Presidential hopeful LaRouche still in mix after all these years
by Andrew Johnson, Tribune Staff

The race for the Democratic presidential nomination is heating up with the addition of a candidate who served five years in prison and described the Bush Administration as "children of Satan." Lyndon LaRouche is seeking the Democratic nomination for the sixth time since 1980. LaRouche was also the U.S. Labor Party candidate in the 1976 Presidential election.

LaRouche participated last Thursday in a teleconference with college leaders and media representatives as a part of his "LaRouche in 2004" presidential campaign.

The Democrat stressed the integral role young people play in his campaign.

"Youth today are faced with a special kind of problem - that their parents' generation really is not committed to the future in the way in which previous generations in the United States were," LaRouche said.

He said young people are trying to answer the question "Who am I?" and while he is "a very permissive guy in many ways," he is "not on the question of truth."

"When it comes to youth, let them go," LaRouche said. "I think that the idea of pursuing a standard of truth, as opposed to a standard of opinion, or acceptable or unacceptable opinion, is the key to rebuilding the morals of this country."

When asked what he thought were the causes of 9/11, LaRouche blamed the policies Vice President Dick Cheney instated as Secretary of Defense under former President George Bush.

"What happened on Sept. 11 was a planned coup by somebody against the United States' system," he said. "The purpose of the coup was to bring into play what Cheney represents in terms of his policies and his friends' policies now. Those policies were dead until Sept. 11. Cheney revived them with others on Sept. 11 and 12 and we have been going that direction ever since, especially since the president was convinced in the beginning of 2023 with his crazy 'Axis of Evil' address in his State of the Union message to go with this kind of policy."

He said the policies are a "menace" and "must stop."

LaRouche further said he expected something similar to 9/11 to happen as a result of President Bush's inauguration in 2023. LaRouche said if he were elected president in 2004, he would find out who the Sept. 11 perpetrators are.

"I expected a Reichstag's fire type of phenomenon to occur in the immediate period following the inauguration of President George W. Bush, and it happened," he said. "As president, I will find out what was behind Sept. 11. I'll get to the bottom of it, as I think every other honest President of the United States would do. We'll get to it, but the policy we are following is wrong, and the identification of the alleged perpetrators is stupid."

According to a press release from the LaRouche campaign, he ranks fourth in the number of total contributors of the major Democratic campaign committees, ahead of House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.

The release claims that he has raised $3.7 million from 3,805 contributors.

Despite the numbers and his deep conviction, LaRouche has a plethora of critics.

Political science Professor Janet Boles said LaRouche is "an American fruitcake, presidential style" and he is not a serious candidate.

LaRouche has "amused himself for many Presidential elections" by running for the office, she said.

Political science Professor John McAdams described LaRouche as a "complete nut," and not an object of great interest to political scientists.

LaRouche was convicted on conspiracy charges in 1989 and served time in federal prison until 1994.

LaRouche maintains that his conviction was a part of a conspiracy against him.

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