Democrats Getting An Early Head Start for the Presidential Race
By Tonie Moses
In what seemed like a re-play of the 1999 Presidential race, this weekend in Los Angeles, democrats from across the country joined the ranks of Gov. GRAY DAVIS to gear up for an early bid for 2004 election campaigns.
Democrats made it a point to move up their primary calendar for the next presidential elections by introducing themselves early to be sized up by partisans and the press, and to become more poised on a national stage.
"You’ve got TOM DASCHLE here, you’ve got Senator JOHN EDWARDS, and you’ve got Gov. GRAY DAVIS here," said Senator JOHN KERRY of Massachusetts, as the crowd enthusiastically applauded.
In his speech Mr. KERRY made it plain and clear that this past weekend’s convention will become host to the first of what will be dozens, maybe, hundreds of democratic functions-or, "cattle calls" from around the country.
"The message that we are trying to send out to our fellow Americans is that a Democrat is best suitable to lead our nation," he says. "Despite the President’s growing popularity, he has failed to produce."
Perhaps the most visible prospect was DAVIS who took to the stage to the propulsive strains of U2’s "It’s a Beautiful Day, and later leaving to the uncharacteristic strain of VAN HALEN'S "Jump."
DAVIS who fashioned himself after actor MICHAEL DOUGLAS in "The American President," warned his Republican rivals, most notably former L.A. Mayor RICHARD RIORDAN, "That your fifteen minutes are up.
 DAVIS made it a point to acknowledge that he was GOVERNOR GRAY DAVIS, and that he was the GOVERNOR. He extolled his record on education, healthcare, and the environment and said that the Republicans are offering little more than generalities.
"In my case my opponents were asleep while we were being gouged by generators and ignored by federal regulators, "here’s a wake up call: California will return to its disastrous deregulation scheme over this governor’s dead body!"
Davis, eluded questions about a possible bid for the 2004 primary race for President, only saying that he doesn’t know as of yet what path he plans to take after the Governor’s race. However, he did point out that he in no way is afraid of the challenge.
A more serious question concerned his refusal to give back $119,000 in contributions from bankrupt energy giant ENRON. RIORDAN press secretary KIM SERAFIN inaccurately claimed that DAVIS was the largest recipient of ENRON’s largess, an honor which of course belongs to PRESIDENT BUSH and the Republican Party.
"No one fought ENRON harder than I did last year," says DAVIS. "They opposed everything I did, from pushing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to re-regulate and enacting the State Power Authority."
Meanwhile, Senators KERRY and EDWARDS were unabashed about their plans to run for the most powerful office in the land. KERRY joked about a possible run. "A number of you have asked me if I plan to run for the Presidency. I want to make it clear to all of you today, I have no interest at all in being secretary of state of Florida," he said.
Mr. EDWARDS was more guarded about his plans, although he acknowledged that California was an "enormously important" proving ground.
While his speech offered no hints about his presidential hopes, Mr. EDWARDS a first-term senator from North Carolina, did go on to say how he opposed tax- cuts proposed by Congress, and that in respect to the economy that there is work needed to be done.
"As far as the economy goes we need economic recovery packages, to provide tax incentives to businesses and provide help to states whose budgets are struggling," says EDWARDS.
EDWARDS also voiced his concerns about Campaign finance reform saying that everyone should have an equal voice in this democracy. "All democrats should get a fair and equal chance, and it should not be effected by how big a campaign check they can write."
When asked was he pleased with how well the President overall performance in handling the War on terrorism, he kindly said he’s doing a good job.
"I think the President along with his administration is handling the situation very well."
However, other politicians, in particular, Congresswoman MAXINE WATERS, begged to differ. WATERS who has strong opinions about the ENRON scandal stopped short of saying that BUSH and LAYE were behind closed doors plotting the energy policy for this nation.
"GEORGE BUSH is KENNETH LAYE who just happened to be President," said WATERS. "The fact that he is not revealing what went on in meetings is very telling."
