Jimbo: Here's one from the Belly of the Beast:
Opinions
star-telegram.com
Molly Ivins
Updated: Saturday, Nov. 4, 2000 at 20:27 CST
It's been surreal, and it may get worse
AUSTIN -- In the long view of history -- always a consoling
perspective at a time like this -- the 2000 presidential campaign
most likely will rank as a giant waste of time.
Our future depends on The Stuff They Wouldn't Talk About --
economic globalization, global warming, the spread of AIDS, the
need for some social control of new technologies and the corruption
of our political system. Al and Tipper Gore's big smooch got more
ink.
Having set the proper tone of superiority here -- it is now obligatory
for journalists to drip disdain on the democratic process as we
assist in deforming it -- may I say that I'm mad as hell? Not only
has this been a stupid campaign, but it has been a deceitful one.
Gore's reputation as a fibber and an exaggerator is apparently set in
stone -- despite the fact that he never claimed to have invented
the Internet (although he assisted at its creation), that he was in
fact the model for the lead character in `Love Story' (the stiff),
that he never claimed he had discovered Love Canal and that he did
in fact have to work hard on his father's farm in Tennessee when he
was a boy. That's the way it goes in Medialand.
Meanwhile, Texans have been enjoying the surreal experience of
discovering that we live in Paradise and that we owe it all to George
W. Bush, the fifth-most-important official in the state.
Now, the fact is that our state has a rotten record and always has
had a rotten record, and that's a consequence of public policy here.
We're a low-tax, low-service state, so we rank poorly on everything
that government does.
Our public health care stinks; our criminal justice system is deeply
racist (not to mention that it encourages lawyers to catch up on
much-needed sleep); and we have a few other problems that would
curl hair in someplace like Iowa. Mostly, people here don't much
notice any of this, being used to it. And besides, we're Texans, so
we're actually proud of it.
Then along comes this campaign, and suddenly our governor is
telling the rest of the country that we lead the nation in education
and that he personally is responsible for this astonishing turn of
events; that everyone in Texas has full access to health care; that
each prisoner we fry has a competent lawyer; that the governor
himself led the fight for a strong Patients' Bill of Rights; and that our
air and water are crystal-clear under his environmentally friendly
leadership.
(Actually, Bush never really made that last claim -- he just says the
other guy is lying when he says Texas is real polluted, even though
it's real polluted.)
When all this started, I used to tell people calmly: "Well, I think you
ought to look at his record, because it's pretty clear, and you can
make up your mind from that." Now I feel like standing out by the
highway in the rain with a sign that says: "Don't Vote for George W.
Bush -- He's Not Up to the Job."
I'm sorry -- the man is inadequate. You cannot slide through life on
your daddy's name, turning in a poor performance in school and the
military and a distinctly questionable performance in the business
world, loaf through a few years in baseball trading Sammy Sosa and
then tell outrageous lies about your part-time performance in a
powerless job. This is silly.
One of the few truly eerie things about W. is his inability to admit
that he did it all on luck. Lots of people are born lucky in life, but
they're not born blind to that fact. No one is asking him to feel
guilty about it; awareness would suffice.
I've never found Bush ill-intentioned -- just oblivious. In fact, I
suspect that he's rather easily touched by people with sadder lives
than his own.
What Bush does not get is the connection between policy and
results in real people's lives. He really thinks we'd be better off if
most of government was done by charities. He thinks that nice
corporate polluters will volunteer to cut down on filth. I know he's
good at politics, but he is not interested in governing. It bores him;
he has no attention span for it.
If this were just an election that was going to put a lightweight in
the White House, I wouldn't feel so bad. We can survive that. But
I'm not sure that we can survive what comes with Bush, or more
precisely, what's behind him.
On Nov. 2, `The Wall Street Journal' ran a rather chilling article
about the Business-Industry Political Action Committee, "an
organization dedicated to keeping Congress in pro-business hands."
It was specifically about a congressional district in Kentucky where
local and national business interests have organized to protect an
incumbent who voted against the Patients' Bill of Rights. That's a
simple fight: On one side you have the people, and on the other
side you have the HMOs. So the HMOs are now buying that district.
Our political system is corrupted by money, and the only thing that
George W. Bush wants to do about it is make it worse.
Molly Ivins is a columnist for the `Star-Telegram.' You can reach
her at 1005 Congress Ave., Suite 920, Austin, TX 78701; (512)
476-8908
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