From the Clinton Archives
BEN STEIN'S DIARY by Benjamin J. Stein The Gore-Boies Recession Wednesday H ere is the thought that's on my mind night and day: Americans are the greatest people there ever were. The basic...
...When he ran against JFK for president in 1960, he was cheated out of the nomination by Joe Kennedy's money and gangland con-nections...
...But I waved and smiled at him...
...Naturally, they were in a good mood because Mrs...
...On Israel, Reagan, Bush, and Nixon were so much better for Israel, it's ridiculous...
...This is a story indeed...
...Then along came some spider who said that maybe the race in Florida was too close to call...
...Years later, at Washington College, when a faculty member was damning Grant, Lee said that if the man ever spoke simi-larly in front of him again, either the fac-ulty member or Lee would be gone in the morning...
...The U.S...
...that exists to send free-market, 'Reagan Republican' candidates" to Congress...
...But Grant said he would immedi-ately send over 25,000 rations, and tears of gratitude came to Lee's eyes...
...They looked happy but worried, as they should be...
...I e-mailed back that I would instead come see him...
...Bush wins, let's postpone a tax cut for a while...
...The guy has lights of character coming out of him...
...Dillon had undergone bone marrow transplants that morning, but he was smil-ing weakly when I came in...
...I sat with him and showed him how to use his rather complicated toys...
...There was a loud humming noise coming through the fan duct in the bathroom even when the fan was off...
...Tuesday I am back in L.A...
...I am in Little Rock vis-iting my in-laws...
...New England, some of the Rust Belt, and California for Gore...
...Wall Street Journal columnist Paul Gigot notes that the "Club for Growth favors tax cuts, Social Security reform and limited government - precisely what GOP leaders claim to support...
...What you call 'the right to choose' is really the 'right' to murder an innocent baby," I said, and I thought Ms...
...Not even Joan Rivers or Margaret Cho or Elayne Boosler...
...The waiters want an autograph and that's it...
...Find out how to make your political contributions count...
...I got up, took off my microphone, and started to leave...
...Advertiser Page # American Alternative Foundation p. 63 American Spectator Online p. 9 Ameritrade p. 12a-b Blackstone Audio Books p. 69 Bose Corporation p. 2 Cato Institute P. 9 Classifieds p. 71 Club For Growth p. 49 Early Advantage P. 3 F.L.A.M.E...
...Even though he had led the major army of a rebellion of questionable legality, Lee was suffered to simply go home and rest...
...Let's do homage to Lee for his genius and courage and to his men for their for-titude and duty, but also to the incredibly magnanimous Union, as represented by Grant, Lincoln, and Andrew Johnson and millions of others...
...Not that much compared with a $10 trillion economy...
...48 February 2001 o The American Spectator How to Get Rid of the Big Spenders in Congress "Yes, I am totally sure," I answered...
...I asked...
...When...
...I had myself moved to a supposedly better, quieter room...
...Uh-oh...
...It is at least 65 years old but still on point...
...NO...
...He and his men killed the gunner and could advance...
...The election booths were in the school library but with-in a few feet of the booths, some small children were carrying around signs that read "Gore-Lieberman...
...The most fascinating part is this: Immediately after Lee surrendered at Appomattox, he hesitantly asked Grant if Grant could spare any rations...
...Well, I guess that's an exaggeration...
...Denman said blithely...
...If Mr...
...I was just there," Bob Denman said at the table at Gapers...
...Nahh, just vote for my man, G.W...
...Why do we kill some babies and race like demons to save others...
...I cannot imagine that in a big city...
...Then out into the rainy Little Rock night...
...This fine man came from St...
...Think of how generous the U.S...
...a few days after the election...
...We're taping my talk show today, election day...
...Just a lot of dogs barking at each other," he said...
...This is a great country of great peo-ple...
...Cho again...
...It reeked of insecticide...
...Anyway, I went back to see Dillon twice this week, and now tonight, after dinner, I am on my way back again...
...Once we captured one and he was wounded and we brought him to a field hospital and he spit in the doctor's face...
...No, the huge mass of Democrats are fine people...
...I have been assured that my nemesis, Elayne Boosler, very angry and partisan comedienne, will not be there so I feel light hearted...
...You're one...
...All, not just some, but all of the South for Bush, all of the Midwest except the largely industrial and non-white states for Bush, all of the Rocky Mountain states for Bush...
...The map of America is amazing...
...A workman appeared...
...Borrowing the tactics of unions and Emily's List, the Club wants to identify and finance talented reform conserva-tives...
...His supporters are telling him not to, but he's going to do the gentlemanly thing and concede anyway...
...So is Saudi Arabia...
...He is quick witted though...
