The Green[e]house Effect: a Weblog

I’ve said several times over recent days that it is an example of the president’s moral cowardice that he has such a long record of having others savage his opponents — for sins of which he is usually more guilty than they — and then denying any responsibility for what’s happening. It’s like the moment captured in that recent Kerry campaign spot where John McCain tells Bush to stand by his attacks or apologize, and the now-president is painfully caught off guard, bereft of the protective phalanx of retainers.

He’s not used to having to stand behind what he’s done. And when McCain comes at him one on one he’s jelly. His life has always been a matter of others doing his dirty work for him, others bailing him out. And in that moment it shows.

The current debate about these two men’s military service has put the spotlight on physical courage. But that really is a side issue in this campaign, if we’re talking substance. The real issue isn’t physical bravery but moral cowardice.

My thoughts exactly. Go ahead — read the whole thing.

As Reagan’s vice president, George Bush was considered the early front-runner. He also had the backing of New Hampshire’s governor, the wily Gov. John Sununu.

But some New Hampshire conservatives remained distrustful of Bush. Many had been shocked by Reagan’s 1980 selection of Bush as a running mate after he had battled Reagan for the GOP nomination, calling his tax-cutting plans “voodoo economics.”

Bush was also opposed by The Union Leader, whose criticism was unrelenting, despite his having appeared as featured speaker at a Washington, D.C., tribute to the late William Loeb, the newspaper’s longtime publisher. Loeb had called Bush a “wimp.” Eight years later, the newspaper had not changed its opinion. …

Also in the hunt in 1988 was U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, who had competed with Bush and Reagan in the 1980 primary, and who was on the losing 1976 ticket with President Gerald Ford. Two other conservative hopefuls were in the field: U.S. Rep. Jack Kemp of New York and the Rev. Pat Robertson, a televangelist with a national audience and the beginnings of what would become a potent new political force — the Christian Coalition. That force helped Robertson to a second-place finish behind Bob Dole in the Iowa caucuses a week before the Feb. 16, 1988, New Hampshire voting.

Robertson’s showing was a shocker, as was Bush’s disappointing third place.

But a week later, New Hampshire Republicans would give Bush a 15-point victory margin over Dole, who would then complain about last-minute TV ads placed by Bush (with Sununu’s help) that painted Dole as pro-tax.

“I think if it hadn’t been for his false advertising the last three days, we would have beaten him,” Dole said on primary night.

In a tense national TV interview, an anchorman asked Dole if he had anything to say to Bush, who was also on camera. “Tell him to stop lying about my record,” Dole snapped.

If anyone aside from John McCain has the standing and experience to shine a light on the Bush family’s mudslinging tactics, it’s Senator Dole. Too bad he chickened out — I suppose the Viagra must have stiffened one part of his anatomy at the expense of his spine.

You can probably envision scenery as you read this, so I’ve just included the script. Here goes:

A CIA agent, working in undercover operations over three decades to protect us from weapons of mass destruction. Her husband speaks out against the Iraq war. The president, thrown on the defensive.

Then, a leak from the White House. A story in the papers. Her cover was blown — her work, and countless operations, ruined.

And President Bush? So far, not even rudimentary steps taken to find out who blew our agent’s cover.

Ask President Bush: why more concern about protecting his staff than protecting the people who protect us? Because we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.

To quote Stuart Scott: “Boo-yah!”

Oh, one detail you need to know: the whole thing consists of John Kerry, speaking to the camera. Why? Because it’s time — as Josh Marshall rightly infers — to make this mano à mano.

President Bush’s failed leadership has given us the largest budget deficits this nation has ever seen — but the greatest deficit we face today is a deficit of courage.

Nearly a thousand of our sons and daughters have died in Iraq — yet President Bush has never gone to any of their funerals, because he can’t face the truth.

President Bush fought tooth and nail to keep the 9/11 Commission from even starting an investigation into what went wrong, and still refuses to own up to opposing it, because he can’t face the truth.

Now, in desperation, Bush has sent his Texas cronies and family henchmen out to attack me — yet he refuses to take responsibility or condemn them, because he can’t face the truth.

I’m John Kerry, and I approve this message because before we can make America stronger at home and more respected in the world, we need a president with the courage to tell us the truth.

Thoughts? Comments? Protestations of outrage?

One of the most amazing experiences of our political career turned on the issue of openness. Zell Miller, our candidate for governor of Georgia in 1990, had performed stunningly well in the statewide-televised debate against his GOP opponent. There had been one rather tense exchange that Miller knocked out of the park. He was asked about a comment he allegedly made back in 1964 — a racist attack on Lyndon Johnson when LBJ had gone to Georgia to campaign for Miller’s opponent. The reporter questioning miller said that Miller had slammed Johnson for supporting civil rights, accusing him of “selling his Southern heritage for a mess of dark pottage.”

As racist comments go, that was hardly the worst we’d ever heard. And it was allegedly made a quarter-century ago. Still, watching the debate, we were stunned. Miller had been one of the leading lights of racial progress in Georgia for decades; he was one of the few white Georgia politicians to endorse civil rights hero John Lewis when he ran for Congress. This hurt.

So we were thrilled when Miller wheeled on his accuser and said that back in 1964 when the Atlanta Constitution had printed that so-called quote he’d marched down to the paper’s offices and demanded and received a correction. He’d never say a thing like that. A great moment.

