ASHINGTON - Conservative presidential candidate Patrick J. Buchanan is defending the far-right leader of Austria's new government, saying Jeorg Haider's plaudits for the Nazis pose no threat to the United States or Europe.
''I do not see any threat to Europe or the world or anywhere from Mr. Haider or that coalition government sitting in Vienna,'' Buchanan told supporters Tuesday while campaigning in Richmond.
The international uproar over Haider's new power threatens conservatives, however, Buchanan said. ''It is an indication, I think, that any candidate of the right can expect universal hostilities,'' the Reform Party candidate added.
Buchanan's former Republican opponents disagreed with his opinion of Haider.
''I don't like him. I think he's a bad man,'' Senator John McCain said while campaigning in South Carolina yesterday.
George W. Bush said, ''I can understand why our allies in the European union are expressing grave concerns about [Haider].''
Buchanan has been unapologetic about statements in his book, ''A Republic, Not an Empire,'' in which he argued that Hitler's Third Reich was not a US threat after 1940.
