This is also a must read:
November 15, 2000
Paul Begala & Company Are Out of Control
By Tom Bevan
It's hard to imagine it getting any uglier. After eight
years under the Bill Clinton regime, America has
gotten used to the vicious attack-dog politics of
James Carville and Sydney Blumenthal. But now,
with the presidency hanging in the balance,
Democrat operatives have gone over the line in
their attempt to discredit and destroy anyone who
stands in their way of winning this election. It has
become clear there is nothing they will not say to
retain their grip on power.
Am I overstating the case? Consider the personal
attacks launched on Florida Secretary of State
Katherine Harris, a duly elected Republican who
governs the state's election process. Earlier this
week Gore spokesman Chris Lehane likened her
actions to that of a "Soviet commissar." Last night
on CNN Alan Dershowitz derided Harris as
"corrupt," "a crook," and said that she had
"laundered money."
And then there is Paul Begala, the Joe McCarthy
of the Democratic party. Credited as one of the
primary architects of Bill Clinton's 1992 victory,
there is no allegation he is unwilling to make, no
insult he is unwilling to hurl.
Begala helped save Bill Clinton's presidency in
1998 by spinning the national press with the story
that Ken Starr's office was prone to leaks,
obsessed by sex and had a vendetta against the
President. This year, Begala felt compelled to
author the book, "Is Our Children Learning? The
Case Against George W. Bush," which describes
the Governor of Texas as having "the intellectual
curiosity of a slug," and "worse than dumb. He's
lazy, arrogant, and defiantly ignorant."
Mr. Begala, it may be remembered, made the
ridiculous assertion that Governor Bush was
"whining" on election night when he contested the
early calling of Florida for Mr. Gore. Even his
fellow panelists found Mr. Begala's remark
laughable.
This week Mr. Begala turned his maleficent
rhetoric on Ms. Harris, calling her a "dilettante,
debutante" and a "partisan political hack." Aside
from the fact that these comments more accurately
describe Mr. Begala than they do Ms. Harris, such
rhetoric exposes Mr. Begala's utter contempt for
those who oppose his views.
Why is it that Mr. Begala feels it necessary to
check what little conscience he has at the door and
fill the public airwaves with such poison? The
reason is simple. Mr. Begala, like his former boss
Mr. Clinton and his current boss Mr. Gore, believe
that Democrats travel on a path of righteousness.
Deep in their hearts they are convinced, as Mr.
Gore let slip in the final weekend before the
election, that politics is not merely a battle of
competing ideologies but a war between "good and
evil." And this holy war, in their minds, is worth
winning at any cost.
Consider the following diatribe by Mr. Begala
excerpted from his article "Banana Republicans" on
November 13. Last week on MSNBC Mike
Barnicle, formerly of the Boston Globe, displayed
a map of the United States with election results by
county and commented on the fact that an
overwhelming number of rural counties voted for
Bush (displayed in red) while urban counties on
both coasts voted for Gore (displayed in blue). Mr.
Begala wrote the following in response:
Yes, Barnicle is right when he notes that tens of millions of good
people in Middle America voted Republican. But if you look
closely at that map you see a more complex picture. You see the
state where James Byrd was lynch-dragged behind a pickup truck
until his body came apart — it’s red. You see the state where
Matthew Shepard was crucified on a split-rail fence for the
crime of being gay — it’s red. You see the state where right-wing
extremists blew up a federal office building and murdered scores
of federal employees — it’s red. The state where an Army private
who was thought to be gay was bludgeoned to death with a
baseball bat, and the state where neo-Nazi skinheads murdered
two African-Americans because of their skin color, and the state
where Bob Jones University spews its anti-Catholic bigotry:
they’re all red too. But that’s not the whole story, either.
Cultural warriors like House impeachment managers Bill
McCollum and James Rogan and ultra-conservatives like Sen.
John Ashcroft were defeated. A gun control measure passed in
Colorado and Oregon, and school vouchers were rejected in
Michigan and California. Democrats gained seats in the House,
the Senate and state legislatures — and Gore carried the popular
vote. My point is that Middle America is a far more complicated
place than even a gifted commentator like Mike Barnicle gives
us credit for. It’s not all just red and blue — or black and white.
Mr. Begala could not be more clear in callling
Republicans racist, homophobic, and right-wing
extremists. In other words, "evil." Would a
conservative who made similar statements be
considered "well-respected" and "creditable"? Of
course not. They would be demonized and
marginalized. Yet we constantly see Mr. Begala as
a featured guest on prominent talk show panels
spewing his vitriol.
What does it say about our media that Mr. Begala's
insidious commentary is taken seriously? How is it
that he can get away with making blatantly divisive
and untrue statements without being held
accountable? It is, in fact, this absolute lack of
accountability which encourages Mr. Begala and
his cohorts to continue to push the rhetorical
envelope with harsher language and more personal
attacks.
Unfortunately, as Mr. Begala can surely attest,
these attacks succeed more often than they fail.
Even more unfortunate for Republicans is the fact
they do not have anyone nearly as skilled and
unscrupulous as Begala to spin on their behalf. As
the struggle for president reaches its climax,
Republicans have put their faith in the rule of law
and Democrats have put theirs in Begala and
company's ability to shape public opinion in favor
of the Vice President. Mr. Begala, Mr. Lehane,
Mr. Dershowitz and the rest will stop at nothing to
achieve a victory for Mr. Gore.
Tom Bevan writes for RealClearPolitics |
