The Republicans are convening in Philadelphia this week and I’m doing my best to ignore them, but it’s hard. We have so little chance to have any effect on our national government – beyond paying the bills – that by the time politicians get around to throwing us our quadrennial morsel, I’m awfully hungry.
The newspapers have been full of stories about vice-presidential candidate Dick Cheney for the past ten days, stories full of reports of his intelligence and command of the issues. George Bush the father will always be remembered for selecting Dan Quayle as his running mate, and I think George Bush the son went so far to avoid the same mistake that he picked the anti-Quayle. Of course, many people think George W. is his own Dan Quayle and one Quayle per ticket is enough.
While Dick Cheney might be the anti-Quayle, I’m afraid George W. may have repeated his dad’s mistake. Like his father, George W. kept his selection secret – even from his most trusted advisors – until the last minute. I don’t know why these candidates have advisors if they won’t ask them for advice.
If Junior had asked for advice, someone might have suggested looking at Mr. Cheney’s Congressional voting record, to see how it would square with soccer moms, “compassionate conservatism” and “not one child left behind.”
As it turns out, the Bush campaign found out with the rest of the nation that Mr. Cheney voted against the Equal Rights Amendment, the Clean Water Act, and Headstart programs. On the other hand, he voted in favor of every weapon that came down the pike, including cop-killer bullets. He also voted to keep Nelson Mandela in jail. Maybe Dick Cheney is dumber than Dan Quayle after all.
I was fascinated by the news stories that listed all Dick Cheney’s small-minded, hard-hearted votes and then quoted politicians from Congress – from both sides of the aisle – saying what a nice guy Mr. Cheney is, not a mean bone in his body, well-respected, etc. etc.
The Bush people claim to be running an outsider, anti-beltway campaign, and then Junior up and chooses a man who embodies exactly what Americans hate about DC. The Americans I know care more about deeds than words. They don’t care how well Dick Cheney gets along with senators in suits; if he voted against Headstart and Nelson Mandela, he does have a mean bone in his body. Several of them.
When George Bush and Dick Cheney attended a rally at Natrona County High School in Wyoming last week, they didn’t mention the second-most famous alumnus of Mr. Cheney’s alma mater, Matthew Shepard. Matthew was beaten to death in October 1998 because he was gay.
I conducted a web search, to see if prominent Wyoming native Dick Cheney spoke out when Matthew Shepard was brutally lynched. I couldn’t find anything. I checked the Lexis-Nexis media database. Nothing there, either. Maybe I was being too hard on the man. Mr. Cheney was, after all, a private citizen in 1998. For comparison, I checked on Alan Simpson, the former senator from Wyoming. Like Mr. Cheney, Mr. Simpson is conservative, Republican and bald. He too, was a private citizen in 1998. I found Mr. Simpson stepped across the ideological spectrum to attend a candlelight vigil for Matthew in Washington, DC with people like Ted Kennedy and Barney Frank. I saw that Mr. Simpson returned to Wyoming in 1999, where he called homophobia a sickness and urged the state legislature to pass hate crime legislation.
I read that and thought perhaps a conservative could be compassionate after all. Maybe George Junior picked the wrong man from Wyoming.
The Same Mistake Dad Made
The Republicans are convening in Philadelphia this week and I’m doing my best to ignore them, but it’s hard. We have so little chance to have any effect on our national government – beyond paying the bills – that by the time politicians get around to throwing us our quadrennial morsel, I’m awfully hungry.
The newspapers have been full of stories about vice-presidential candidate Dick Cheney for the past ten days, stories full of reports of his intelligence and command of the issues. George Bush the father will always be remembered for selecting Dan Quayle as his running mate, and I think George Bush the son went so far to avoid the same mistake that he picked the anti-Quayle. Of course, many people think George W. is his own Dan Quayle and one Quayle per ticket is enough.
While Dick Cheney might be the anti-Quayle, I’m afraid George W. may have repeated his dad’s mistake. Like his father, George W. kept his selection secret – even from his most trusted advisors – until the last minute. I don’t know why these candidates have advisors if they won’t ask them for advice.
If Junior had asked for advice, someone might have suggested looking at Mr. Cheney’s Congressional voting record, to see how it would square with soccer moms, “compassionate conservatism” and “not one child left behind.”
As it turns out, the Bush campaign found out with the rest of the nation that Mr. Cheney voted against the Equal Rights Amendment, the Clean Water Act, and Headstart programs. On the other hand, he voted in favor of every weapon that came down the pike, including cop-killer bullets. He also voted to keep Nelson Mandela in jail. Maybe Dick Cheney is dumber than Dan Quayle after all.
I was fascinated by the news stories that listed all Dick Cheney’s small-minded, hard-hearted votes and then quoted politicians from Congress – from both sides of the aisle – saying what a nice guy Mr. Cheney is, not a mean bone in his body, well-respected, etc. etc.
The Bush people claim to be running an outsider, anti-beltway campaign, and then Junior up and chooses a man who embodies exactly what Americans hate about DC. The Americans I know care more about deeds than words. They don’t care how well Dick Cheney gets along with senators in suits; if he voted against Headstart and Nelson Mandela, he does have a mean bone in his body. Several of them.
When George Bush and Dick Cheney attended a rally at Natrona County High School in Wyoming last week, they didn’t mention the second-most famous alumnus of Mr. Cheney’s alma mater, Matthew Shepard. Matthew was beaten to death in October 1998 because he was gay.
I conducted a web search, to see if prominent Wyoming native Dick Cheney spoke out when Matthew Shepard was brutally lynched. I couldn’t find anything. I checked the Lexis-Nexis media database. Nothing there, either. Maybe I was being too hard on the man. Mr. Cheney was, after all, a private citizen in 1998. For comparison, I checked on Alan Simpson, the former senator from Wyoming. Like Mr. Cheney, Mr. Simpson is conservative, Republican and bald. He too, was a private citizen in 1998. I found Mr. Simpson stepped across the ideological spectrum to attend a candlelight vigil for Matthew in Washington, DC with people like Ted Kennedy and Barney Frank. I saw that Mr. Simpson returned to Wyoming in 1999, where he called homophobia a sickness and urged the state legislature to pass hate crime legislation.
I read that and thought perhaps a conservative could be compassionate after all. Maybe George Junior picked the wrong man from Wyoming.