Know-Nothing Republicans
Ezekiel J. Krahlin
Begala Shoots the Bull
By Paul Begala
The drumbeat from the Know-Nothing Class continues. Why, the
pundidiots ask, won't Al Gore simply concede defeat and let us get
about the important business of sucking up to the Bushies? I can
hardly blame them. The Clinton Era has been a long, lonely walk in
the wilderness for most of the chattering class. The Clintons didn't
like them. Didn't like their arrogance or their condescension.
Couldn't stand their ruthlessness. And they let it show.
Worse, the Clinton Era proved the absolute and total lack of power in
the punditocracy. From inside the White House it seemed to me as if
90 percent of the talking heads were calling for Clinton's head. And
he wouldn't offer it up. Day after day they told the American people
that Clinton had to go. The American people followed it carefully,
studied it judiciously and told the pundidiots to pound sand.
Obviously what Clinton did in his private life was wrong, and lying
about it was terribly wrong. All of that made him a bad husband,
perhaps, but it didn't change the reality that he was, in the eyes of
the American people, a terrific president. And so they hung in there
with him. The pundidiots acted like two-year-olds who weren't getting
enough attention, "But our opinions matter!" they screamed. "We get
the best tables at the finest Georgetown restaurants. When we say he
has to
go, he has to go."
But he would not go. And the American people would not let him go.
And so he stayed. He survived, he succeeded, he triumphed. He is seen
as more successful in his job than Eisenhower or Reagan were at this
stage of their presidencies. He has become the most successful
president since FDR, accomplishing more of the goals he set at the
beginning of his presidency than anyone since.
And in so doing he pissed-off the pundidiots mightily.
Perhaps that's why they're so cranky, so angry, so nasty to Al Gore.
Good Lord, the man won the election. He got more votes than the other
guy. More Americans wanted him to be President than George W. Bush.
I know that's not constitutionally dispositive, but it's pretty damned
important. But only if you think the will of the people matters. And
the pundidiots don't.
George W. Bush may capture the White House. But somewhere in the pea-
brain of his is the knowledge, the fact, the certainty that most
Americans did not want him in that job -- that more Americans wanted
the other guy. What's worse, his supporters can draw no comfort from
the argument that they won the electoral vote, since we know Bush's
only hope to "win" Florida lies in legal technicalities, deadlines and
the trump card of the Tallahassee Taliban setting aside the will of
the voters and giving W 25 electoral votes by legislative fiat.
Independent, nonpartisan analyses of the Florida vote conducted by
both the Miami Herald and the Orlando Sentinel concluded that Gore won
Florida by a comparatively comfortable margin -- as much as 23,000
votes. And in the months to come there will be more studies. Scholars
and journalists and interest groups will examine those ballots under
Florida's
Sunshine Law. Right-wing groups will claim their analysis says Bush
really did win. Liberal groups will "find" that Gore Knowledge is
pain, a friend of mine likes to say. And so it is. For those of us
who support Al Gore, we have the pain of knowing that the legal system
may not give expression to the will of the voters. But for those who
support George W. Bush -- and for the pundidiots eager to kiss
his...well...his Ivy League fraternity ring -- the pain must be
excruciating. It's the pain of knowing that their only path to power
lies in thwarting the rather obvious will of the people.
To reach Paul mail to beg...@msnbc.com
---end of article
---
Pennsylvania Dutch Gay Jesus Says:
"Throw the hetero over the fence some hay!"
---
Lavender Velvet Revolution:
http://surf.to/gaybible