Mullings A Political Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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Terms of Endearment

Wednesday September 6, 2000

On the Adam Clymer front: George W. has claimed time and time again, will say what he truly believes. Contrast that with Al Gore who was so unsure of himself he had to hire a consultant to dress him.

In the first place, we have to translate this into Texas-speak. Years ago, in a column, I wrote that a certain Democratic Member of Congress from Texas was "dumber than dirt."

A reporter called to ask whether I thought that was a little harsh. "Nah," I said. "Not for Texas."

The reporter laughed and told me he had just spoken to the Congressman's office and they had said exactly the same thing.

In Texas calling someone a "Major League A-Hole" is really a term of endearment. It's about the same as saying "Ah buleeve Ah'm awnna invite him up for a glass of bourbon." If Bush was really angry with Clymer he would have called him a Major League New Yorker.

I have known Adam Clymer for nearly 20 years. I don't think I can claim he is a friend of mine, but he is a pretty good acquaintance. Clymer recently published a major league biography of Senator Ted Kennedy (Edward M. Kennedy: A Biography, William Morrow & Co) Twenty-two bucks at Amazon.com or Barnes & Nobel's web site, soon to be available in paperback.

As an aside: A search for authors named "Clymer" also turned up a Susan Clymer who wrote, among other things (this is true), "There's a Frog in My Sleeping Bag" which, to my great disappointment, had nothing whatever to do with Edward M. Kennedy.

For a photo of Adam Clymer (and for the Mullings "Catchy Caption of the Day") go here.

Notwithstanding the rush by the national media to declare Al Gore the winner, yesterday's Hotline makes a powerful case that this election is not only far from being in Gore's pocket, but that he still has quite a hill to climb.

Hotline's national survey of state-by-state polling shows Bush leading in 22 states with 234 electoral votes to Gore's lead in 13 states with 217 votes. 270 gets you to the West Front of the Capitol next January 20th.

This, after the best three weeks that Al Gore has had since Bill Bradley decided to sit out Super Tuesday.

We've been here before, I do believe. DaimlerChrysler used to be Daimler Benz before it merged with Chrysler and sent most of the Chrysler execs packing. DaimlerChrysler is buying a larger stake in Japanese automaker Mitsubishi and wants to take control over ITS management.

A spokeswoman for the German company, said discussions between the two companies so far had been "fruitful and cooperative" and that Daimler hoped to reach a conclusion in "the very near future." Approximately the same words which were used after that visit by Neville Chamberlain in 1938.

I detected something that many may have missed over this past weekend. The NFL season started.

A great deal has been written about Americans being distracted from politics by the Olympics and the World Series. Hah! This is football. 37 guys may pay attention to the Presidential campaign again until after the Superbowl which would be next January 28th. See how this all just fits together?

As someone who now lives in Your Nation's Capitol, it's fun to look at America's Team, the Dallas Cowboys: Quarterback Troy Aikman is concussed for the third time in the past two years. Wide receiver Joey Galloway is out for the season (meaning he will be exactly as useful to the Cowboys as sports columnist Randy Galloway). And, for the price of it, they got de-pantsed in their own 109-degree yard by the Philadelphia Eagles. 41-14. At least it was a palindrome.

I finally got to watch Dennis Miller on Monday Night Football. No decision, yet. The game was too good. The real test for Miller will come when one team is beating the other by, oh I don't know, say 41-14 and it's 109 degrees, and there are 37 guys left in the stands wondering if there are going to be more debates.

Jerry Lewis raised a record $54.7 million during his annual Labor Day Telethon to benefit Muscular Dystrophy. French truck drivers and farmers went on strike in celebration.

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Copyright © 2000 Richard A. Galen

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