In most countries, when the person who receives the most votes is screwed out of its highest office by a pro-military, pro-corporate cabal, the streets overflow with popular outrage. This is how it always happens: cronies installed in high places invent laws on the fly to justify their desired result; everyone is watching; and the streets erupt. Media elites are now reassuring America that polls say 75% of us think Bush's ascendancy to the White House was legitimate. Hello? Do the math; that's the 50% of people who didn't vote, and therefore apparently don't care who wins, plus the 25% who voted for Bush. Everyone who voted for Gore thinks the process was corrupt. That's as many people as usually elect the President. That's enough people for a legitimate popular insurrection. But this time, strikingly, everybody watched, but nobody cared. For the last month, local Democrats and their allies repeatedly begged for demonstrations at Westlake Park or the Federal Court House; invariably, a couple of dozen people would show up.
Where were the 50 million Gore voters? Where were all the anti-Nader Democrats that were bleating so loudly that a Bush regime would be an apocalyptic nightmare? Well, for one thing, they're not used to demonstrating; for the last eight years it's been their policies (Yugoslavia, Colombia, welfare reform, salvage logging, and, of course, WTO--among others) that drove people to the streets. For another, they're under illusions that our Third World brethren aren't, regarding the inviolability of elections and The Law. They never could quite bring themselves to believe that it'd be so brazenly stolen. Thirdly, they probably thought resistance was futile. Mythology aside, America is, along with China (which at least had a popular revolution 50 years ago), probably the least democratic country in the world, in the sense of citizens being complacent and lethargic when they're victimized by some or another abuse of power. You could almost see America's shoulders shrugging. Most importantly, the vehemently (as opposed to reluctantly) pro-Gore folks were powerful, noisy, and well-funded, and scared the hell out of a lot of people, but were only a tiny minority with a not very convincing case. More people were enthusiastic about Bush than were enthusiastic about Gore, and more people by far--unlike most countries--didn't even vote.
Ultimately, most Americans don't care passionately about which oligarchs work overtime to grease the extraction of labor and wealth from us By Any Means Necessary. If Al Gore had ever in his long, privileged, obsequious career demanded justice, or decried abuses of power, or even taken a risk, then perhaps others would have been willing to do the same for him. He didn't, they didn't, and the streets of this Third World country with First World consumer debt--a country founded by a popular revolt against King George--remained remarkably quiet. --Geov Parrish, 1/14/01
With the events of late in the year 2000, the United States left behind constitutional republicanism, and turned to a different form of government. It is not, however, a new form. It is, rather, a transplant, highly familiar from a different arena of advanced capitalism. This is corporate democracy. It is a system whereby a Board of Directors-- read Supreme Court -- selects the Chief Executive Officer. The CEO in turn appoints new members of the Board. The shareholders, owners in title only, are invited to cast their votes in periodic referenda. But their franchise is only symbolic, for management holds a majority of the proxies. On no important issue do the CEO and the Board ever permit themselves to lose. The Supreme Court clarified this in a way that the Florida courts could not have. The media have accepted it, for it is the form of government to which they are already professionally accustomed. And the shameless attitude of the George W. Bush high command merely illustrates, in unusually visible fashion, the prevalent ethical system of corporate life. Al Gore's concession speech was justly praised for grace and humor. It paid due deference to the triumph of corporate political ethics, but did not embrace them. It thus preserved Gore for another political day -- the obvious intention. But Gore also sent an unmistakable message to American democrats: Do not forget.
It was an important warning, for almost immediately forgetting became the media order of the day. Overnight, it became almost un-American not to accept the diktat of the Court. Or to be precise, Gore's own distinction became holy writ: One might disagree with the Court, but not with the legitimacy of its decision. Press references from that moment forward were to President-elect Bush, an unofficial title and something that the Governor from Texas (President-select? President-designate?) manifestly is not. The key to dealing with the Bush people, however, is precisely not to accept them. Like most Americans, I have nothing personal against Bush, Dick Cheney, nor against Colin Powell and the others now surfacing as members of the new administration. But I will not reconcile myself to them. They lost the election. Then they arranged to obstruct the count of the vote. They don't deserve to be there, and that changes everything. They have earned our civic disrespect, and that is what we, the people, should accord them. In social terms, civic disrespect means that the illegitimacy of this administration must not be allowed to fade from view. The conventions of politics remain: Bush will be president; Congress must work with him. But those of us outside that process are not bound by those conventions, and to the extent that we have a voice, we should use it.
