10-23-02, Voice in the Crowd
Scum of the Earth
Seeking Office?
By Pete Chaney
IPS Features
Most everyone is burned out on the political campaign.
They are tired of the accusations, excuses and counter accusations.
If you believed half of what candidates are saying about each other you
would think we have the scum of the earth wanting to run our government.
According to the hype, people like this need to be run out of town
instead of fed at the public trough with government jobs.
TViewers in the Chattanooga area getting a dose of
Tennessee as well as Georgia exaggerations.
The Peach State has Democrat Max Cleland running for reelection while his
opponent calls him unpatriotic. Unpatriotic?
This is a man who has given almost everything for his country.
His crime is not being a rubber stamp for a Republican president.
Max is a Democrat and should support the president when he’s right;
oppose him when he’s wrong.
Taxes are the unseen question on the Tennessee ballot.
Who hates them most is the contest.
Each one wants to brand the other as favoring taxes while they promise
the moon without taxation. It would
almost be worth seeing some snake oil salesman in office to see him squirm.
But the state would suffer.
The senatorial campaign between Lamar Alexander and Bob
Clement keeps getting into who loves taxes and who knew Jake Butcher.
Senators don’t pass legislation on state taxes.
And in his day everyone knew and loved Jake Butcher.
So what else is the campaign all about?
Somebody ought to talk about who has the ability to serve in Washington.
It’s the governor’s campaign that should just be
rephrased to decide who hates income taxes more. The Chattanooga Free Press, published by the Arkansas crowd,
brags about being the only newspaper in the state conservative enough to support
Van Hilleary. It’s hard to say if
that dubious distinction looks worse on the newspaper or on the candidate.
In the primary election, Van tried to ignore opponent
Jim Henry who had the backing of every state newspaper—except one.
Yep, the Free Press again.
In the closing days of the election, the Henry campaign
was within breathing distance of a primary victory. Van’s people pulled out the stopper on the sewer.
TV ads showed a paper Jim signed to help Ned McWherter improve schools
and claimed it was a pro income tax paper.
That went on TV and in direct mail to Republican voters across the state.
Truth can never catch the speed of a lie.
In the campaign which will be decided in a few weeks,
both the Hilleary and Bredesen campaign staffs are going full blast with
insinuations on how the other hates teachers and school children by not giving
them enough money, how there is no experience in business, or how taxes are the
main issue.
Van has the benefit of popular heavy hitters: George W.
Bush, Dick Cheney, Fred Thompson and Bill Frist. They get the attention and the big bucks.
All Phil could look for is Al Gore and he would be
better off paying Al to stay away. He
certainly doesn’t want any help from Bill Clinton.
If the election is to go to the candidate who wants the
office worse, it belongs to Van. If
the governorship goes to the campaign staff which is more aggressive and
vicious, give it to Van again.
From the start, the election was Phil’s to lose.
His campaign organization has done its best to make that happen.
They produce a flashy Website and polished TV commercials which even
include Phil a bit overweight in a red shirt, not a plaid shirt though. But they have arrogantly shunned the very people who could
have made a difference in the campaign.
After the primary, Van was quoted as saying he had
knocked off Jim Henry and now he only had one more of the old school to
eliminate—Howard Baker. The
disgruntled Republicans and moderates were Phil’s for the asking. Instead, the candidate has been firewalled.
Local supporters have been ignored, even the backbone of the Democratic
Party.
It takes more than TV commercials to win an election.
Van has the core support of the far right and Phil has nothing to compare
with it.
But this is politics.
Anything can happen—and usually does.
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