing the Bush administration, little-known presidential write-in candidate Eugene McCarthy said last night that the president's excessive use of the veto power is getting out of hand.

"If I were in Congress now, I would suggest that we tell George, 'One more veto and we're going to look at impeachment,' " the Minnesota Democrat told about 120 people who gathered at the HUB Fishbowl.

McCarthy's lecture, which was sponsored by Student 1st Step, dealt with the "real problems" facing America in this year's presidential campaign. One of these issues is Bush's "disdain for the Constitution," he said.

"No responsible president, or presidential candidate, should talk about amending the Constitution with abortion," he said.

"Bush creates conflict whenever trouble comes up," McCarthy said. "He set blacks against whites, labor against labor, he stirred up anti-Semitism with this whole business about the loan program."

McCarthy, 76, also blasted the U.S. Supreme Court as being "the ultimate body for rash judgments in our society."

"You can't be quite sure what they'll do," he said. "The Reagan Court was hard on due process. I'm more apprehensive about this court."

Correction: When this article was originally published in the print version it incorrectly identified Eugene McCarthy. He campaigned for -- but did not receive -- the Democratic nomination for president in 1968.

McCarthy, a former U.S. senator, will not be on Pennsylvania's Democratic ballot April 28 because of what he claims are complicated requirements.

Although his campaign has been refused coverage by The New York Times and the three major television networks, McCarthy said, he hopes to win big in Nebraska, Oregon and California where his name does appear on the ballot.

Charles Johnson, a supporter of McCarthy since the 1960s from Altoona, said he thought McCarthy had a good chance of winning the Democratic nomintion.

"He's starting out small, and working his way up," he said.

Matt Lucenko (sophomore-English) disagreed, but said that although he thought that McCarthy's chances of winning the Democratic nomination are slim, he is still going to vote for him.

"I thought he was very honest," Lucenko said. "I think that he has a very interesting way of looking at things."