CAPITOL IDEAS : Strange New Disrespect
Bethell, Tom
cAPITol IDeAs Strange New Disrespect by Tom Bethell S ometimes i think that my sole contribution to political discourse will be the phrase Strange New Respect. I first used it—in 1981,...
...It’s tempting because they do have more freedom in that area and they feel they can make a difference, create a legacy, etc...
...They are promptly regarded with a “strange new respect...
...Some of us here in Washington would love to see him try...
...But news-papers and television networks were exempt, and so would become “unregulated participants in a shrunken national debate,” as George Will put it...
...With McCain, that is the real concern...
...Avoid one...
...But he does know that it shouldn’t be driven with the brakes on...
...Do Americans really think that rais-ing taxes on the wealthiest Americans is the appro-priate solution if the economy is in difficulty...
...Presidents usually don’t pay much attention to spending because they allow themselves to get mired in foreign conflicts...
...Tom bethell is a senior editor of The American Spectator...
...just won’t take yes for an answer...
...McCain could actually tell you...
...It seems that Limbaugh & Co...
...S till, the election has been unusually inter-esting this year...
...Now it looks like Obama (I write before the Texas and Ohio primaries) and Obama vs...
...Federal spending took almost 200 years to reach $1 trillion (in 1988) and only another 20 years to reach $3 trillion...
...Even within the inner sanctum of the Senate cloakroom he has been willing to make himself unpopular by saying no to the usual collegial log-rolling and back-scratching...
...now he promises to make them permanent...
...At the moment, the candidates are widely sepa-rated on the crucial issues...
...In contrast, I believe that no Republican president for decades (perhaps since Eisenhower) has made any real effort to control Even within the inner sanctum of the Senate cloakroom he has been willing to make himself unpopular by saying no to the usual collegial log-rolling and back-scratching...
...In 1997, I gave the Strange New Respect Award to Sen...
...He’s been gone since 2006...
...Let’s hope he sees the quicksands of Iraq and the unruly tribal regions of Afghanistan for what they are...
...Probably on judges, too...
...was persuaded to renege on his “no new taxes” pledge and was a goner at that point...
...They’ll keep the heat on McCain to become a tax raiser (and if he succumbs, he’ll win the Strange New Respect Award once again), just as they did with the elder George Bush...
...He told a reporter after the Times story came out: “We still don’t know how this whole thing ends up...
...Earlier, the anti-McCain talk-show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity had been the news angle du jour...
...That’s where he is vulner-able...
...McCain himself is often quoted as saying that he doesn’t know much about the economy, but he should rethink that...
...Also, it’s not clear that the issue of his lobbyist associations will disappear...
...More recently, I don’t have to remind you, the McCain drama has been revived...
...If he tries to saddle the investor class with higher taxes, that could sink him in November...
...Soon enough, however, they have time for nothing else...
...McCain is too difficult to call...
...He’ll do fine on the economy...
...Bush narrowly triumphed in South Carolina, however, and then prevailed over Al Gore, with unintended help from Ralph Nader...
...If he wins, it will be fascinating to see what happens in this murky realm...
...Within 60 days of an election, political debate paid for by advertising would be restricted...
...Many believe that McCain will run for president in 2000,” I added...
...McCain now has some good economic advisers like Jack Kemp and Steve Forbes and they do understand these things...
...Since these are the top domestic issues for a Republican nominee, and he is the candi-date most likely to beat either Clinton or Obama, what’s not to like...
...That could be nothing compared to what he might achieve from the vantage point of the Oval Office...
...Yet without continuous White House pressure, it cannot be controlled...
...In addition to campaign finance, McCain has also been at odds with conservatives on the critical issue of tax cuts and immigration...
...Then, the other day he was 46 THe AMeRIcAn sPecTAToR APRIl 2008 the subject of a much criticized New York Times piece, raising questions about his association with lobbyists...
...Probably not much...
...How much does McCain know about the internal machin-ery of his bus, the Straight Talk Express...
...Campaign finance reform, known as McCain-Feingold, became the law of the land and Bush failed to veto it...
...McCain has come around on taxes and has also made the right noises on judges...
...Good advice...
...That is his style and he thrives on it...
...As I write (at the end of February), he has almost enough delegates to win the GOP nomination...
...What was it that Eisenhower said about a “land war in Asia...
...I first used it—in 1981, in this magazine— to describe those who come to Washington with a conservative reputation but then move to the left...
...Trying to improve the economy by raising the top tax rate is like trying to get the bus to run better by putting on the brakes...
...No doubt McCain will continue to attract controversy...
...But the war is as unpopular as it is pointless and he could lose on that issue alone...
...I disagree...
...These I take to be the Iraq war and the economy...
...The great unresolved question is whether, or how far, Obama will move to the center once he no longer has to appease the left...
...Their position amounts to one of Strange New Disrespect...
...As Ann Coulter argued recently, had that law been in place in the 1960s, Ronald Reagan would hardly have been able to run for governor of California (and therefore the presidency...
...It’s $3.1 trillion this year...
...cAPITol IDeAs Strange New Disrespect by Tom Bethell S ometimes i think that my sole contribution to political discourse will be the phrase Strange New Respect...
...First he voted to extend Bush’s tax-rate reductions to 2010 (when they will expire...
...McCain, on the other hand, really does under-stand how these spending games are played...
...With an assist from the late and unla-mented Dick Darman, Bush Sr...
...Perhaps I can get the point across this way...
...But he has been as enthusiastic about the Iraq war as his talk-show critics...
...Sean Hannity thinks that failure to support the war also shows a failure to “support our troops,” as though pulling out of a no-win conflict is the same thing as withholding ammunition from troops in combat...
...It’s foreign policy all the way...
...At the moment, and with poetic justice, he may be ensnared by the campaign finance rules that he helped to create...
...But conservative ranks were thought to have closed in response to the NYT...
...The Washington Post was furious at McCain for moving away from their preferred high-tax posi-tion...
...APRIl 2008 THe AMeRIcAn sPecTAToR 47...
...O n one issue mccain does indeed promise “change”: restraint on government spend-ing...
...How did that happen...
...spending, or has even taken an interest in the sub-ject...
...and nei-ther Bush ever had much of a clue about the workings of Capitol Hill...
...Bettors in London have been wagering large sums, and back in January a British friend of mine even placed a bet on my behalf that McCain would win in November (when the odds ToM beTHell against such an outcome were over 4 to 1...
...The Post repeat-ed McCain’s earlier comments on taxes and added: “We sure do miss that guy...
...But at the time we all thought Hillary would be the nominee...
...Reagan didn’t try...
...They suc-ceeded, too...
...John McCain...
...Like other neocons, Brooks shows little interest in eco-nomic matters...
...If so, the press corps is expected to return the favor by withholding its fire...
...And that is analogous to what the Democrats are advocating...
...New York Times colum-nist David Brooks said the other day on Meet the Press that if the public “wants to move beyond that [foreign threat] and look at domestic issues, then Obama’s going to win...
...All are eager for the establishment’s good opinion...
...Leftist ideology may well prevent Obama’s team from getting it right...
...New arrivals, usually senators, are tempted to head down the same path...
...At the time the New York Times and the Washington Post were head-over-heels in love with him because his proposed campaign finance reform would work to their advantage...
...He duly ran in 2000 and an admiring media joined him on the Straight Talk Express...
Vol. 41 • April 2008 • No. 3
