The Internet Monk
"the power of opinion, the phenomenon of speech, the beauty of truth"
A Webjournal and News Review by Michael Spencer
Updated 12/4/00
A GOP "Don't Forget to Remember List" (con't)
by Michael Spencer
5.
Remember that a lot of the Democrats on the Hill can smell a Democrat
majority in the wind in 2002. And they could be right, but they could
also be very, very wrong. If Dubya can build a progressive compassionate
conservative coalition and actually make the GOP-led congress look good,
I believe he could preside over a defeat for the Democrats in both
houses and go a long way towards burying the stigma of this election.
But we have to believe it and work like it. The President needs to ask
the people to send him a congress that will do what's right for the
country.
6. There are lessons to be learned from previous Republican failures. President Bush knows all about it. So does Gingrich. When the country goes with the Republicans, and especially with Dubya, they are not up in the air about what kind of results they want. They want money in their pocket, stability in the market, strength and sanity in foreign policy and honesty and truthfulness in the conduct of government. Give the people what they expect. Republicans have shown a tendency to think they are judged like Democrats, who are considered to be doing a good job if they aren't doing hard time. Not so with the party of Reagan.
7. When anything having to do with the previous administration's scandals comes across Dubya's desk, he should sink it to the bottom of the deep blue sea. Ignore it. Republicans can't be vengeful or opportunitistic. And should Dubya pardon Clinton? I'll get back to you on that.
8. Finally, this post-election mess will not go away. It is going to be the ghost in the White House for quite some time. Democrats will be talking resignation or impeachment or mob violence in the future. And yes, this will look and sound ridiculous. But it can do damage, particularly if Republicans get drawn into it. We need to have a standard reply. And it's simple: the system worked. The constitution got us through this election. The courts did their job; the lawyers did their job, the partisans did what patriots do in this country and at the end of the day, we have a President. Not a King, because you can say what you want about him and not go to jail. (Unless you lived in Arkansas during the first Clinton term.) You can protest, publish, march, organize, mail-out or rent a zeppelin to say you think the President is a jerk. It's a great country that allows this. And because we don't have a King, in four years you can vote him out, because they system will work again, even in Florida. We need to say this with humility, acknowledging that its been a mess and there might have been a different result in a different state at a different time. But here we are- let's be grateful America showed it's greatness in the midst of so much human confusion.