"In political practice, civic disrespect means drawing lines around the freedom of maneuver of the incoming administration. In many areas, including foreign policy, there will be few major changes; in others such as annual budgets and appropriations, compromises will have to be reached. But Bush should be opposed on actions whose reach will extend beyond his actual term. First, the new president should be allowed lifetime appointments only by consensus. The public should oppose -- and 50 Senate Democrats should freely block -- judicial nominations whenever they carry even the slightest ideological taint. That may mean most of them, but no matter. And as for the Supreme Court especially, vacancies need not be filled. Second, the Democrats should advise Bush not to introduce any legislation to cut or privatize any part of Social Security or Medicare. Third, Democrats should furiously oppose elimination of the estate tax a social incentive for recycling wealth to the non-profit sector, to foundations and universities, that has had a uniquely powerful effect on the form of American society. Once gone, this ingenious device will never be reenacted. Fourth, the people must unite to oppose the global dangers of National Missile Defense -- a strategic nightmare on which Bush campaigned -- that threatens for all time the security of us all. Fifth, Congress should enact a New Voting Rights Act, targeted precisely at the Florida abuses. This should stipulate: mandatory adoption of best-practice technology in all federal elections; a 24-hour voting day; a ban on private contractors to aid in purging voter rolls; and mandatory immediate hand count of all under-votes in federal elections.
"With those steps taken, Democrats must also recognize and adapt to the new political landscape that emerged from this election. Outside of Florida, Democrats are finished in the South. But they have excellent prospects of consolidating a narrow majority of the Electoral College -- so long as, in the next election, there is no Ralph Nader defection. What can prevent such a thing? Only a move away from the main Clinton compromises that so infuriated the progressive left. Nader's voters were motivated passionately by issues like the drug war, the death penalty, consumer protection and national missile defense -- issues where New Democrats took Republican positions in their effort to woo the South. Clinton the Southerner succeeded at this -- but against Republicans who were only weakly "Southern" at best. Gore, on the other hand, was principally a Northern candidate, strongly backed by the core Democrats, who ran against, and defeated so far as ballots were concerned, a wholly Southern Republican. Future Republicans almost surely also be "Southern,"; for that is where the base of the party now lies. And future Democrats, if they are Northern candidates too, can beat them -- all the more so if they bring the Greens back into the Democratic fold.
"In short, Al Gore's campaign proved that there is an electoral majority in the United States for a government that is truly a progressive coalition, and not merely an assemblage of sympathetic lawyers, professors and investment bankers. Rather, Americans will elect a government that firmly includes and effectively represents labor, women, minorities -- and Greens. This is the government we must seek to elect-- if we get another chance. And for that, the first task is to assure that the information ministries of our new corporate republic do not successfully cast a fog of forgetting over the crime that we have all just witnessed, with our own eyes." --J. Galbraith, Texas Observer, Jan. 2001
It turns out that the real reason Bush's brother Jeb didn't do much for his brother the last month of the campaign was that he didn't want reporters asking about his son's shocking behavior, thus giving a lie to Bush's boast that he would being dignity to the White House. As the editors of CounterPunch note, "On recently revisiting the Smoking Gun site [Tallahassee observer Jack McCarthy] was 'shocked' to read that on October 7 of this year, Gov. Jeb's other young'un, John 'Jebby' Bush was caught humping away in the front seat of his Cherokee jeep in the parking lot of the Tallahassee Mall by security guards. According to the TPD Police report, mall security noticed 'fogged up windows' and found them naked from the waists down, except for Bush who was wearing 'socks.' Hopefully with suspenders in the Yale colors. Ah, those patrician Bushes. Breeding will out.
