| Transcript |
PLAIN SPEAKING
by Larry Lingle
HOUSTON VOICE / AUGUST 23, 1996 11
Now let's get this straight—if
you'll pardon the expression—
Bill Clinton is a "new" Democrat busily pre-empting the old
Republican ideas: Bob Dole
really does have a heart and the
Republicans are lhe party of
inclusion — George McGov-
ern, where are you now—and Ross
Perot is, well, Ross Perot. And
(hat's not to exclude Ralph Nader
who just captured the Green
Party nod for president (has any
gay leader suggested the pink
party or the lavender party —
nan. that's not our concept of
"party" by whatever color).
Next, Dole and his latest sidekick. Jack Kemp, with calculated disdain, deny having read
their party's platform, let alone
feel any loyalty to it's harsh
designs. Nader disowned his new
allies' written effort and Perot
paid for his platform. No doubt
Clinton will have a written document tailored to his campaign.
Bill Clinton, the New Democrat,
approved reformed welfare, hawks a balanced budget, fights crime in the streets
and the schools—all ideas once considered Republican territory, at least by
the GOP Kemp, who puts passion into an
otherwise Dole campaign, even preempted for the Republicans such Democratic icons as Harry Truman, John F.
Kennedy who. according to Kemp.
would not recognize the Clinton
Democracy. Truman would have
responded not only "no" but "hell no" to
such annexation to such an elitist body
politic as the current Republican
Party, to say nothing of its religious
self-righteousness which ihe Mis-
sourian would have railed against with all
the vigor he was expended on the Do-Nothing Congress.
Say what you will about Clinton's move to
the center, at least he has the good sense
nut to annex p.ist Republican heroes, the
likes of such as Calvin Coolidge, War
ren G. Harding. Herbert Hoover. Thomas E. Dewey, Robert A. Tafi Jr., Dwight
D. Eisenhower. Ronald Reagan,
George Bush or the cleverest of the lot—
and the biggest crook—Richard Mil-
house Nixon. No, none of these good old
boys could ever be placed at the center of
the political spectrum, then or now.
What are the burning issues coming out
of the Republican convention and on
the eve of the Democratic bash in Chicago next week? Well . the new center of
Dole's campaign is his tax cut which
revived ihe tactics of Reagan in 1980 but
which even the polls show that Americans apparently aren't sold on this tactic
now.
The other big issue coming out of San
Diego is that of "character."' The
Republicans say that they disavow
negative campaigning but that their
big issue is the fine character of Bob
Dole. However, it doesn't take an MBA
degree to see the contrast implied with the
character of the sitting president. If
nothing else. Dole can weigh in with his
age as a restraint on the kind of sexual
escapades alleged against Clinton.
$0 we have a campaign unfolding in
which the top three candidates, Dole,
Clinton and Perot, all support some form
ol tax break, some approach to a balanced
budget, each with a version of election
reform, and all three supporting maintaining the national defense.
And the Republicans, now the patty ol
inclusion, are taking the battle for
minority votes directly to the Demo
crats. They paraded Colin Powell before
the nation ami even let him mention those
verbolen words, affirmative action
and pro-choice OH abortion, before a con-
Happy Birthday You Lucky Basset!
vention filled with persons not only
opposed to those positions, but rabidly
so. Then they displayed a black, conservative minister-congressman, former football star from Oklahoma. They
would have dragged out Clarence Thomas but, for once, even that partisan
judge realized the inappropriateness
of the occasion
The well-scripted Republican convention attempted to present its best face to
Ihe viewing public — thus no Pat
Buchanan, in fact, no leading spokesperson from the religious right. The platform itself was approved during a drowsy
afternoon session. This also meant that
some poignant moments missed included
another appearance by Mary Fisher, and
AIDS activist, wilh a little black girl
with AIDS—her arrival at the convention actually produced one of the more
telling pictures—standing with her
arms raised as a metal detector scanned
her body.
Frankly, like many elections before this,
the campaign is not driven by ideas or policies hut hy polls and locus groups. All the
attention of the Republicans after their
convention was not the discontent of
the Christian Coalition over being frozen nut of the speeches, but how big a boost
did Dole get in the polls. And, then, which
poll is more accurate.
Even Perot and his Reform Party, meeting
on two consecutive weekends in two
diverse locations, centered on the
pseudo battle between Perot and Lamm,
with little or no mention of a platform,.
And, unlike the Republican delibera-
tions before their convention, the Democrats gathered in Chicago to work out
their platform are getting only a passing notice. There are no battles there.
So what does the campaign boil down to at
this point? Dole is running as Reagan.
including the once discredited supply-side voodoo, on a platform of inclusion even as they cut welfare, staunch the
flow of immigrants, undercut public
education with private vouchers,
demonize unions, and slam the door on
Gays.
The big winners at San Diego were all the
lobbying groups hosting the key delegates beyond the glare of the television
cameras. And. to a lesser extent, this will
be true in Chicago. While much of corporate America, particularly tobacco.
has bough! into the GOP big tent—hell,
-hey bought the big tent—unions and corporate Hollywood hold sway in Chicago, The big losers, as always, are that
vast middle ground of America which
Pays ils iaxcs, tries to pay its bills, religiously voie four years and seldom is heard
alter the ballots are counted. Yes.
democracy's last great hope.
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