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Charles Jaco has written opinion and commentary pieces for dozens of magazines and newspapers. Each week, read and comment on a fresh on-line version. The discussion page enables you to share your view points world wide. If you would like to make a comment go to the " Join the discussion" link below. If you would like to view past editorials visit the Editorial Archive. Editorial 11/03/00 ADIOS TO THE POLTICAL
MIDDLE Did George W. Bush arrange for his girlfriend in 1970 to have an abortion after he got her pregnant? Is Ralph Nader gay? Is Al Gore a traitor? Ah, the questions fill the political gutters like slimy autumn leaves as we prepare to rinse Campaign 2000 out of our systems. Like two entrenched World War One armies lobbing poison gas shells at each other across an abandoned no-man's-land, both major parties and their hard-core partisans are doing their best to drive political middle-of-the-roaders for cover. You're either Congressman Bob Barr or Congressswoman Maxine Waters these days. Which could be the main reason that, despite a presidential race closer than any in four decades, voter turnout may still remain at subterranian levels. Take some of the goodies being tossed around. Larry Flynt, everyone's favorite paraplegic pornographer, tells CNN's Crossfire and the San Francisco newspapers that his investigators have turned up evidence that George W. impregnated his girlfriend in 1970 and then paid and arranged for her to have a (then) illegal abortion, this being pre Roe v Wade. Flynt said, "I'd just like the national media to ask him if abortion is okay for him and his family but not for the rest of America." The Democrats, meanwhile, seem to have their fingerprints all over reports flying through Washington and around the Internet that Ralph Nader is gay. This is a dumb political move on a number of levels, not the least of which is that such a report will probably convince more people, not fewer, on the left to vote for Nader. Veteran GOP culture warrior Bill Bennett tells Tim Russert that Al Gore is "...a pathological liar." The Republican slime patrol goes even further, whispering that Gore's fund-raising activities among Buddhists, Chinese, and others amount to treasonous activities by the V.P. Want more? The rumors about Bush's alleged cocaine use are making the rounds again. Joe Lieberman's position as an Orthodox Jew has hauled out the usual anti-Semetic suspects. Reports that Dick Cheney's daughter, Mary, is gay invade the Cheney's privacy with the force of a SWAT team at the door. Admittedly, there are some interesting questions here. Can Lieberman's much-heralded religiosity be taken seriously if he's been drummed out of Orthodox Judiaism by a fringe group of New York rabbis because of his pro-choice beliefs? Can Al Gore's alleged concerns about national security be the real thing if he merrily raises cash from a country whose military brass are busily war-gaming for a fight with the U.S.? Can Bush's pro-life stance be hypocritical if he arranged an abortion? Does Cheney's opposition to gay rights hold water with a lesbian in the family? To which the average voter in the middle replies "Who gives a rat's rump?" The hard-line rumor-mongering partisans of both parties have succeeded in pushing America's middle to the fringes. Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura ruminates about that in a new online essay about voting. He restates his position as a fiscal conservative and a social liberal, and notes the major parties have no place for someone like him. Check it out. Pro-gun anti-abortion Democrats are pariahs in their own party. Gay Republicans in the Log Cabin Club are about as welcome in the GOP as the Pope at a Jimmy Swaggart rally. How about Democrats who want the defense budget hiked drastically to take care of the fall-off in military readiness? How about pro-choice Republicans? Sorry, Jack. Here are the party lines. Don't cross them. With the true believer my-way-or-the-highway crowds in charge of both parties, campaigns become crusades. And for crusaders, smear and innuendo are tactics that serve the greater good. |
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