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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnM who wrote (2167)	6/16/2003 4:03:39 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793903

Divided by Zealots By Alan K. Simpson - Washington Post Op-Ed This is a major divide in the Repub party, and will come to the fore after the 04 election. Heading into next year's election, the Republicans have a very popular president and a credible advantage with the electorate on the core principles of limited government, free enterprise, strong defense and personal responsibility. Maybe it is still about Sept. 11, but most of our fellow countrymen seem to understand what America is all about. It is about a common flag and a common language and a fractious public culture. We're never going to unite the country around a particular set of religious beliefs, nor would we wish to. If you go home at night and worship the Great Eel, that's your business. But we can unite the country around practical policies that improve the collective life of all of our people. There is something Republicans must always remember: The media are not going to portray clarity; they are going to portray conflict, confusion and controversy. And they are going to do it every single time, especially if they can find a schism or us fighting among ourselves. I was in this contact sport of politics for 31 years. People take some good shots at you, and that goes with the territory. You learn to "take part or get taken apart." But for some incomprehensible reason, Republicans seem to like to eat their young. We have the steely-eyed zealots trying to inflict their personal views on others. They don't care a whit whether you are with them 90 percent of the time. They are the 100 percenters, and what really matters to them is that old 10 percent, and they'll use venom and invective to tear people down. We do that too many times and it sure turns folks off. And the Democrats just love it! On the personal and singular issue of abortion, many seem to have the attitude that government really does know best (a very non-Republican view on all other issues) and that individual Americans are incapable of thinking and deciding for themselves on this terribly anguishing and intimate issue. As a longtime supporter of the right to choose, I have never believed that Congress or the federal government should interfere with the deeply personal and private decisions that women sometimes face regarding unintended or crisis pregnancies. A lot of Republicans agree with me -- and a lot do not. You really have to have rocks for brains if you honestly think we're going to solve that horrible conflict anytime soon. President Bush gets it even if they don't. We damn sure don't need the vitriol and demonization from the cultural warriors on the left and the right. We have enough on our plates that really needs doing. President Bush knows all about it. He has a rugged bunch of people on the Hill who simply want to block him. Their game is: Don't let him accomplish anything. It doesn't help the country, but it's pretty good politics. You can get around those folks by bringing people into office to help you get things done -- maybe not on all 50 things you want, but on 30 or 40. That's why the president tells us the Republican Party is the party of the open door. We want more people to get involved. We want to grow this fine Grand Old Party. And we want to share our core principles to make America strong and secure; to provide a stable framework in which people can make their livings, raise their families and work together in their communities; and to allow every American a chance at the pursuit of happiness. President Bush understands that we have a limited and unique opportunity to attract people to this party and to get some good things done for our country. Somebody should send the word to the zealots. The writer is a former Republican senator from Wyoming and a member of the Republican Pro-Choice Coalition's advisory board. washingtonpost.com

To: JohnM who wrote (2167)	6/16/2003 6:19:18 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793903

Gephardt looks good in Iowa June 15, 2003 BY ROBERT NOVAK - SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST Democratic insiders are coming to regard Rep. Richard Gephardt as the real front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination even though he does not lead in nationwide polls. That's because the Jan. 19 Iowa caucuses have changed for Gephardt, who represents a district in nearby St. Louis, Mo., from a trap to a springboard. While Iowa is a must win for Gephardt, polls show him moving into a comfortable lead there. A big Iowa win could propel him into a high finish in the New Hampshire primary eight days later. A footnote: Backers of Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, regarded by many as the front-runner, are alarmed by polls showing him about even in New Hampshire with his fellow New Englander, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. A loss in New Hampshire would virtually eliminate Kerry. GOP fratricide Tension between the No. 2 and No. 3 Republicans in the House--Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas and Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri--is growing and becoming public. The word in the GOP cloakroom is that DeLay thought Blunt gave up too easily on a union-opposed bill regarding employee flex time because he could not find sufficient votes. DeLay was a successful majority whip for six years and, Republican insiders say, tends to be critical of the performance by his successor and former deputy. In a front-page Washington Post report Wednesday, DeLay was described as opposing Blunt's efforts to slip in legislation favored by the Philip Morris company. No help for Hillary No fellow Democrat volunteered to give Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton protective cover when she was the only senator voting against the nomination of Michael Chertoff as a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. Chertoff was chief counsel of the Senate's 1995 investigation of the investment by the Clintons in the Whitewater project. Chertoff was confirmed Monday, 88-1. On May 24, 2001, Chertoff was confirmed as an assistant attorney general 95-1 vote, with Clinton the only dissenter. On the same day, she was also the only no-voter when the Senate confirmed, by 95-1, Viet Dinh as an assistant attorney general. Dinh was a staffer in the Senate Whitewater investigation and President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial. Sen. Clinton said nothing in these debates before casting her solitary negative votes. Will Fritz leave? National Democratic political operatives, predicting Sen. Ernest F. ''Fritz'' Hollings probably will not seek an eighth term from South Carolina next year, are hoping he will retire. These strategists privately express great doubt that Hollings (who will be 82 years old in 2004) can win a state that is trending Republican. They contend state Education Commissioner Inez Tenenbaum, one of only three statewide Democratic office holders, would also be an underdog but a stronger candidate than Hollings. The best Democratic hope may be a rough Republican Senate primary between Rep. Jim DeMint, the national party establishment's choice, and former state Attorney General Charles Condon, who claims grass-roots support. A fiercely contested GOP primary in 2002 (when Condon finished third) did not keep Mark Sanford from being elected governor. Debating Freddie Mac The mortgage banking industry has hired former Rep. J. C. Watts of Oklahoma to head the organization fighting Freddie Mac, setting up a long-distance public relations confrontation with former Bill Clinton adviser Paul Begala. Federal prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation of accounting practices by government-sponsored Freddie Mac, the nation's second largest mortgage buyer. Watts will head FM Policy Focus, which is dedicated to fighting advantages of government-sponsored financial institutions. He was chairman of the House Republican Conference before retiring from Congress and serves as chairman of GOPAC. Begala, a co-host on CNN's ''Crossfire,'' has given public relations advice to Freddie Mac for more than two years. He does not discuss the company on the television program. suntimes.com