Clinton fights back

NEW HAMPSHIRE (AP) - President Clinton, after pouring scorn on Republican critics for practising the 'politics of personal destruction', vowed yesterday to focus on domestic policies despite attacks from 'people who are giving me hell in Washington'.

The President appeared yesterday morning at a gathering in Nashua, where he got heavy support when he ran for the White House. The night before, he had bitterly attacked Republicans at a Democratic fund-raiser in Boston, in remarks that were exceptionally pointed by presidential standards. He said the country was torn by 'terrible problems that beg for honest debate' but the Republicans were 'an opposition party that just stands up and says 'no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no'.'

Asked yesterday about his angry criticism, Mr Clinton said: 'I was not angry, but I'm determined. I wanted to tell those people how I felt.' Mr Clinton said he wanted to borrow a message from signs that had greeted his wife Hillary in Colorado on Monday that said: 'Give them health, Hillary.' Mr Clinton declared: 'I'm going to try to give you health and take whatever it is they want to give me in return.'