"Anent young Jebby's rampages, Jack tells us that on October 24--only days after the arrest- the following story appeared in the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel under the headline: 'Jeb Bush Too Tired to Campaign?' 'It's surprising that the race is as close as it is,' the Sentinel quoted Florida political scientist Jim Kane. 'But the biggest surprise is that Jeb has not been out on the campaign trail.' 'I can't do anymore than I am, I'm tired,' Bush said. Jack opines that 'it's perfectly logical that Jeb was afraid that the Jebby story would get out in the midst of his support for his brother's pledge to restore dignity to the White House.' Imagine some reporter asking Jeb if it wasn't time to 'restore dignity' to the Tallahassee Mall parking lot." 1/11/01
During a recent press conference Bush "spokesfibber" Tucker Eskew “said Ms. Chavez was unaware of the woman’s legal status at the time she was sheltering her and only realized after she had departed from her home that she was here illegally.” (NYT) Yesterday, Linda Chavez said that she assumed Marta Mecrado's illegal status from the start, the woman in question said she told Chavez of her illegal status three months into their domestic relationship, which lasted over a year, and a Chavez neighbor reported to the Times, “I’m pretty confident that Linda did know” about Mecrado's illegal status. "Why would the Bushies lie about such a thing?" asks TV commentator Paul Begala. "For the same reason George W. Bush lied about failing to report to the Alabama National Guard and for the same reason the president-elect lied about his arrest for drunk driving. It’s the same reason the Bushies lied about Dick Cheney’s post-election heart attack. And the same reason Bush lied to a court in Texas about whether he’d discussed with state regulators a controversial investigation of a funeral home company run by a gubernatorial campaign contributor. Because that’s what they do.
"Who would’ve thought that Cheney-Bush, Inc. would stumble so badly on something so obvious? Spokesfibber Eskew was coy when asked if Chavez’s illegal immigrant problem had surfaced in the pre-nomination vetting. “The vetters ask a range of serious questions,” he told the Post, “including things about domestic employees and paying taxes. They don’t, however, ask potential nominees to enumerate every act of compassion.” Sounds like they missed this. They missed Dick Cheney’s EKG, which looks like 40 miles of bad Oklahoma farm road, and his congressional voting record, which looks like Jesse Helms’ greatest hits. They missed John Ashcroft’s remark that the cause of the Confederacy — slavery — was not “perverted.” If people owning people ain’t perverted, I don’t know what is. The Bushies promised competence more than ideology. So far we’ve gotten mendacity and hypocrisy — all in service of a right-wing ideology. No wonder they lost the election." --Paul Begala 1/10/01 more
"Mr. Bush's choice as chief economic adviser, Lawrence Lindsey, last weekend...said: "Let's contrast the typical credit card borrower on monetary policy versus fiscal policy. The interest rate cut of last week helps the typical credit card borrower about two bucks a month, two dollars a month, whereas Mr. Bush's tax cut for a family making $40,000, gets a $1,600-a-year tax cut, 32 bucks a week. That's a much bigger heft." You have to admire Mr. Lindsey. It's not often that an economist manages a triple play. But he did it: his statement was specious on three distinct levels.
"First, he exaggerated the impact of Mr. Bush's proposed tax cut on ordinary families. Most families would get far less than he suggested; independent estimates indicate that on average even families with an income of $50,000 would get only half as much tax relief. Second, he loaded the comparison by comparing the full impact of tax cuts with only one minor effect of interest rate reductions. Won't lower rates (which can, incidentally, be reduced much further) also reduce mortgage payments — not to mention the burden of debt on corporations? Finally, and most important, he misrepresented the way interest rate cuts work. Their main effect on demand isn't via a reduction in the payments people make on the debt they already have; lower interest rates work by stimulating investment, that is, by inducing businesses and individuals to borrow more, or to put their money into real assets instead of parking it in bonds. That's how rate cuts led to recovery from the last recession even while Bill Clinton was raising taxes.
