Democrats want us to go from a `creep' to a demagogue
All right, I admit it. To whatever extent Hillary Clinton's paranoid delusions about the existence of a right-wing conspiracy are true, I would probably be a charter member.
I gotta admit, I can't stand Bill Clinton. He reminds me of Eddie Haskell, the next-door neighbor on ``Leave it to Beaver." Like Eddie Haskell, he charms the women, while many of his peers know he is shallow, insincere and full of bull. Bill Clinton has never gotten the majority of white-male votes, his peer group that knows him best, in any election in his life.
His use of lame lines such as ``I feel your pain" is laughable. Fortunately for the nation, he involved himself mostly with personal indiscretions and generally did not challenge the successful Reagan/Bush policies that we still enjoy.
The fact is, while I despise Clinton, I fear Al Gore, the person the Democratic Party is offering as Clinton's replacement. Writer Noemie Emery, writing in the May 1 National Review, listed five reasons why all Americans should fear Al Gore.
First, while Clinton basically does nothing inconsistent with his self-interest, Gore is a utopianist. Clinton has demonstrated, by his flip-flops on issues, that he doesn't care what happens as long as he profits. Gore, however, as he has laid out in his books, truly believes that this nation is a terrible place, populated by evil people, and that it is his duty to save the world, no matter how much it hurts us. Gore's draconian policies seek to intervene in virtually every aspect of people's lives.
Second, Gore is a lousy politician. Clinton thrives on politics, telling each person exactly what he or she wants to hear, no matter how inconsistent. To Gore, opponents are not citizens to be convinced, but enemies to be destroyed. He seldom cooperated with other legislators when he served in Congress because he is emotionally incapable of doing so. He can only preach.
Third, Gore employs questionable tactics when discussing race. Clinton, the opportunist, will speak of imagined church burnings in Arkansas when he was growing up and use the images for manipulation.
Gore, however, makes frightening statements. He compares some conservatives to Ku Klux Klan members and people who oppose constitutionally illegal quotas to those who violently opposed the efforts of Martin Luther King Jr. Race relations will be set back decades under a Gore administration.
Fourth, Gore is hateful. Ward Connerly, an African-American regent of the University of California who worked to dismember the illegal quota system in the California State University system, talked of Gore's hate. After having a disagreement with Gore at the White House, Gore tried to physically crush Connerly's hand while leaving, according to an article by Connerly.
One of Clinton's greatest political assets is his bonhomie. As discredited former Clinton adviser Dick Morris said about him, even when you know he is lying to you, you can't help but like the guy. Some would argue Clinton's ``adventures" with the fairer sex over the years seem to indicate narcissism above all else.
Gore is different. Opponents have been destroyed. He has one campaign tactic: to scare people about others' motives and to destroy anybody who challenges him. Those who differ with him on race relations are bigots. Those who differ on foreign policy are quislings or traitors. Those who disagree with him on social policies are merely willing killers of the poor.
Finally there are the lies. Clinton lied when convenient or when under attack. Gore's lies are weird. Gore lies for no apparent reason or purpose. Clinton's lies were ingenious. Gore lies when the proof is self-evident. He even lies when the truth would not hurt him.
Media watchdog Reid Irving, who heads Accuracy in Media, lists the 17 (and counting) biggest Gore lies:
1. His use of marijuana was rare and infrequent.
2. He did not know the Buddhist Temple event was a fund-raiser.
3. He did not know fund raising on government property is illegal.
4. He always has been pro-choice.
5. He has never said anything in a campaign that was not true.
6. He co-sponsored the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Bill.
7. He created the Internet.
8. He and Tipper were models for ``Love Story."
9. He uncovered the pollution at Love Canal.
10. As a reporter he got a bunch of people indicted and sent to jail.
11. His views on the Vietnam War were written into Hubert Humphrey's speech at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
12. Gore stated that while an army reporter in Vietnam, ``I pulled my turn on the perimeter at night and walked through the elephant grass and was fired upon."
13. He enlisted and went to Vietnam to spare some other family the agony of sending its son.
14. He was a small-business man, a home builder, and helped develop a subdivision on his father's land in 1969.
15. He was responsible for the one-click tool that helps block Internet content to protect children.
16. He was taught how to clean out hog waste, how to clear land with a double-bladed ax and how to plow steep hillsides with a team of mules.
17.He bought his own farm when he came back from Vietnam, which he has owned and operated for 26 years.
None of the above is true. There is direct proof to its falsity. All politicians lie, but this is chronic mendacity. With Gore you would have the pettiness of Jimmy Carter, the inflexibility of Herbert Hoover, the grandiosity of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the meanness of Richard Nixon, the lack of veracity of John F. Kennedy and the coldness of Hillary Rodham Clinton on a bad day.
After reviewing Al Gore's campaign Web site, I found one other Web site that supports his massive-spending, class-warfare, soak-the-rich, militant-unionism, anti-defense, pro-socialist save-the-world-by-any-means views that are the antithesis of the pro-family, pro-freedom policies of George W. Bush. Just compare Al Gore's homepage, www.algore2000.com, with www.hartford-hwp.com/cp-usa, which is the homepage of the Communist Party USA.
Monica Lewinsky called Bill Clinton ``the creep." I would take a creep over a demagogue any day. This member of the vast right-wing conspiracy is frightened.
Bethesda resident Robert M. McCarthy has practiced law in Montgomery County's Juvenile Court system since 1981. His column appears every other Monday in The Journal.
