Mullings A Political Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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The Sun'll Come Out, Tomorrow

Wednesday, June 6, 2001

Can the sky get any blacker? Can the wind blow any colder? Can the news be any worse?

Given the breathless reporting, this MUST be the end of the world. The Bush family should just move on out of the White House right now, give one set of keys to Tom Daschle, another set to John McCain, and head back to the ranch in Crawford, Texas.

The Washington Post/ABC poll shows President Bush's job approval at 55 percent. Wretchedness! Misery!

Control of the Senate moves to the Democrats. Woe! Despair!

A report was leaked which says the voting in Florida was not error-free. Grief! Desolation!

A full day at the MSNBC mother ship yesterday included appearances at 10:16 am ("We might go earlier if Imus leaves," I was told. "He's not feeling well." But he didn't.); 11:08 am; 12:17 pm; and 1:18 pm during which these subjects were covered.

Chris Jansing, started the first segment with the following question:
-- "Rich, as a good Republican, do these [poll] numbers have you a little nervous?"
-- " 'Good Republican,' I said, "is a redundancy."

Here's a summary of the rest of the issues

The Washington Post/ABC poll:
-- The four polls taken by these organizations this year had Bush job approvals of 55, 58, 63, and 55. The 63 was right after the conclusion of the Chinese surveillance plane incident. Take that away and Bush has been pretty steady
-- If Bush gets 56 percent (the average of 55, 58, and 55) of the popular vote in the 2004 election, this will not be called a failing Presidency. It will be called a landslide.
-- President Bush's favorability rating is 61 percent which gives him a good deal of reserve support with the American people.

The Democratic takeover of the Senate.
-- Jim Jeffords is now at the end of the 14th of his 15 minutes of fame.
-- There is a difference between an organizational majority and a governing majority. For the past four months the GOP has had an organizational majority but not a governing majority - exactly the same position in which Tom Daschle will find himself beginning this morning.
-- Daschle now has the burden of total control without the benefit of enough votes to force a desired outcome.
-- Bush has a 61 percent favorability rating. If Daschle plays hardball on things like judicial nominees (keeping them bottled up just because he can), he risks the ire of voters in Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, and South Dakota all of which have Democratic Senators up for re-election in states won by George W. Bush.
-- House Republicans can cut deals with Senate Democrats without irritating the GOP base by being able to blame the Democrats for anything the base doesn't like. President Bush, as he did yesterday, can call bi-partisan meetings at the White House and make the Democrats' charge that "Bush is trying to govern from the Right" ring hollow.
-- Dick Gephardt is irrelevant.

The National Civil Rights Commission leaked a draft copy of its report on the election in Florida.
-- The Civil Rights Commission staff should all be fired for releasing the report yesterday when the President was in Florida without the two Republican members even having seen it.
-- Almost every one of the issues raised by the report have already been addressed in legislation championed by Florida Governor Jeb Bush and which have overwhelming support in the Florida Legislature.
-- The federal Voting Rights Act is designed specifically to address the issue of minorities being denied the opportunity to vote - largely in Southern states.
-- If the charges which the Civil Rights Commission report are true then the U.S. Justice Department should have been involved - not on election day, but well in advance of election day.
-- So, either the charges are NOT true, or Jane Reno (who was still Attorney General last November 7) is guilty of criminal nonfeasance for allowing it to occur.

I want to give credit where credit is due. Throughout the day, the following people took my phone calls and helped me sound like I knew what I was talking about:
-- Mitch Bainwol, Executive Director, National Republican Senatorial Committee
-- Ron Bonjean, Spokesman, Republican Leader Trent Lott
-- John Feehrey, Spokesman, Speaker Dennis Hastert
-- David Hoppe, Chief of Staff, Republican Leader Trent Lott
-- Ken Mehlman, White House Political Director
-- Jack Oliver, Deputy Chairman, Republican National Committee
-- Kathleen Shanahan, Chief of Staff, Governor Jeb Bush
-- Three national political reporters
-- Two Members of Congress.

-- END --
Copyright © 2001 Richard A. Galen

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