The Democrats are in such serious disarray and confusion that, unless some major changes in substance and style are undertaken, the party will become a political footnote.
House Minority leader Dick Gephardt's departure from his leadership post is welcome. Now, we can only hope Senate Minority leader Tom Daschle will do the same. It would certainly help the party and the South Dakota Senator could spend even more time getting things done for his wife's lobbying business and heaping more favors on the airline industry.
Gephardt and Daschle became ineffective jokes who opposed President Bush when they should not have and supported him when they should have opposed him.
Together they formed the worst political sales team in memory, and as my old boss the late Bob Quayle (Dan's uncle) used to say, "They couldn't sell girls to the Marines on Guam."
Creating a Department of Homeland Security was an idea the Democrats fostered and George W. fought it for nine months.
But the Democrats stalled the measure in Congress, not because of legitimate concerns that the bill would threaten civil liberties, but over the petty worry that the bill would create a class of non-unionized federal employees.
That dumb move helped bring down Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, a true American hero who lost three limbs in the Vietnam War, overcame his disability and went on to become an excellent lawmaker.
The Democratic stall on Homeland Security enabled the Republicans to disgracefully question Cleland's patriotism.
While the Democrats are walking the plank, one who truly deserves that fate is Terry McAuliffe, Chairman of the Democratic Committee. Bubba Clinton hand-picked and anointed his buddy McAuliffe to lead the party into Election Day darkness.
The money-grubbing McAuliffe's post-Election Day analysis included a smiling boast, "I know I cost the Bush family a little money," a reference to the failed effort to defeat Jeb Bush in the race for governor in Florida.
The party's money would have been much better spent trying to help save Max Cleland.
Bill Clinton should also go gentle into that good night and keep out of the forefront of the Democratic Party. He's too much of a lightning rod for criticism and, for every two votes he generates for the candidates he stumped for, he produced three for the opposition.
If he can't be noble and productive in retirement like Jimmy Carter, he can just follow Jerry Ford and Bush the Elder, playing golf and making lots of money.
Hillary Clinton could help the party too, saying loudly and unequivocally that she does not now nor will she ever harbor presidential aspirations. She can't win anyhow, but such an announcement would take another arrow out of the Republican quiver.
"You never have to apologize for being a gentleman," my father was fond of saying, and the Democrats need major doses of gentleness and politeness to come back as a serious force on the American political scene.
The memorial service for Sen. Paul Wellstone was a disgrace that will be long remembered for the level of coarseness and incivility displayed at the event.
The Wellstone family told Vice President Dick Cheney, the presiding officer of the U.S. Senate, not to attend the memorial, as he graciously offered to do.
Then the boorish crowd booed Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, who came to pay his respects. Bubba Clinton beamed and laughed through most of the proceedings.
Such repugnant behavior did nothing to honor Wellstone, it cost Fritz Mondale votes, gave conservative pundits an illustration of the vile politicization of what should have been a serene moment and actually hurt Democrats everywhere.
The Democratic Party in the South has become pretty much a laugh and that's largely the result of trying to be as close to the Republicans as possible or a cheap reflection of the GOP.
The national Democratic Party is heading in the same direction and it simply will not work. The Democrats must develop bold leadership and policies on the key issues of war and peace, the economy, health care and corporate responsibility, which will clearly distinguish them from the Republicans.
The Democrats seem to have abdicated national security issues to the Republicans and, although this is a vital area of interest, the Democrats have taken few initiatives, and even the ones they have, like the Department of Homeland Security, have not been properly credited.
One of the best minds in this area is former senator and presidential candidate Gary Hart. He and former Sen. Warren Rudman produced a chilling report showing that the federal government has done virtually nothing to secure the nation against terrorist attacks.
Power plants, refineries and transportation infrastructure are still going unprotected, and this is all on George W.'s watch.
The greatest terrorist threat in the world today is Wahhabism, the violence-laced variant of Islam manufactured in and exported from Saudi Arabia. President Bush refuses to utter these words, "Wahhabism breeds terrorism," because he does not want to offend his and his daddy's friends in the Saudi royal family.
In April, eight months after the Sept. 11 attacks, a Saudi cleric, Sheik Saad-al-Buraik, preached at a mosque in Riyadh, urging Muslim men to rape and enslave Jewish women.
