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Jewish World Review Nov. 8, 2002 / 3 Kislev, 5763

Debra J. Saunders

Debra J. Saunders
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Bush leads

http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | Call it leadership. The Dems were slamming President Bush for stumping for congressional candidates while he was trying to drum up support for U.S. military action against Iraq. Ignoring the clamor, Dubya didn't falter.

History argued against his efforts. A GOP president had never gained legislative seats during his first term. Still, Bush pushed on. More than that, he campaigned down to the wire for other candidates harder than when he campaigned for himself in 2000.

His personal poll numbers dropped. Bush stayed the course. "The president doesn't govern by polls, and he doesn't make his decisions based on polls," explained spokesman Ken Lisaius. Americans clearly welcomed an end to finger-in-the-wind politics.

Bush risked his own political skin to win the Senate. He wanted to end the gridlock from Democrat-controlled committees stalling the passage of budget bills, homeland security legislation, an energy package and approval of judicial nominees.

Bush knows better than to gloat. Wednesday, in a show of bipartisanship, Bush called newly elected Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark. That's a nice touch, but Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott has my permission to move the office of Sen. James Jeffords -- Vermont's Republican-turned-Democrat-leaning independent -- to the basement.

Where did the Dems go wrong? They accused Bush of playing politics on Iraq. Bush stood firm, letting the Democrats play the angles, both supporting and distancing themselves from the Bush/Iraq policy.

Never discount the hubris factor in politics. When New Jersey Democratic Party suits dumped Sen. Robert Torricelli for the more electable Frank Lautenberg, they ticked off Repubs nationwide.

Then came the "memorial service" for Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., and his wife and daughter. Of course, a funereal event for a politician will be political. But after the Dems talked up the need for Minnesotans to have time to grieve Wellstone, they presented a service with all the hallmarks of a political rally -- except a balloon drop and chants of "four more years."

Each time the camera showed former President Bill and now-Sen. Hillary Clinton gleefully glad-handing other pols, GOP voter resolve intensified.

Indeed, Bush could have had a national sweep, from the Maryland statehouse to Sacramento, if only the Bushies hadn't flubbed California.

According to The Los Angeles Times, some 60 percent of California voters had a negative impression of Gov. Gray Davis' job performance. Davis garnered 1.7 million fewer votes this year than in 1998, and fewer votes than Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante. Davis may have beat Bill Simon 47 percent to 42 percent, but it's clear Davis would have lost to a better Republican.

The GOP probably would have picked a different nominee -- Secretary of State Bill Jones -- except that the Bushies prodded former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan into the race. Big mistake. Riordan was contemptuous of GOP voters, fluid in his opinions and a big donor to Davis campaigns. Davis ran ads against Riordan. It was Riordan who shot Riordan in both feet; the primary went to Simon.

If the Bushies had stayed out of the primary, chances are Jones would have trumped the not-ready-for-primetime Simon. But noooo. The Bushies had to punish Jones for switching his endorsement from Bush to John McCain in 2000.

Jones lost -- and the GOP lost California. Too bad that the White House's willingness to reach out to Democrats doesn't extend to occasionally wayward Republicans.