WATERS did go on to say that a democrat is best suitable for the job as President, but felt that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.
"I believe a democrat should be the President, but at the same time our nation needs someone who will be able to rise to the occasion when the country is in need and not hide behind other political figures."
STATE OF DENIAL
1.30.02
President BUSH last night stated defiantly that "the state of the nation has never been stronger." Somehow I don’t believe it.
After all, just a year ago we were fighting over where to divvy up the 4 trillion-budget surplus. No more. President BUSH will be submitting a budget this week with a deficit. And in his speech last night he put the whammy on congress not to spend any money over the next so many years, otherwise the deficit would be worse. Hellllooo. That doesn’t sound "strong".
Didn’t GEORGE W. learn anything from the tax-cutting, deficit spending REAGAN administration? It was the start of the recession that did his father in despite sky high approval ratings and a victory oversea in the Gulf War. Does this sound familiar?
As to this President’s foreign policy achievements, it is true that in 4 months we have rescued a country and dismantled a terrorist network. But let’s be realistic about what we did and didn’t accomplish. We routed a bunch of cave dwellers, "without an army, and without targets" as Defense Secretary DONALD RUMSFELD said on more than one occasion. We restored some kind of ordered government to an impoverished, third world country, perhaps the most backward country on the planet. How much "strength" did that take? And by the way, we failed to get the 2 guys we were after there; they are still on the loose. And that’s as far as we know. We really don’t know. That’s pretty strong, right?
And how strong is our economy? Is BUSH serious? Unemployment numbers on rising, revenues are dropping, bankruptcy filings are at a record pace, led by the high profile filings of ENRON and K-MART, beacons of the once "strong" American economy. The stock market has lost nearly half of its value, the country is in a recession, and if the president’s speech is any indication, spending on the expanding war is only going to increase. Budget deficits will further erode the economy, making for what I would say, is not a particularly "strong" financial outlook.
I’d say the state of the union could be better.
One thing is sure, and I will give President BUSH credit for this. The state of American patriotism is strong indeed. People are no longer cynical of a state of the union address. They watched it, and were inspired by it. Americans are rallying behind GEORGE W. as if to ignore the "can’t talk and chew gum" mentality our president seemed to have in the campaign. War, however lopsided it is at this time, has certainly made President GEORGE W. BUSH strong. He seems driven, with a purpose, and tremendously more sure of himself. He laid down a gauntlet for Iran, Iraq and North Korea in his speech last night. That takes balls. The man is on a mission. The state of our military had better be strong.
It just seems to me that come 2004, even if our flag is planted down the throats of the evil regimes all over the world, if people don’t have jobs, and don’t have health care, and have lost the value in their stock portfolios, all the patriotism in the universe won’t prevent history form repeating itself for the BUSHES. And I heard little in the speech about how the economy is going to be made "strong".
The state of the union has never been stronger? Whatever you say.
STATUES, CLOTHE THYSELVES!
1.29.02
What a difference an administration makes! Attorney General JOHN ASHCROFT has ordered 2 art deco statues of Greek goddesses to be draped in blue cloth to cover their semi nude figures. Apparently JHON ASHCROFT is embarrassed, ashamed, disgusted, offended, and otherwise not amused by the art, displayed for years in the Great Hall of the Justice Department. He has had them covered, and refuses to conduct press conferences before the female forms.
Come on Mr. General, what next, women to wear burkas in your presence? Keep your prudish, conservative, extremism to yourself. It has no place in a freedom loving society like the United States!
CHENEY PROTECTING US? HOW GALANT!
1.28.02
In times of war, and economic downturn, it is so comforting to know that GEORGE BUSH, and particularly DICK CHENEY are looking after the integrity of the offices of the Presidency and Vice-Presidency. Yesterday, CHENEY took to the Sunday news shows to explain to the American people that he and our president have been vigorously defending the integrity of the offices they hold, by refusing to disclose who CHENEY met with last January, and what they discussed in their energy policy meetings.