"Do not have mercy or compassion toward the Jews," al-Buraik bellowed, "Their women are yours to take legitimately. God made them yours."
That same month, President Bush shook this hate-monger's filthy hand when al-Buraik was a member of the official Saudi delegation that accompanied Crown Prince Abdullah during a visit to George W.'s ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Now, why can't the Democrats even point out the president's coddling of these scum who encourage terrorism and other violence?
In a new book, "The Two Faces of Islam: The House of Saud From Tradition to Terror," author Stephen Schwartz warns us of the threat from the Wahhabi fanatics who gave rise to Osama bin Laden and the Afghan Taliban.
Referring to the Saudi royal family's faith, he writes, "It is the most dread menace faced in the world today by the forces of tolerance and pluralism, whether Muslim or otherwise."
Schwartz calls the Bush family friends in the House of Saud "a vast Mafia of princely parasites," who are enabled by Western oil companies and "the American political and media elites who serve them."
The Saudis finance terror as they chum it up with the Bushies, and the Democrats say nothing.
The books are closed on the disastrous federal fiscal year 2002. The government ran its first deficit since 1997 -- $157 billion -- and the $6.3 trillion, 10-year surplus Bush inherited all but evaporated.
Last year spending rose 8 percent, while receipts fell 7 percent. The tax-and-spend label stuck to the Democrats should be replaced with a borrow-and-spend tag for the Republicans. Imagine borrowing money to pay for tax cuts.
George W. is spending more money on defense and education, without slashing popular entitlement programs like ridiculous agriculture subsidies and government giveaways and corporate welfare for the lumber, mining, oil, ship-building and airline industries.
The Bush Administration's done little but give lip service to fighting corporate corruption and the dismal performance of now-departed Securities and Exchange Commissioner Harvey Pitt should have given Democrats plenty of talking points to the important constituency of stock market investors.
Pitt, whose performance has been consistently third rate, as shareholders demanded more protection from accounting tricks, ended his public service with an incredible combination of arrogance and stupidity.
Pitt played hardball, getting his pick as head of the new board to oversee the accounting profession. He chose former FBI and CIA director William H. Webster to head the important new regulatory agency.
But Pitt failed to inform other SEC commissioners that Webster had a little problem. He led the audit committee of a company facing fraud accusations for some accounting tricks.
Webster should go too, and the Democrats should be pressing the president to pick a far more effective and credible head of the SEC and fund the agency properly.
Everyday some member of Congress should be on the floor asking George W. when he will order the SEC to release documents relating to the investigation of his dealings and fuzzy accounting when he was a director of Harken Energy.
Some Democrat somewhere ought to speak out on these issues, but I won't hold my breath waiting for one.
I don't mind criticism (eight years on the Niagara Falls City Council made be totally immune), but defamation is another thing.
In last week's Letters to the Editor section, John Zaroian attack on me crossed the line from sincere criticism to unforgivable defamation.
I didn't mind him calling my column "gasbag liberal ranting," nor did it bother me to be accused of writing "baseless accusations" about the Bush Administration, although Mr. Zaroian failed to mention a single example of what he meant.
I can even forgive the absurd thought that Bill Clinton is my "hero."
But my strident critic went way overboard when he questioned my taste in music. My father made sure I was schooled in the classics, and I adore Beethoven, Bach, Mozart and Schubert. From that wonderful foundation, I approach music with eclectic delight.
I enjoy U2, Dave Matthews, Rufus Wainwright, David Gray, Cousteau, Peter Nero, Jacqui Naylor, Fiona Apple, Steely Dan, Stan Getz, Miles Davis, Leonard Cohen, Loreena McKennitt, Daniel Belanger, Hilgegard von Bingen and Ralph Vaughn Williams.
You assert Barbra Streisand is my musical and political inspiration. I'll have you know I don't own a single Babs CD.
I'm afraid you, Mr. Zaroian, and others of your political ilk often suffer from sensual overstimulation.
I can imagine you writing your scurrilous letter while listening to Rush Limbaugh, reading "The Wit and Wisdom of Spiro Agnew," and watching "Gidget" reruns on the tube with your "Donnie and Marie Osmond's Greatest Hits" CD blaring in the background.
You should really try to be more focused.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | November 12 2002 |