realclearpolitics.com 10/16/00
The nonsense in Florida looks like it could be coming to an end. If, in the next 36 hours, a court in Florida does
not intervene and order the Secretary of State to accept the hand recounts, Katherine Harris is going to certify
the election this Saturday. The remaining uncounted overseas ballots will be added to the Bush lead of 300
votes to produce the final, official result of the election in the State of Florida. Barring a surprise in the overseas
ballots, Bush will become the President-elect. Once this occurs, it will become increasingly difficult for Gore to
overturn the election in the courts. If the Florida Supreme Court sides with the Secretary of State, giving her the
jurisdiction to certify the vote without the hand counts, THE ELECTION WILL BE OVER.
However, if the Florida Supreme Court orders the Secretary of State to accept the hand counts, the situation will
descend even further into legal mayhem. Assuming the Gore campaign is able to "find" enough votes in their
counties, they will gain the upper hand. It will then be up to the Bush campaign to destroy the validity of the Gore
hand counts. The Bush camp would also have the very small possibility of finding redress in the Federal Courts.
Today's State Supreme Court ruling that allows the hand counts to continue, the one the Gore campaign tried to
make a big deal about,, is not particularly relevant. Barring an unlikely intervention by the Federal Courts, the
one decision to look for is whether the Florida Supreme Court can and will force the Secretary of State to accept
the Democratic hand counts in the final vote certification. If the Secretary of State wins that decision, Bush wins
the election. If the Gore campaign prevails, the situation will turn much uglier and Vice President Gore will be
favored to become President.
November 15, 2000
realclearpolitics.com
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.
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