ENRON executives have admitted they met with CHENEY on no less than 5 occasions. CHENEY has repeatedly failed to divulge any information on theses meetings, and has claimed executive privilege in thwarting subpoenas from the Government Accounting Office, the body of the government assigned to investigate such matters.
One would think that in light of recent developments in the burgeoning ENRON scandal, that BUSH and CHENEY would relish the opportunity to further distance themselves from the whole mess. As it is, the powerful law firm, VINSON & ELKINS in Houston that helped to set up the questionable offshore partnerships allowing ENRON to avoid paying federal income taxes were a significant contributor to the BUSH campaign. As were ARTHUR ANDERSEN, to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Of course we all know about the megabucks ENRON gave to BUSH.
So why wouldn’t CHENEY give us the info on the meetings with ENRON which were intended to shape public policy and were held on the peoples payroll in the people’s house? Just what are the president and vice-president hiding? Did ENRON get special access? Was policy specially formulated to reward ENRON? Were values on the preservation of public lands compromised to further the interests of ENRON’S greedy executives, not to mention the financial fortunes of BUSH, CHENEY, and other cronies of theirs? Did government officials have early notice of ENRON’S shenanigans?
The whole thing stinks. But what smells even more is the vice-president coming on the airwaves fresh from his hiding in wait of some terrorist threat to condescend to us that it is in the interests of his office that he is keeping the information secret. How stupid does he think we are? The people are entitled to know who has a hand in public policy, who has their hand in whom’s pockets, and what CHENEY has done while in office. The only thing he is protecting is his butt, which apparently is growing fatter with each moment he sits locked away in Colorado or wherever he serves us so dearly.
The ENRON scandal and the entire cast of apparent criminals at the former energy giant, and at ARTHUR ANDERSEN, and at VINSON & ELKINS were all in bed with our president and vice-president. The matters we are talking about are not trivial, "corporate" matters, as CHENEY would have us believe. We could be very well talking about fraud, money laundering, tax evasion, destruction of evidence, failure to cooperate with an investigation, conspiracy, bribery, and perhaps even murder.
On Friday a former high ranking executive with ENRON, a long time whistle-blower on the faulty accounting practices who resigned in May over the pending problems was found in his car, an apparent suicide victim. He was 43, had a family he cared deeply about, and had just purchased a new 80-foot speedboat to replace his much beloved 72 footer. He was scheduled to appear before congress this week as a cooperative witness in the ENRON matters. Does this sound like a conflicted suicidal loser? Hardly! He was the man in charge of ENRON’S most prominent divisions in this country, he knew where the "bodies were buried", and he warned his buddies long ago about the problems. They refused to heed his advise, he resigned in a timely manner, and they proceeded to fleece the employees before going down with the ship. Why would he be torn up about it? Why would he take the fall? It doesn’t make any sense.
Nor does the stubborn behavior by CHENEY, apparently under the direction of President BUSH. Something is not right, and the couching of these suspicious actions in the shroud of constitutional protection for the offices of the people’s house will not stand. This scandal has legs, unsavory ones at that, with footprints all over the people’s house.
Doesn’t anyone in government ever learn? It’s never the scandal; it’s always the cover-up. And there seems to be plenty to cover up in this newest political drama.
WHOM DO THEY THINK THEY ARE KIDDING?
1.11.02
The BUSH administration sent in the troops to the Sunday morning news shows in an all out effort to get ahead of the ENRON story. Secretary of Commerce DON EVANS was on MEET THE PRESS and if he is to be believed, ENRON Chief KEN LAY told him nothing that wasn’t in the public domain. Secretary of the Treasury PAUL O’NEILL told the folks over at FOX NEWS SUNDAY what KEN LAY had to say to him in their phone calls, only one of which he could remember, was "not new news." Both gentlemen used the expression LAY was merely giving them a "heads up" for which they thanked him, committed to nothing, and eventually did nothing, and never mentioned it to the President.
