The List of Imperfect Messenger
Wednesday, March 29, 2000
George W. Bush, yesterday, continued to drive his education message forward by unveiling a plan to, as Reuters put it, "ensure every child can read by the third grade." According to the AP, Bush's plan calls for "spending $5.5 billion over five years, although its cornerstone is not spending but accountability through locally designed and administered tests."
The crack war room at the Gore campaign is apparently not yet fully deployed. Vice President Gore's response to the Bush plan? "Both of us agree we should have higher standards and more accountability, but he [Bush] is not willing to do anything about it except talk about it," Gore said in an interview with Reuters. "There is some value in cheerleading, but we need more resources," Gore said.
Either Al Gore's staff didn't tell him what was in the Bush proposal in which case Gore was just knee-jerking an answer which caused him to sound goofy. Or, Gore's staff DID tell him what was in the Bush proposal and Gore doesn't think five billion plus counts as "more resources" � which caused him to sound goofy.
More on the Goofy Front: The other night Al Gore gave a speech at Marquette University unveiling his latest campaign finance reform plan.
-- First of all, the plan calls for the establishment of a $7.1 Billion taxpayer-funded stash to pay for federal campaigns;
-- Second, Gore allowed as to how he might be "an imperfect messenger" on this particular subject due, perhaps, to the Buddhist Temple thing, the Phone Calls On Government Property thing, and the Missing E-Mail thing; and,
-- Third, he was wearing an outfit which made him look like he was just stopping by on his way to a Tony Soprano look-alike contest. [For a peek at the outfit, click here:
Upon further review, let me think about this 7.1 billion. If there are 435 races for U.S. House, about 33 for U.S. Senate and one for President, that makes $7,569,296.38 available per campaign. Gore wins; I'm officially back in the campaign consulting business.
On MSNBC's "Hardball" with Chris Matthews, Senator John McCain said Gore was more than imperfect, that Gore needed to allow - if not demand - the appointment of an independent counsel to look into the 1996 Clinton/Gore fundraising scandals.
Warming to his subject, McCain said Janet Reno would "go down as one of the worst Attorneys General" in American history for her refusal - in the face of credible evidence uncovered by the FBI and by her own special investigator, Charles LaBella - to appoint an independent counsel to investigate the 1996 campaign excesses by the Imperfect Messenger and his running mate, Bill Clinton.
Reuters had a report of a new CBS poll showing George W. Bush leading Al Gore by seven percentage points: 49-42. The headline? "Gore seen more likely to favor finance reform." Also missed completely in the Reuters report was the fact that when the 1,221 respondents were asked whether they thought Bush or Gore would win next November, 47 percent thought Bush would win compared to only 36 percent for Gore.
One more point: Women, by two-to-one, thought Bush would beat Gore.
Here's a tip for aspiring actresses (don't we think it's odd that in Hollywood - Home Plate of political correctness - the award is given for Best Actress rather than Best Female Actor?) who want to win the Oscar for best performance: Get a role which requires you to play a male. Gwyneth Paltrow played a male actor in "Shakespeare in Love" and Hilary Swank played a male in "Boys Don't Cry." Two-for-Two.
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