Mullings A Political Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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Daley News

Wednesday, July 12, 2000

After reading the account of new Gore Campaign Chairman Bill Daley's interview with the Associated Press I have concluded he is a paid operative for the Bush campaign. Or, if he's not, he should be. Here are three excerpts from that interview yesterday.

First, he speaks fondly of Ronald Reagan, as fondly as any Republican, when discussing Bill Clinton's role at next months Democratic National Convention:

"His role will be much like Ronald Reagan in 1988 and that is, on the first night, to lift off to talk about the future, to talk about the progress that has been made ... ideally, to lift the convention off. There is incredible feeling for him that will be in that hall as there was for Ronald Reagan. So my sense is it will be a combination: Celebrate what we've done and look into the future."

How many other senior Democrats are hailing Ronald Reagan as a positive image?

Ok, the next quote. You know the rules: Republicans rail against the press. Democrats, well, smirk. Here's Daley's whine about how the press treats Gore in light of all his re-inventions:

"My sense is he can't do anything at this rate among some press. We talk this week about health care and next week we talk about education and some of the reporters on that plane just they are totally driven with this. Any time he tries something different, that's somehow some character flaw. That's ridiculous."

If THAT doesn't sound like a Republican complaining, I don't know what does.

Actually, it's true. Any time Gore has tried something different - changing campaign headquarters, changing campaign staff, changing campaign chairmen, changing his clothes, changing his position on issues, changing his description of Bush's positions on issues, changing his recounting of events - just every time he "tries something different" that pesky press corps wants to report on it.

Last example. He was asked what stereotype Gore must overcome at the convention in Los Angeles. Get a load of this:

"Obviously, it would be great for those people who have been convinced for eight years that he's just a boring, stiff, you know, unable-to-speak guy, that he comes through, you know, as a real person. ... I would say that's the biggest (stereotype), yeah."

Now, THERE'S my idea of a great headline: "Daley says Gore 'just a boring stiff'" I'm telling you, no Republican could have done more damage to Al Gore in one interview than Bill Daley did yesterday.

During the Democratic Governors' Association meeting Daley asked for advice on what to do about Gore's moribund campaign. The Governors repeated the Gore mantra that "no one is paying attention, right now" and Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, according to Ron Fournier's AP piece "suggested that the campaign find a family without health coverage in Texas, where Bush serves as governor."

Ooh! Ooh! I have an idea! Let's go to, say, Gore's home state of Tennessee, and find a poor family forced to live in squalor by a landlord who is absolutely indifferent to their pleas that broken toilets and sinks be repaired. And wouldn't it be even better if the landlord were Al Gore?

Disappointment abounds. Mullings - the entire portfolio - did not win the annual Bulwer-Lytton award for bad writing. The guy who did win, Gary Dahl, had already made his mark on American culture by inventing the pet rock. Bulwer-Lytton is credited with opening his 1830 novel with the words, "It was a dark and stormy night." To see Dahl's entry, go here.

In response to a number of inquiries regarding the excellent commentary on the National Review's web site by Grace-Marie Arnett, The Galen Institute is not - to their great relief - connected in any way to me or to Mullings.

However, The Galen Institute's offices are just up the street from where Mullings' North American headquarters used to be located in Alexandria, Virginia. When I first saw the plaque on the building heralding The Galen Institute, I phoned old pal Russ Schrieffer, whose office is in the same building and asked, verrrrry quietly, if I had rented space there.

To read Grace-Marie's essay, go here.

Because Mullings sometimes actually tries to deliver on a promise made, here is a link to an interesting new Political Action Committee: Young ImPACt. It is a collection of young people who have started a bi-partisan PAC. Take a peek, here. Getting young people involved in our American form of democracy is, I think, a very good thing.

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Copyright © 2000 Richard A. Galen

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