Now, how foolish do these Secretaries really think we are? First of all, EVANS has known LAY for nearly 10 years. They worked together on panels in the Texas government under then Governor ANN RICHARDS. EVANS was the campaign director for GEORGE W., and ENRON gave beaucoup bucks to the campaign. They then gave more than $100,000 to the inaugural committee. These guys knew each other. So with the weight of literally the entire world coming down on KEN LAY at the end of October, are we to believe that when he called DON EVANS, Secretary of Commerce, that he merely reiterated what EVANS, and the press, and the entire American people already knew. And that he was just calling to let EVANS know that MOODYS was considering a downgrade in ENRON’S credit rating. And that’s that, have a nice day DON. Come on!
Likewise, KEN LAY gets the Secretary of the Treasury on the line with old news. Does the Secretary of the Treasury have time to interrupt his day with untimely news updates from CEO’s across the country? Did O’NEILL say, "Hey KEN, Iknow all this already. I’ve got to run."
Pulllleeease. What are these people hiding?
Republican Senator JOHN McCAIN had it right when he told FACE THE NATION:
"Clearly on the face of it, some of the activities carried out by the ENRON corporate executives were not legal, and in violation of the rules and regulations, if not laws."
The BUSH administration would have us believe that while ENRON and KEN LAY were misleading employees, investors and auditors about their financial condition, and while they were selling their shares and options to the tune of $100 million in profits for the management, and while they were coordinating $55 in bonuses for key employees 3 days prior to filing for bankruptcy, and while they were denying the regular employees from divesting their shares in the company locked up in the 401k plans, and while they were issuing emails to those same employees saying ENRON’S future never looked better, and while they were instructing ARTHUR ANDERSON to destroy documents in the face of mounting investigations and subpoenas, that KEN LAY was just calling the heads of COMMERCE and TREASURY to say, hey, heads up man, our credit rating is being reviewed.
Well, whom do they think they are kidding?
HERE WE GO AGAIN?
1.11.02
Are we in for another political circus, ala BILL CLINTON, JANET RENO, independent counselors, and congressional investigations? The collapse of the ENRON CORPORATION and it’s accumulating mushroom cloud of scandal is starting to look like trouble for the BUSH administration.
The news stories are growing exponentially, capped yesterday by the announcement from Attorney General ASHCROFT that he would recuse himself from criminal investigations by the Justice Department which are now underway. Why is that? Was ASHCROFT, a Senator from Missouri, in bed with ENRON, a Houston energy corporation? The entire US Attorney’s office had to recuse themselves from Justice Department investigations in that region, where ENRON was located, because of various ties by the attorneys in that office to the now bankrupt company. Is the DALLAS or Houston? The Department of the Interior and the SEC also have ongoing investigations. No word yet whether ENRON "bedded down" officials at these departments.
But there is more. There are confirmations that ENRON officials contacted no less than 2 of President BUSH’S cabinet officers seeking assistance before its collapse: Commerce Secretary DONALD EVANS and Treasury Secretary PAUL O’NEILL. Both apparently refused to assist the sinking corporation. Furthermore, if the story-line is to be believed, neither cabinet officer, nor any of their staff ever relayed the information to the President.
There are also reports that ENRON officers met some 8 times, in private, with Vice-President CHANEY to discuss and shape energy policy in this nation. Recall, not so long ago it appeared a major rethinking of the energy policy for this country seemed urgent. Also recall the uproar from the press when the president and his staff refused to disclose the participants and the subject matter of those secret meetings at the onset of President BUSH’S term.
Perhaps the most shocking development was the disclosure by ARTHUR ANDERSON, the accountancy firm auditing ENRON, that a "significant" number of company documents were destroyed and computer files purged, perhaps even after receipt of subpoenas from the SEC. What? Significant? Documents about what? And destroyed by whom? At whose instruction and with whose knowledge? All this in plain view of a criminal investigation. Wow!
