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To: Les H who wrote (62528)	11/15/2000 1:02:02 PM
From: Don Green	Respond to of 99985

O.T. In Short Supply of Sages NOVEMBER 14, 2000 COMMENTARY By Lee Walczak Pundits are clamoring for a wise man to mediate the election mess. Finding a real statesman, though, could be a problem With the deadlocked campaigns of George W. Bush and Al Gore caught in a tense struggle over Florida's contested Presidential ballots, tempers are understandably beginning to fray in Austin and Nashville. Riled-up supporters of the two combatants are taking to the airwaves -- and the streets of Tallahassee -- to mutter darkly about vote-stealing chicanery, mischief fomented by ambulance-chasing lawyers, the sinister influence of "outside agitators," and racism. The Washington punditocracy's response: Send in the statesmen. A pin-striped platoon of wise men, advocates contend, would cool partisan passions and bring Bush and Gore together to negotiate a graceful endgame that would prevent further damage to the Presidency. Normally, I would welcome the notion of some seasoned elders with a keen sense of the national interest intervening before the Bush-Gore legal wars spiral out of control. But have you checked your Rolodex under Elder Statesmen lately? It seems that at this particular, prosperity-drenched moment in our history, the republic is a little short on Lincolns or Jeffersons. Take a good look at Congress: It's a virtual statesman-free environment. Instead, the legislative branch is populated by small-bore hacks -- former congressional aides, some Southern feudal barons, a few rich businessfolk who don't know better, and a huge cadre of former state-elected apparatchiks who graduated to congressional seats. Giants don't stalk the hallways because the times don't demand it, and because the gut-cutting partisanship of the moment discourages decent people from even considering a run for public office. Still, aren't there at least a few underutilized sages we could call upon for guidance, if only to appease the editorialists at The New York Times? Well, it seems that our current crop of non-Churchillians looks better from afar than up close and personal. Here's my Statesmen Hit Parade. You be the judge: Bill Bradley. Stuck it to Gore early by opining that whoever wins the absentee-ballout count in Florida on Nov. 17 ought to be declared the victor in the Sunshine State -- and by extension, the whole U.S. He may be right, but this mainly shows that Big Bill still nurses a grudge against Gore. And don't statesmen have to have weathered some giant storm to earn their status? Running a miserable primary-election campaign may not meet the test. Jimmy Carter. Not a partisan, builds a swell multistory house, mediated lots of Third World conflicts, but no political sense whatsoever -- which is why he was a one-term President. Do you really want a guy who's likely to call for U.N. peacekeeping troops to be sent to Tallahassee to decide who sits in the Oval Office? Gerald Ford. Partisan, but considered too dense to act on it. His post-election role as a corporate rent-a-speaker has diminished his luster -- if he ever had any. Howard H. Baker Jr. The former Tennessee senator and Reagan White House chief-of-staff is genial to a fault. A little out of it these days, and no wonder -- he's got to worry about all those business investments his syndicate made in a now-swooning Russia. Bob Dole. Still very sharp, but he switched into pro-Bush ("Puhleeze George, get Liddy a job...") mode a little too quickly. The more you see him on the talk shows, the more you realize that his dark side is waiting to burst through again. We'll pass. Sam Nunn. The former Georgia senator thinks like a Republican but is a nominal Democrat. Could prove useful in a pinch, but his waspish persona makes him unlovable to partisans on both sides of this fight. John Danforth. The former Missouri senator has a sort of Ichabod Crane-like unctuousness that can be mistaken for gravitas. He truly seems to have left politics behind: When Bush pretended to put him on his Vice-Presidential short list, Danforth refused to play along and made it clear he wanted off. Warren Rudman. The former New Hampshire senator is mainly obsessed with budget issues in his role as a leader of the Concord Coalition. Bush people don't like him because he fought hard for John McCain and took potshots at the religious right. Rudman has a short fuse, though he is a McCain-like straight-shooter. Robert S. Strauss. The salty former chairman of the Democratic Party is still sharp, speaks Texan, and has a history of advising GOP Presidents in trouble (Reagan, for instance). Now well up in years, Strauss would like nothing better than to be tapped for a leadership role since he adores the spotlight. But most Republicans would never accept a former Democratic Party chieftain in any mediating role between the Bush and Gore camps. Bottom line for our well-meaning newspaper columnists and political scientists: Stop pining for Metternich and Disraeli and get over it. Giants haven't stalked the swampy ground of Washington, D.C., for eons. In this political crisis, midgets shall lead us. Why try to stop them now?

To: Les H who wrote (62528)	11/15/2000 1:32:29 PM
From: Techplayer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 99985

A man in a hot air balloon realized he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below. He descended a bit more and shouted, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am." > The woman below replied, "You are in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You are between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude." > "You must be an engineer"; said the balloonist." > "I am," replied the woman, "How did you know?" > "Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is, I am still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help so far." > The woman below responded, "You must be Al Gore!" > "I am," replied the balloonist, "but how did you know?" > "Well," said the woman, "you don't know where you are or where you are going. You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise which you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it's my fault."