The next day that great moment became one of our greatest nightmares. Al May, the veteran political reporter for the Atlanta Constitution, interviewed Miller as Paul drove them and Shirley Miller to an event in rural Georgia. May made small talk for a little while. Then he sprang the trap. “Zell,” he said, “I’ve talked to all the editors who were around back then, checked the morgue and the archives, and you never asked for a retraction and the paper never printed one.”

“I know,” Miller said, biting the words off the words like they were bitter herbs.

“So why’d you say all that in the debate last night?”

Miller leaned in close to May and said, “Because, Al, I was trying to mislead the people of Georgia.”

For one terrible moment Paul thought about wrecking the car. The only thing that stopped him was that Shirley Miller, one of the world’s great ladies, was with them. Otherwise he would have gladly rolled the car into the ditch alongside that country road.

Miller opened his heart to May. Told him he’d always been for racial equality but when Lyndon Johnson supported his opponent, he wanted to lash out. He’d regretted that one moment of anger, dressed up as racial division, ever since.

It was as moving, honest and forthcoming a moment as we’d ever seen from a politician. But May had a job to do, and there was no amount of spin, cajoling or threatening that could keep that story out of the paper.

That night we sent a young staffer to the loading dock where the early, bulldog edition of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution rolled out around midnight. Sure enough, there was the headline on the front page of the Metro/State section: “Miller: I Lied.”

Uggh.

We went to bed thinking the race might well be over. It’s one thing to be thought a liar; it’s another to admit it — all in the name of being honest: “Honest folks, I’m a liar. No, trust me. I’m a liar.”

But something happened in the quiet hours between midnight and dawn. For when we awoke and looked at the paper after it hit our doorstep. the headline was gone. The story had been watered down so much that it would barely cause a blip. Apparently, the only edition of the paper that had the disastrous story was the bulldog, which had a relatively small press run and was never picked up by our opponent.

To this day we don’t know exactly why the paper saved Miller’s butt. Our best theory is that the editors decided to give him a break because he’d come so breathtakingly clean. As we wrote this book we thought about calling and asking but decided we didn’t want to know. Why argue with divine intervention?

We’re not saying that if you’re honest — even about lying — that some angle will zoom down from heaven and save you from the consequences of your actions. But it sure worked for Zell Miller.

Count off the layers of lies with me:

1. He phonies himself up to look like a white-rights defender in order to get elected to the legislature;

2. When someone calls him on it, he tries to snow the AJC and all the people watching his debate with a cock-and-bull story about demanding a retraction;

3. Then, the next day, when someone finally has him cornered, he goes with the last option he has left: admitting to telling a flat-out lie, and hoping he somehow gets off the hook.

Remember all that in two weeks when he starts whispering sweet nothings about George Bush.

Easley, who raised questions last week about whether the plan could damage the state’s teacher training programs, said he’s received assurances that wouldn’t happen. There are no clear answers, however, on how school leaders will prevent that or how school districts will address the hassles of reshuffling their schedules.

Under the plan, most schools can’t start before Aug. 25 and must end classes by June 10. It’s a major shift for some districts, including those in Cabarrus, Catawba, Gaston, Iredell and Union counties, which have already started classes this year. Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools start Aug. 16.

The governor signed the bill during coastal ceremonies in New Bern and Wilmington on Monday in front of its biggest supporters: beach rental agents and tourism leaders who helped push it through the General Assembly.

“I believe at the end of the day this legislation will be a win for education, a win for travel and tourism and most importantly, a win for our school children,” Easley said.

Big raspberries to Governor Easley, an otherwise good Democrat, for signing off on a bill that sends a signal that the state takes education less seriously than giving kids an extra month away from teachers’ dirty looks. But the Republican who sponsored the bill wants to take matters even further:

Rep. Connie Wilson, R-Mecklenburg, the bill’s primary sponsor, said opponents of the change are already seeking ways around it.

“This is just one of many battles in a long war,” she said. “I’m already hearing from (school) superintendents who want to undo it and apply for as many waivers as possible. So we’re not done, but it’s nice to win an initial victory.”

She works to get a shorter school calendar, and she calls her first win the opening battle of “a long war”? Good grief! Get a grip — or, barring that, at least a clue.

Melted wires, scorched hoses, fire extinguisher dust … ugh, what a mess. On the plus side, though, no one was in the car — that could have given someone a real scare.

I stayed in a hotel this weekend next door to the Pasadena Democratic headquarters — just a stone’s throw off the main drag, Colorado Avenue, with its boutiques, clubs, restaurants, and — making the street fit for Don McDaniel — a super-sized Gordon Biersch. I passed the office at about 9 a.m. on Saturday morning, after walking out for breakfast and coffee. On a lark, my friend Rob from the Alexandria (Va.) city council and I stepped in to look around.

The place was hopping with activity. I could see people at desks all around the room, working the phone banks. Front and center, about 12 people were gathered around holding clipboards, on the verge of going out for a morning of cavassing for voter registration.

Rob and I took a sec to talk with one of the workers in the office — which doubles as the headquarters of a state assembly candidate. She told us that the party had been walking the field for about three months. They had also turned the office into a veritable John Kerry boutique — looking over at a corner stacked with merchandise, I saw signs, two types of t-shirts, a kids’ t-shirt, bumper stickers, and about 15 varieties of buttons [although not this one], all sporting union bugs. Since the convention, the woman at the office told me, the stickers and signs had started to fly through the door.

All this in a state as likely to go Republican as George Bush is to burst out singing the Marseillaise. I have just one word about the energy I saw: wow.

Now, if only we could transport some of those voters from L.A. to Ga. …