Mullings A Political Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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Just Throw Strikes

Monday, June 11, 2001

Mullings received a letter from a reader in the San Francisco area wondering why, when the Democrats say horrible things about GOP, "[The Republicans] never seem to answer back, calling a lie a lie."

Herewith is the sermon: President Bush has pledged to "change the tone in Washington." In spite of the major dailies' attempts to start feuds whenever they can, the tone has changed - or at least is changing - in Washington.

The task, now, is to change the tone in the rest of the country. One of the cornerstones of the Mullings Method is this: In every village, town and city in this country a group of people - men and women, a senior lawyer, the mayor or a city council member, the biggest real estate agent, a banker - meets for coffee at about 10 in the morning to solve the world's problems.

If the Republicans and the Democrats are two baseball teams, then President Bush is our pitcher, and we're the fielders.

If the Democrats on the other team pound the table about the horrors of the Tax Relief Bill, we don't tip over the coffee pot in response. And we don't cry. We calmly point out 12 Democrats in the Senate and more than two dozen in the House voted for it, and three Democratic Senators were at the bill signing ceremony at the White House.

Steee-rike!

After President Bush met with Democratic California Governor Gray Davis, the Governor's $30,000-a-month spin team tried to portray it as humiliating loss for the President. This was the syllogism: Price caps are the only answer. Bush won't agree with that answer. Ergo, this is now officially the Bush Energy Shortage.

A Sunday LA Times piece by Richard Marosi had this lead: "California businesses will be offered financial incentives to curtail electricity use during peak hours under a program unveiled Saturday by Gov. Gray Davis."

A state official said, "This is a major step forward. This is going to really enlarge our capability in a short period of time." Which is approximately the position President Bush took: There are remedies short of artificial price controls.

Steee-rike Two!

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In Your Nation's Capitol the odd man out in the Jeffords thing is generally conceded to be House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt. Juliet Eilperin wrote in a Washington Post piece that Gephardt went to New Hampshire the other day to try to build sentiment for a run for the Democratic nomination for President.

Although the humor was probably unintentional, Ms. Eilperin wrote, describing Gephardt's two-day swing through Kerry Kountry: "� to woo party activists at events including a spaghetti dinner in Cheshire County and a pig roast in Merrimack County."

If any living American politician doesn't need a reference to Cheshire, a smiling Dick Gephardt is that politician. If any politician doesn't need to be referred to in the context of pork, Dick Gephardt is that politician.

Swung on� and missed.

Still on the Democratic Presidential hopeful front, "Prime-Time Al" Gore got a brief mention in Drummond Ayres' political column in the Sunday NY Times. Ayres pointed out that, at the funeral for Congressman Joe Moakley, Gore was assigned to sit in the third row but sat, instead, in the seat assigned to Massachusetts Senator (and probable opponent) John Kerry - putting him well within camera range.

According to Ayres' piece, "Some noses got out of joint, and there was some stirring when Gore suddenly showed up and took the seat," one aide to Mr. Moakley recalled. "But Kerry handled it well. He just moved back."

Here's the part I loved: "An aide to Mr. Gore said the former vice president "sat where it was indicated he should sit." That passive voice, again: "� where it was indicated he should sit." Anybody wanna bet it was that very aide to Gore who did the indicating?

Mr. Gore, meet Mr. Gephardt. Back there, in the third row, grinning like a Cheshire cat because he OWNS New Hampshire Democrats, may we present Senator John Kerry.

Oh, after bouncing one in on Opening Day in Milwaukee, President Bush tossed out the first pitch at the College World Series in Omaha on Friday.

If you are looking for signs from the gods, this was it.

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