All right, I admit it. To whatever extent Hillary Clinton's paranoid delusions about the existence of a right-wing conspiracy are true, I would probably be a charter member.
I gotta admit, I can't stand Bill Clinton. He reminds me of Eddie Haskell, the next-door neighbor on ``Leave it to Beaver." Like Eddie Haskell, he charms the women, while many of his peers know he is shallow, insincere and full of bull. Bill Clinton has never gotten the majority of white-male votes, his peer group that knows him best, in any election in his life.
His use of lame lines such as ``I feel your pain" is laughable. Fortunately for the nation, he involved himself mostly with personal indiscretions and generally did not challenge the successful Reagan/Bush policies that we still enjoy.
The fact is, while I despise Clinton, I fear Al Gore, the person the Democratic Party is offering as Clinton's replacement. Writer Noemie Emery, writing in the May 1 National Review, listed five reasons why all Americans should fear Al Gore.
First, while Clinton basically does nothing inconsistent with his self-interest, Gore is a utopianist. Clinton has demonstrated, by his flip-flops on issues, that he doesn't care what happens as long as he profits. Gore, however, as he has laid out in his books, truly believes that this nation is a terrible place, populated by evil people, and that it is his duty to save the world, no matter how much it hurts us. Gore's draconian policies seek to intervene in virtually every aspect of people's lives.
Second, Gore is a lousy politician. Clinton thrives on politics, telling each person exactly what he or she wants to hear, no matter how inconsistent. To Gore, opponents are not citizens to be convinced, but enemies to be destroyed. He seldom cooperated with other legislators when he served in Congress because he is emotionally incapable of doing so. He can only preach.
Third, Gore employs questionable tactics when discussing race. Clinton, the opportunist, will speak of imagined church burnings in Arkansas when he was growing up and use the images for manipulation.
Gore, however, makes frightening statements. He compares some conservatives to Ku Klux Klan members and people who oppose constitutionally illegal quotas to those who violently opposed the efforts of Martin Luther King Jr. Race relations will be set back decades under a Gore administration.
Fourth, Gore is hateful. Ward Connerly, an African-American regent of the University of California who worked to dismember the illegal quota system in the California State University system, talked of Gore's hate. After having a disagreement with Gore at the White House, Gore tried to physically crush Connerly's hand while leaving, according to an article by Connerly.
One of Clinton's greatest political assets is his bonhomie. As discredited former Clinton adviser Dick Morris said about him, even when you know he is lying to you, you can't help but like the guy. Some would argue Clinton's ``adventures" with the fairer sex over the years seem to indicate narcissism above all else.
Gore is different. Opponents have been destroyed. He has one campaign tactic: to scare people about others' motives and to destroy anybody who challenges him. Those who differ with him on race relations are bigots. Those who differ on foreign policy are quislings or traitors. Those who disagree with him on social policies are merely willing killers of the poor.
Finally there are the lies. Clinton lied when convenient or when under attack. Gore's lies are weird. Gore lies for no apparent reason or purpose. Clinton's lies were ingenious. Gore lies when the proof is self-evident. He even lies when the truth would not hurt him.
Media watchdog Reid Irving, who heads Accuracy in Media, lists the 17 (and counting) biggest Gore lies:
1. His use of marijuana was rare and infrequent.
2. He did not know the Buddhist Temple event was a fund-raiser.
3. He did not know fund raising on government property is illegal.
4. He always has been pro-choice.
5. He has never said anything in a campaign that was not true.
6. He co-sponsored the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Bill.
7. He created the Internet.
8. He and Tipper were models for ``Love Story."
9. He uncovered the pollution at Love Canal.
10. As a reporter he got a bunch of people indicted and sent to jail.
11. His views on the Vietnam War were written into Hubert Humphrey's speech at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
12. Gore stated that while an army reporter in Vietnam, ``I pulled my turn on the perimeter at night and walked through the elephant grass and was fired upon."
13. He enlisted and went to Vietnam to spare some other family the agony of sending its son.
14. He was a small-business man, a home builder, and helped develop a subdivision on his father's land in 1969.
15. He was responsible for the one-click tool that helps block Internet content to protect children.
16. He was taught how to clean out hog waste, how to clear land with a double-bladed ax and how to plow steep hillsides with a team of mules.
17.He bought his own farm when he came back from Vietnam, which he has owned and operated for 26 years.
None of the above is true. There is direct proof to its falsity. All politicians lie, but this is chronic mendacity. With Gore you would have the pettiness of Jimmy Carter, the inflexibility of Herbert Hoover, the grandiosity of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the meanness of Richard Nixon, the lack of veracity of John F. Kennedy and the coldness of Hillary Rodham Clinton on a bad day.
After reviewing Al Gore's campaign Web site, I found one other Web site that supports his massive-spending, class-warfare, soak-the-rich, militant-unionism, anti-defense, pro-socialist save-the-world-by-any-means views that are the antithesis of the pro-family, pro-freedom policies of George W. Bush. Just compare Al Gore's homepage, www.algore2000.com, with www.hartford-hwp.com/cp-usa, which is the homepage of the Communist Party USA.
Monica Lewinsky called Bill Clinton ``the creep." I would take a creep over a demagogue any day. This member of the vast right-wing conspiracy is frightened.
Bethesda resident Robert M. McCarthy has practiced law in Montgomery County's Juvenile Court system since 1981. His column appears every other Monday in The Journal.