Mullings A Political Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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El Jorge Grande

Wednesday, January 31, 2001

Personality can't, on its own, win every battle but it can make a lot of big battles into smaller ones; and a lot of smaller battles unnecessary altogether. Take, for example, the case of Congressman George Miller.

George Miller is a Democratic Congressman representing the other side of San Francisco Bay. Miller is a big, burley man who has spent more than a quarter century as a Liberal Member of Congress.

Miller is a strong partisan. When Newt Gingrich was sworn in the first time as Speaker, he received a standing ovation from his colleagues following his opening speech. It was George Miller who signaled his fellow Democrats to sit down and stop applauding.

Miller also happens to be the senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, which means he would normally be the principal opponent to the President's education initiative.

A good deal has been written of President Bush's habit of assigning nicknames. There are, for example, three people on the planet who call me "Richie." The Mullings Director of Standards and Practices, my younger brother Ron, and the President of the United States.

The first time Miller went to the White House to meet with President Bush on the education plan, the President called him, "Big George."

According to NBC's David Gregory, when Miller met with Bush the second time, Bush greeted him as: "El Jorge Grande."

Does this kind of thing have an impact? Miller, in a press release following the second meeting, stated his strong, continuing opposition to vouchers, then said:

"But overall, based on my two meetings with the president and on the outline he has presented, I continue to be impressed by President Bush's serious commitment to improving the quality of education in our public schools. The President deserves credit for making education his number one priority, because it is the number one priority across this country."

George Miller has now been officially � Bushed.

The Lt. Governor of Maryland, Kathleen Townsend, was justifiably pleased with the outcome of the Superbowl the other night.

This is from David Folkenflik's TV column in the Baltimore Sun, having been spotted by the Hotline's Howard Mortman. Ms. Townsend was asked about her favorite play of the game and she described the back-to-back kickoff returns for touchdowns thus: "I loved it when we made that football," she said. "The Giants had just made a football, and we came right back."

Kathleen Townsend would be, probably, just another candidate for a MacArthur Genius Award if her maiden name were not Kennedy. As it is, Kathleen KENNEDY Townsend will probably be the next Governor of Maryland, or as she might say, "The next Political of Crabcake."

Another initiative launched by President Bush is one to permit closer cooperation between the federal government and faith-based organizations which want to do good works in their communities, but lack the financial resources.

Some Liberals are opposed on the basis of what might be a misreading of the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

Mark Melcher, in his newsletter, points out the problem some Conservatives have with a handshake between the feds and faith-based orgs: "I have a nagging fear that it might, over time, be the means by which the government camel can get its nose under the door of a lot of wonderful private organizations and, once inside, do real damage."

Notwithstanding the wrecking of the idiom of the camel sticking its nose into the tent, the point is well made - and taken.

The buzz around Your Nation's Capital is that Ted Olson, the attorney who argued Governor Bush's case in front of the Supreme Court (and, going head-to-head with David Boies, won) might be appointed Solicitor-General.

Ted Olson differs from most Washington lawyers in this regard: While being a dynamite lawyer, he remains a gentle soul. Mullings does not get a vote on very many Presidential appointments. If we got only one, it would go to him.

Mullings Update: The Virginia Senate, on Monday, killed the "If-you-want-to-sleep-in-Fairfax-County-you'd-better-be-in-a-bedroom" bill. Too bad. There went months - MONTHS, I tell you - of hilarious material.

Maryland Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, upon hearing of the Virginia Senate's action, said: "I love it that they made that legislature. First they made a bad legislature. Then they made a good legislature."
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Copyright © 2001 Richard A. Galen

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