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Up


11/06/02: Too big to vote small this month
11/04/02: In a cop killer's name
10/25/02: Off target
10/23/02: Anti-American and not proud of it!?
10/16/02: And now, PC parades
10/11/02: Sitting on the docks by the Bay
10/07/02: For Dems, the mantra ain't "Let every vote count" any longer
09/27/02: Profile in fence-sitting
09/25/02: Achtung, anti-American
09/24/02: Why don't they fear us?
09/18/02: Nobel Peace Prize killer
09/13/02: What you don't see can hurt you
09/06/02: Unequal before the law
09/04/02: To the moon, Jerry
08/30/02: Gold medal in meddling
08/28/02: The summit isn't sustainable
08/23/02: Your tax dollars on drugs
08/19/02: San Francisco, the city of outrageousness, has done it again! Beware and be aware, America
08/16/02:Fraternite, liberte, envy
08/14/02: Academia's swindle
08/12/02: Humane or inane?
08/09/02: See Dick talk
08/07/02: Gore, the Messiah
08/02/02: The compassionate curriculum
07/31/02: No order in the court
07/30/02: West takes on east in the drug war
07/26/02: PC coffee 'brewhaha' Spineless in Seattle
07/24/02: No wonder the rest of the country has been known to sneer at California
07/22/02: Hail, little Caesar
07/19/02: Doctor of the Universe?
07/17/02: Johnny goes to prison
07/15/02: To win or not to win
07/12/02: A paradise for moderns
07/10/02: Hate crime, terror and murder
07/03/02: "Good things" in stir
06/24/02: True justice
06/21/02: How Davey saved California
06/19/02: Delusions of suppression
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05/31/02: FBI, investigate thyself
05/28/02: Your tax dollars on drugs
05/24/02: The Bible and the stripper
05/22/02: Who knew?
05/20/02: A modern modest proposal
05/19/02: Euros could don white hats
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05/10/02: Colorblind U
05/08/02: License to spend
05/06/02: Conservatism can survive despite liberal bias
05/03/02:A speech like air kisses
05/02/02: Bush should end bad sentences
04/29/02: Get ready America, California is gettin' into the slave reparations business
04/26/02: Saudis' money for martyrs
04/24/02: Oooh la la, Le Pen
04/15/02: Drill Alaska -- for the children
04/11/02: A good marriage with an esteemed soul mate -- well, nothing beats it
04/09/02: Tied up and Taliban
04/05/02: No justice in reparations
04/01/02: Schools, yes; fat police, no
03/25/02: The government-induced doctor shortage
03/22/02: Conservative hypocrisy on school drug testing?
03/20/02: And now, about Russell Yates . . .
03/18/02: Bush isn't worried about alienating loyalist voters
03/13/02: No exit strategy
03/11/02: Simon hits the big time
03/06/02: He got away
03/01/02: Mary, Luke, Paul, John and Noah
02/25/02: These are good days for veep
02/21/02: Dirty bill for a dirty mess
02/19/02: Score one for Greta
02/15/02: Dose of justice needed here
02/08/02: Sunshine all around
02/04/02: Does citizenship matter?
02/01/02: End the coverup
01/30/02: Try this for "troubling"
01/25/02: Camp X-ray or Club Med?
01/23/02: Let's stop the deluge of porn e-mail
01/21/02: No 'Little Boy Lost'
01/16/02: Son of Supercar
01/12/02: Beware the European view of the death penalty
01/09/02: Other people's children
01/07/02: It doesn't fly
01/03/02: Going from the Atlantic City Boardwalk to Berkeley
12/31/01: In America, punishment should fit the crime
12/28/01: What I'd like to see in 2002
12/24/01: Don't heckle ink monopolists
12/21/01: Mumia finds safety in numbers
12/19/01 The self-help PBS shopping network
12/17/01 Caught on tape
12/14/01 Know when to hold 'em
12/10/01 Old friends
12/06/01 I read the news today, oh boy
12/03/01 It's not cricket
11/28/01 Admissions and omissions
11/26/01 Guns and abayas
11/21/01 Depraved minds think alike
11/19/01 Guilty, a la carte
11/14/01 Interpreting the entrails of Election 2000
11/12/01 Life and liberty
11/09/01 Safety is as safety does
11/07/01 More hot air on global warming
11/05/01 Bumped Pakistani's molehill
11/01/01 Freedom snuffed out
10/29/01 Give war a chance