The sensitivity of all of this was quite apparent yesterday, both in the demeanor of ARI FLEISCHER, the President’s press secretary and the President himself. FLEISCHER was bombarded with questions on the growing ENRON developments, in his daily briefing with the press. He went out of his way to carefully detail that the contact by ENRON officials to the cabinet members did not go through the President. He left that impression, without specifically stating that the President had no knowledge of the contacts, and was never informed of them. This seems highly suspect, given the close relationship between ENRON chairman KENNETH LAY and the President. ENRON has been the biggest and most consistent donor to GEORGE W. BUSH’S political career, from the very beginning, through his days as governor of Texas, following him into the White House. They even contributed more than $100,000 to his inaugural fund. The total contributions exceeded $600,000 over the years. President BUSH’S chief financial advisor, LAWRENCE LINDSEY served on the ENRON advisory board and received $50,000 from the company before joining the White House staff. It seems absurd that the President would suddenly be cutoff from all information regarding the company, especially as the company is "wandering" the halls of the White House going from CHANEY’S door to O’NEIL’S door to EVAN’S door, perhaps even to LINDSEY’S door in search of favors. It strains credulity to be sure.
But what was more telling yesterday were spontaneous remarks made by the President from the oval office, where he was attempting to express his concern over the financial implications of the company’s collapse on shareholders who lost their pension and stock saving plans which were fully invested in ENRON stock. Looking very compassionate, he expressed sorrow over the stories he had heard. He then quickly corrected himself, "that he had read about". Why the sudden correction? It really seemed funny.
The story has so much impact because officials of the company, presumably the very same people who were schmoozing with the President during the various campaigns, and who were cozying up to CHANEY when it came time to dictate policy and dole out "pork", and the very same people who called cabinet officials, plural, when they thought the company was in trouble, sold huge amounts of stock and options to the tune of millions in profits, while the workers of the company lost their life savings.
Is there any doubt why President BUSH wants nothing to do with this mess? Is it fathomable that he knew nothing about it? Can full blown congressional investigations and calls for independent counsels be far off? We shall see.
CRUELLA de WILL
KATHERINE HARRIS, Florida’s Secretary of State so omnipresent in the drama that was the 2000 presidential election has decided sh e will run for a congressional seat in 2002. The woman is no fool. She is a national public figure and the winds of Republicanism are behind her. That twisted smile and unruly eyebrows know no bounds.
HARRIS will be gunning for the 13th District seat encompassing Sarasota on the gold coast of Florida, just south of Tampa/St. Petersburg. It is a tony district of art galleries, tennis estates and yacht slips. Current congressman DAN MILLER has run unopposed there, the previous 2 elections, and has said he will not seek reelection. Quick change says HARRIS dredged up some irregularity in his candidate registration, and now DAN will be retiring to count meter money in Tallahassee. KATHERINE HARRIS is no novice. She targeted this seat for a reason. Republicans in Sarasota vote via their Palm Pilots, Dems must make pilgrimage to Mecca.
It is a neighborhood with which she is familiar. She got her first taste of fascism serving on the board at the RINGLING MUSEUM located in Sarasota. She later went on to represent this district in the state senate from 1994-1998. So in a sense, she is coming home. Leave the lights on, soften the pillows, and lose the wire hangars, mammas coming back. And now she’s got a head of steam, not to mention those brows.
Look for KATHERINE HARRIS to rise immediately to the top. She eats mambies for breakfast and then the pambies for lunch. She will win her congressional seat, seek out a political hot potato issue, like revocation of suffrage for those with poor hygiene or bad shoes and quickly bootstrap her way into the United States Senate. There she will find comradery with LIBBY DOLE (who, because of the tragedy on September 11 is yet unannounced, but will most assuredly succeed JESSIE HELMS in North Carolina). DOLE, no doubt is one of HARRIS’ idols, and there is no telling where things will go after that. Get yourself some TALBOTS and MAYBELLINE stock, for sure.
If I were a Dalmatian, I’d be looking for a slow barge to Cuba, or a least a voting machine to hide under.
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