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The Administration reacted with alternating doses of vehemence and guarded flexibility. Speaking to the Council on Foreign Affairs in Austin, Vice President George Bush declared that Ortega's suggestions "do not appear to represent significant moves." Bush warned that if the U.S. failed to aid the contras, "we run the risk of seeing another Libya develop, a warehouse of subversion and terrorism only two hours by air from the Texas border." More concretely, U.S. concern was demonstrated by the presence of the battleship Iowa off the coast of Honduras. Shultz, on the other hand, adopted a less confrontational tone. On the way to Uruguay, he declared that he was "perfectly willing" to meet with Ortega during the inauguration visit.
Whatever the results of the Sandinista peace campaign, the Administration's tough tone seemed to focus congressional opinion, but not necessarily in ways that the White House liked. Before Ortega's statement, House Speaker Tip O'Neill, a Democrat, weighed in with a stern reply to Reagan's "uncle" remark. Said O'Neill: "The U.S. has played 'uncle' in Latin America for far too long. It is time to play brother." Speaking to a group of Canadian business executives during a Time Inc. news tour in Washington, Delaware's Democratic Senator Joseph Biden charged that "we have simply been lied to" about the Administration's aims in supporting the Nicaraguan rebels. Said Biden: "If (Reagan) wants to overthrow the government, make the case to overthrow the government."
The harshest exchange of all preceded the Shultz trip to Montevideo, when the Secretary of State appeared briefly before a subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Democratic Congressman Ted Weiss of New York City took Shultz to task for mentioning a possible Cuban and Nicaraguan role in international drug trafficking. Then, in a classic case of overstatement, Weiss heatedly added that Shultz's remarks "remind me of the Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954." Shultz reddened and replied angrily, "When you compare me to Senator (Joseph) McCarthy, I resent it deeply." The Secretary refused to testify further until he received an apology. Weiss said that he had not meant to make a personal comparison of Shultz and McCarthy, to which Shultz replied, "Thank you."
Moments later, Democratic Congressman Peter Kostmayer of Pennsylvania made his own overheated addition to the fray by charging that "there is a lot of Red-baiting going on" over Nicaragua. Snapped Shultz: "I am here at the invitation of the committee. If you want to withdraw the invitation, I have lots of other things I can do."