10/26/01 Airline bill needs liftoff
10/22/01 The Riordan Principle
10/19/01 Before America gets tired of the war on terrorism
10/17/01 Patriot games
10/15/01 I was a 'McCainiac,' and I have seen the light
10/12/01 University of Censorship's fall semester
10/11/01 Poor little rich boy, Osama
10/07/01 Don't feed Israel to the beast
10/05/01: bin Laden is not our Frankenstein monster
10/04/01: Where no man has gone before
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09/26/01: What's to understand?
09/20/01: Barbara Lee's line in the sand
09/14/01: You gotta love this country
09/13/01: ENTER TERROR
09/11/01: You can't clone ethics
09/06/01: NOW's goal: equal rights for women without equal responsibility
08/30/01: What's love got to do with it?
08/24/01: A clean, well-lighted place for junkies
08/20/01: Bush should stand up for justice
08/08/01: Don't give Peace (Dept). a chance
08/03/01: Lose a kid, pass a law
08/01/01: Welcome to France, killers
07/30/01: Why it's easy being green (in Europe)
07/26/01: If disabled means expendable
07/23/01: Condit should not resign
07/18/01: Feinstein should learn her limit
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07/13/01: The catalog has no clothes
07/05/01: It's Bush against the planet
07/03/01: The man who would be guv
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06/27/01: O, fearful new world
06/25/01: End HMO horrors
06/21/01: Either they're dishonest or clueless
06/18/01: Freedom is a puff of smoke
06/15/01: In praise of going heavy: Yes, you can take it all
06/13/01: McVeigh: 'Unbowed' maybe, but dead for sure
06/11/01: Gumby strikes back
06/08/01: Los Angeles' last white mayor?
06/07/01: Kids will be kids, media will be media
06/04/01: Draw a line in the sand
05/30/01: Just don't call him a moderate
05/29/01: Operation: Beat up on civil rights
05/24/01: Of puppies, kittens and huge credit-card debts
05/22/01: Bush needs an energy tinkerbell
05/18/01: Divided we stand, united they fall
05/16/01: Big Bench backs might over right
05/15/01: Close SUV loophole
05/11/01: Kill the test, welcome failure
05/09/01: DA mayor's disappointing legacy
05/07/01: If it ain't broken ...
05/03/01: They shoot civilians, don't they?
04/30/01: Executions are not for prime time
04/12/01: White House and the green myth
04/10/01: The perjurer as celeb
04/04/01: Bush bashers don't know squat
04/02/01: Drugging our oldsters
03/30/01: Robert Lee Massie exercises his death wish
03/28/01: Cheney's nuclear reactor
03/26/01: Where California and Mexico meet
03/16/01: Boy's sentence was no accident
03/14/01: Soft money, hard reform
03/12/01: Banks, big credit lines and consumer bankruptcy
03/09/01: Free speech dies in Berkeley
03/02/01: When rats have rights
02/28/01: Move a frog, go to jail?
02/26/01: They knew they'd get away with it
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02/16/01: The jackpot casino Carmel tribe?
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02/08/01: A family of jailbirds
02/05/01: Reality's most demeaning TV moments
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01/26/01: Hail to the chiefs of D.C. opinion
01/24/01: A day of mud and monuments
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01/10/01: Dems' reasons for dissin' Dubya's picks
01/08/01: Jerry, curb your guru
01/03/01: A foe of Hitler and friend of Keating
12/28/00: Nice people think nice thoughts
12/26/00: The Clinton years: Epilogue
12/21/00: 'Tis the season to free nonviolent drug offenders 12/18/00: A golden opportunity is squandered
12/15/00: You can take the 24 years, good son
12/13/00: Court of law vs. court of public opinion
12/08/00: A salvo in the war on the war on drugs
12/06/00: Don't cry, Butterfly: Big trees make great decks
12/04/00: Florida: Don't do as Romans did
11/30/00: Special City's hotel parking ticket
11/27/00: No means yes, yes means more than yes
11/22/00: The bench, the ballot and fairness
11/20/00: Mendocino, how green is your ballot?

© 2000, Creators Syndicate