GOP feud lives

The social-issues split within the Republican Party is alive and well. At a forum on the future of the party sponsored by the centrist Republican Majority Coalition, social conservatives like columnist Patrick Buchanan and Rep. Henry Hyde (R) of Illinois mixed it up May 10 with liberals like Sen. Arlen Specter (R) of Pennsylvania and former Sen. Warren Rudman (R) of New Hampshire. Mr. Rudman warned: "We will be the losers," if those on opposing sides of the issue "tear each other to shreds" in 1996, as i n 1992. Justice confirmation

Webster Hubbell's membership in an exclusive country club where Bill Clinton was criticized for playing golf will be aired when the Senate considers his nomination to a top Justice Department post. A golfing buddy of the president and former law partner to Hillary Rodham Clinton, Mr. Hubbell is a member of the Country Club of Little Rock, Ark. Until a black businessman became a member last fall, it was an all-white club.

Conservative activists plan to make that an issue at Hubbell's Senate Judiciary hearing on May 18. It's pay-back time for the right-wingers, still smarting over the fact that Miami Judge Kenneth Ryskamp's membership in an all-white country club helped to sink his appellate court nomination in 1991. But GOP opposition is not expected to derail Hubbell.