The Stench of Overreach: Democrats are threatening to overplay their hand by going after the Bush ad

Weekly Standard ^ | 01/14/2002 4:30:00 PM | Richard Starr

[Republican_Strategist]

WATCHING all the self-contradicting Enron chatter over the weekend reminded me of the quintessential Ronald Reagan anecdote. You remember--the one about the optimistic kid, shoveling manure with a smile on his face. After all, the kid reasoned, "there's got to be a pony in here somewhere."

That's pretty much the attitude of Henry Waxman, Joe Lieberman, and the other Democrats most enamored of the Enron scandal. Either Enron had undue influence over a corporatist Bush administration selling its energy policy to the highest bidder (Waxman's pony). Or Enron had too little influence over a Dickensian Bush administration that failed in its duty to bail out the company and its "average shareholders who lost their life savings" (Lieberman's pony). Either way, there's an animal here for the Democrats to ride.

The cynicism of this attack is breathtaking, and is almost certain to derail the "scandal" before it ever gets going. Mike Allen quotes a "key Democratic strategist" in this morning's Washington Post saying the following: "Democrats are very excited about this because this gives us a hook to bring this guy [George W. Bush] some accountability, plus there's no way it's not going to be a distraction for them."

Think about that last line for a moment, and you can see that there's huge potential for this to blow up in the Democrats' face, Wile E. Coyote style.

They can't really be salivating at the prospect of distracting the president in the middle of the war on terrorism, can they? Die-hard Clintonites are still arguing that Republicans are to blame for everything bad that happened in the last 8 years because the various investigations of Clinton "distracted" him. But even the Clintonites don't argue that the distraction was the goal of the investigations. Only that it was an effect of them. Here's a "key Democratic strategist" arguing that one of the purposes of pursuing Enron is to distract the Bush administration.

So there may be a pony in the Enron scandal, but it strikes me as one that's about to throw its Democratic riders, and then give them a kick between the eyes.

Richard Starr is a managing editor at The Weekly Standard.

P.S. If you want to read just one piece summarizing the Enron scandal, read Jim Cramer's "Stop Thieves" column in last week's New York magazine. The Washington press corps is tone deaf about matters of finance, when it's not just ignorant. It's the mirror image of the New York press, which knows finance but never quite "gets" Washington. Cramer "gets" Enron.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Welcome to Freerepublic! Bastion of free speach and America's number one test facility for asbestos suits!

Just remember, the free speech is being exercised by the management (Jim Robinson), and only as it is concommitant to that, by us posters.

Like it, or make (and publicize) your own site . . .

[SpinyNorman]

Oooo! Good one! Now we know why your handle isn't "Be Accurate!"

Now, "Be gone!"

[Ditter]

Yeah I'm part of the 60 year old Grandmothers Special Intrest Group. I gave campaign buck to Bush. I'm making out like a bandit now. (You poor simple fool.)

[linn37]

wow now its a hundred million,why not say a trillion that sounds even better!!

[katykelly]

All these Enron disruptors remind me of all the the McAniacs we had during the primary. Next they'll be posting about CFR. LOL!

[Senator_Blutarski]

Am I forgetting any talking points?

Private consentual sex between adults.

Oral sex is not sex.

The Republicans have no business delving into people's private lives.

Ken Starr is imposing his morality on the President.

She was stalking him.

We kept it quiet for the sake of my family.

I have no idea how the billing records got into the White House residence.

No records were removed from Mr. Foster's office.

Where do you want to stop?

[eureka!]

My $20.00 to W's campaign got me & the missus $600.00 earlier this year. Not a bad return on my "bribe", eh? Sheesh, your types really are funny sometimes....

[centurion316]

There is a fundamental difference between Democrat politicians and Republican politicians - honest and integrity. While you can find exceptions to the rule on both sides, the difference is significant and instructive. Don't let your experiences and knowledge of the left lead you to the mistaken conclusion that those on the right behave in the same way. They don't, and that makes all the difference.

[Always Right]

Anybody who gets over 100 million in campaign contributions before a election is beholding to a lot of people. That's a lot of bribes. Bush is owned and paid for by special interests.

Yes and he is beholding to me to the toon of $200 and I plan on getting every penny out of that influence! HA HA HA HA HA HA. I feel so powerful! You are just jealous that you don't have such influence because your lousy candidate lost.

[Space Wrangler]

Your post summed it up perfectly. Another angle that I haven't seen discussed is this: Enron had gotten away with this same fraud dating back several years. Enron had been used to doing business with the Clinton Admin., and didn't know the meaning of being held accountable. Now, less than a year after Bush takes office, the scam isn't flying in DC anymore, and the house of cards collapses. I actually haven't seen anything Bush has done as even innapropriate, much less illegal. I think the dim's have much more to lose in this 'scandal', and therefore I believe after a little heavy breathing rhetoric, it will all just go away. That's if they're smart. If not, the whole thing blows up in their face, and the GOP winds up with the Presidency, and both houses of congress. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[homeschool mama]

Let me guess. You voted for Gore...?

[Cyber Liberty]

That poster better type fast....

[thucydides]

Note that Enron made legal contributions to Bush and other republicans. They made illegal contributions to the democrats (illegal purchase of seats on the trade mission plane: price $50K to DNC, illegal use of White House for fundraising: price $50K to DNC for sleepover, or attendance at coffee).

[JohnHuang2]

Precisely.

[marty60]

Well look at it this way. The Demoncrats have had to hold back their upchuck from all this Patriotism and Americans changing to think other things are more important than what some slimey Dum can hand them. Although I am a little disappointed in people fighting over money on the bodies of their loved ones, or Enron employees whining because they were too greedy. It's obvious they thought they had latched onto another Microsoft( made employees millionaires. Sadly, they forgot to be individuals and lost everthing.

No the Dums think that hae something to bitch and moan about, hopefully getting some votes in the bargain. Bush is not an insider. That's the up side of being underestimated. People(crooks) leave you out of the loop.

[weegee]

70 of 100 (that's 70%) of the Senate received funds from Enron. I guess they will all recuse themselves from this investigation?

[Howlin]

Bush is owned and paid for by special interests.

So you're saying that all the people who supported Bush should expect NO HELP WHATSOEVER if they get in financial trouble?

That's fine by me.

[Howlin]

It's not just you.

[Howlin]

Am I forgetting any talking points?

Yes! Here's the WHOLE rant:

First of all, it's not true at all; and if it is true, it's not a lie; but if it is a lie, it's not lying under oath; but if it is lying under oath, it's not perjury; but if it is perjuy, it's not material; but if it is material, it's not high crimes; but if it is high crimes, it's not impeachable; and if it is impeachable, it will be horrible for the country: and if it is impeachable, well, it's the politics of personal destruction; and if it's not that, then nobody really cares about this anyway.

[weegee]

I was flipping around the dial last night and caught part of Crossfire on CNN (a channel I never watch), when I saw that the topic was Enron (Buy-partisan).

Shelia Jackson "show that flag that the astronauts planted on Mars" Lee was a guest as was Bob Barr and some other Republican/conservative.

Bob Barr mentioned how Bill Clinton had provided requested aid to Enron in 1998 and the host said that we had our chance to impeach Clinton and now there is another President. The rampant abuses at Enron had gone unchecked for years. Since they obviously extend to actions of the previous administration, it does need to be studied.

After all, we keep hearing about how we have to get to an understanding of how all this happened (doublespeak for "we'll keep looking for something to tarnish the Republicans with (e.g They were bought off / they refused to keep this company from collapsing and now employees are broke and out of work) and to push for campaign finance reform").