Bush Dodges Impeachment Questions WASHINGTON (AP) -- Six years after handing over authority to Bill Clinton, former President George Bush returned to the Capitol to tell an audience of senators he regrets ``a deficit of decency'' in recent years -- although he said he had no impeachment-trial advice for them. Bush declined an opportunity to discuss Clinton's ongoing trial in the Senate, although he told reporters, ``I have to admit, the timing is a little peculiar'' regarding his own appearance. The former Republican president was back in town to attend a Senate lecture series sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss. ``I had my chance to serve. And I did my best. I messed up some things and, hopefully, got some things right,'' Bush, 74, said. He spoke in the Old Senate Chamber, used in the 1800s, and just down the hall from the current chamber where the impeachment trial is taking place. Although he has been back a few times since leaving office, Bush said that for the most part he has tried to stay away from Washington. ``But that does not mean I lack interest in events here,'' he said. ``I have refrained from commenting on the serious matter now before the Senate -- and will continue to do so.'' As a former president, he did not want to put outside pressure on the Senate -- and felt that it was better for the Senate to chart its own course, Bush said. Still, he added, ``I confess that the lack of civility in our political debate and official dealings with one another concerns me.'' ``All in all, it seems to me that, whereas the problems looming over this town dealt more with budget deficits in times past, today we are confronted with a deficit of decency -- one that deepens by the day.'' He said he regretted ``the bitter rancor that has divided us as people in recent times.'' ``I worry, too, about sleaze -- about excessive intrusion into private lives.'' He complained about ``tabloid journalism -- giving us sensationalism at best, smut at worst.'' Bush called it ``a very traumatic time, a very busy time'' for the Senate. In his remarks, he told his audience of senators and invited guests, many of whom served in his administration, that the most important Senate vote of his presidency was the 52-47 vote in January 1991 authorizing use of force in the Persian Gulf to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. In fact, so contentious was the issue at the time that some critics even discussed attempting to impeach him if he went to war without first obtaining congressional support. ``We honored Congress' right to be heard before a single shot had been fired,'' Bush said. His audience included Colin Powell, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War. Bush said he regretted being unable to muster a wider margin in support of the war. ``But we stayed the course, and I hope history will say not only that we won, but that we won with honor,'' Bush said. Bush said that in the days he presided over the Senate as vice president, ``I loved interacting with senators of both parties.'' Bush never served in the Senate, losing Senate races in 1964 and 1970. But he served in the House, and as ambassador to the United Nations, CIA director and chairman of the Republican National Committee. He was Ronald Reagan's vice president for all eight years. Lott noted that Bush's address came on the 10th anniversary of his being sworn in as the nation's 41st president. Playfully, Bush reminded Lott that it was also ``six years ago to this very day that I was sworn out of office.''
