He's prolly been getting away with it for 20+ years, cuz he didn't have national media coverage & local media he always dealt with was friendly.
When they talk about "vetting" candidates in the primaries, this is the kind of thing in their final pick that they're hoping to weed out. They forced false party unity, so the victor of their primaries didn't have any new open bleeding wounds created by the other primary challengers for the big bad to use to go after him.
No, ya gots it all wrong!
He voted YES on Yucca Flats only to authorize the President to build it, but as President he would have built it with more sensitivity.