"It was a remarkable display of bogus economic analysis. It would be alarming if the new chief economist believed any of the things he said. But we needn't worry; this was merely a cynical attempt by someone who knows better to build support for that tax cut. After all, Mr. Lindsey would have defended that cut even if the economy were still booming. Still, Mr. Lindsey's remarks were not a good omen. One little-noticed but important virtue of the Clinton administration was its honesty in economic analysis and reporting. In general — and in contrast to some of their predecessors — Mr. Clinton's economists avoided misrepresenting the facts, using convenient but specious arguments, or employing scare tactics to sell their policy ideas. But it's already clear that henceforth things will be different. It seems that the incoming administration regards it as perfectly acceptable to say things that are demonstrably untrue, and even to abandon conservative economic principles, if by so doing it can sell its preferred policy. --Paul Krugman, 1/10/01
When Clinton nominee Zoe Baird quit her nomination for Attorney General because she harbored illegal aliens and it is illegal to do so, Linda Chavez wrote an op-ed piece asking the Clinton team to deep six her for that very reason. Today, Linda Chavez quit her nomination for Sec. of Labor for harboring an illegal alien, but this time she blamed the gotcha politics of Washington and George W. Bush's inadeaquate vetting process. However, she admitted that she always knew she was harboring an illegal alien and that she did not tell that to the Bush vetting committee. In fact, a Wall Street Journal report alluded to in a Washington Post story published this afternoon quotes a Chevez neighbor as saying Chavez told her that she was going to be considered for a high-ranking job on the Bush team and she was not going to tell the vetting committee that she harbored an alien illegally. Knowing that Bush has attempted to portray himself as an outsider by attacking Washington's "search and destroy" politics, Chaevez did the same thing. The utter cynicism and hypocrisy of such an attack, given the facts, not only gives lie to Chavez's pathetic defense of her actions, but it also serves to point up the hyporcisy of Bush's original attack on "gotcha politics," since he is now practicing it himself. Doubtlessly, Chavez was cut loose by Bush more because she lied to Bush about her background than because she harbored an illegal alien. Further, any statement by Bush or his team to the effect that Chavez was a victim of Washington's "gotcha politics" will make Chavez's cynicism and hypocrisy pale in comparison. --Politex, 1/8/01
"We know that in 1976 President Select Bush was convicted of DUI (driving under the influence) in Kennebunkport Maine. The Daily Brew has learned from reliable sources that after that conviction, Bush regularly operated his family's King Air (about a 4 million dollar twin turboprop), as a civilian. However, to maintain his FAA license, Bush, like all licensed pilots, would have had to submit his medical exam by a Aviation Medical Examiner at least every 2 years. Persons filling out that exam are REQUIRED by federal law to disclose any DWIs at the time of the pilot's aviation medical examination. Any false or misleading statements on that form are federal offenses. Pilots who have DWIs must have their medical flight clearance revoked for 3 years (and The Daily Brew understands back then it was 5). Then they have to apply for reinstatement, and give reasons why they feel they have recovered from their alcoholism (such as treatment records). If Bush filed a flight plan between 1978 and 1981, that would constitute prima facie evidence that Bush had a valid pilot's license after 1978. If the FAA issued President Select Bush a medical certificate after 1976, the Daily Brew believes that would constitute prima facie evidence that Bush committed perjury in filling out his medical certificate." --Brew, 1/8/00
"Christie Whitman, President-elect Bush's nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, acknowledged seven years ago that she had provided housing and money to an illegal alien couple. Whitman, now the New Jersey governor, disclosed in 1993 that she and her husband had employed two Portuguese natives for more than three years when they were in the country illegally. Whitman made the disclosure as she prepared to run for governor. She released the information because of the national attention that was being paid to Zoe Baird, President Clinton's early choice for attorney general, for failing to pay Social Security taxes for a nanny. Linda Chavez's nomination to be labor secretary is now being questioned because of an illegal alien who stayed in her home and received money." --AP, 1/8/01
BUSH WATCH: THE NOVELby Jerry Politex
I drove my silver Audi down Mesa Drive, the spine of Cat Mountain, hung a left at the cat's tail, drove quickly up the hilly, winding 2222 in low gear, took a right onto Balcones Drive, and came to a stop in the rear parking lot of Chez Zee.
Another sunny, warm early spring day in Northwest Austin, Texas. The lunch crowd was pretty much thinned out by now, so I had choices of parking spaces. I got out of the car, the turbines winding down, and stood by the rear entrance to the restaurant, a pretty-good place for not very expensive Southwestern food. I didn't have long to wait.
...click here to continue the novel.
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