...Bush shrugged his shoulders and smiled ruefully as if to say, "Yeah, whatever you say...
...Then he rode back home in his bus with a folk singer in the back singing, to the tune of "Give Me That Old Time Religion," "I'm gonna vote for Hubert Humphrey, I'm gonna vote for Hubert Humphrey, he's the man for you and me," while Humphrey stared straight ahead, a deer run over by the Kennedy limousine...
...And then a big sign written by an adult, "I Love Ben Stein...
...No matter what, don't spray insecticide...
...We all want God to help those kids, but here on earth, as the saying goes, God's work must truly be our own...
...Please call the Club at 202-955-5500 or visit www.ClubForGrowth.com for more information...
...Just kidding...
...When JFK stole the West Virginia primary, Humphrey conceded in tears...
...Second, and far more vital, people do not like being pushed around...
...Jim Moret, the host, prevailed upon me to stay...
...Phone: 703-243-3733, ext...
...Then to my set to interview someone great named Vitamin C, who is really Colleen Fitzpatrick...
...Box 549, Arlington, VA 22216-0549...
...treated Germany and Japan after their defeats in World War II...
...A captain or maybe a major saw that the wound on the North Kore-an was from a carbine, and Bob was the only one who carried such a weapon, so he recommended Bob for a Silver Star...
...They culminated in a speech to an immense and very, very enthusiastic crowd in a big room near the football field...
...But what's this...
...But most remarkable of all, when the headquarters of the defeated Army of Northern Virginia was struck and Lee went home, he simply walked into his rented house in Richmond, lay down, and had a long nap...
...Then I just sat and held his little stoekinged foot for a long time...
...I have to say none of us truly hates Gore...
...I said loudly...
...But if you look at the youngest of them, they are just infants...
...The rest of us might make better use of our time to help the kids in the cancer wards to have a better moment or hour...
...How much could that cost...
...I met him three times during the cam-paign and liked him better every time...
...No feeling of hatred or menace...
...Boosler is not there (she's apparently doing some last-ditch campaigning with the Gore Volk) but instead there is a man named Paul Rodriguez, who in the makeup room is filled with barely disguised anti-Semitic jokes, whose offensiveness he probably himself doesn't understand...
...And a lot harder-working and better than I am...
...The New York Times Book Review "Blunt at times to the point of undiplomatic rudeness . . . [his] scoldings made his country, his region, and thus the world a better place" --Boston Globe "Fascinating...
...I contrast them in my mind with the demonstrators I saw in the Westwood part of L.A...
...Well, c'est la vie...
...mistake but I gave one back...
...Then there is someone named Margaret Cho, a hefty Korean comedienne...
...HarperCoMmsPublishers www.harpercollins.com These were yeomen and yeowomen, solid citizens, and they were there to stand up for their country, not to hate their country...
...He said he would live his beliefs and he did...
...His father is an E-5,I think, in the Army...
...Let's instead just double the entire mili-tary's pay...
...The Arizona Republic called the Club for Growth "'a new, aggressive, conservative political organization...
...So do wifie and Tommy, so we were all peas in a pod...
...Sunday I ain in Tallahassee...
...They had a griev-ance-someone was trying to steal the election from the voters- but they did not look as if they were constitutionally deranged, like most demonstrators...
...BEN STEIN'S DIARY by Benjamin J. Stein The Gore-Boies Recession Wednesday H ere is the thought that's on my mind night and day: Americans are the greatest people there ever were...
...Cho spoke angrily about "a woman's right to choose" and how surely even a hyena like me couldn't be against that...
...Wednesday I am back in L.A...
...I'm looking for a Bush person to assault," said the future lawyer...
...Club candidates went two for two in open seat primaries, prov-ing that when Reagan Republicans get support from Club members, they can win...
...Just kidding," I said...
...Cho was simply going to explode...
...I have had toast and orange juice from room service every night for three nights...
...It looked bad until about midnight our time, and then Fox, our lave network, said Bush won Florida and with it the presidency...
...But the SS were just mean," he said, using a word that is harsh for a gentleman like Col...
...Then, away I go to CNN to appear on a panel to talk about the election...
...The registrar gave me two ballots by 44 February 2001 . The American Spectator "Your mother wants to go south when we retire, which suits me no end because I want to stay here...
...Dillon had on his door a list of regu-lations: No lab coats (they carry germs...
...A tall man from Brooklyn, studying law at FSU, shouted angrily at the TV...
...We have got to pay these people a living wage for their life-saving duty...
...After dinner, I took my wifie and son back to the Capital, and then off I went to Arkansas Children's Hospital to see my new best friend, Dillon Rolins...
...I thought we had gotten rid of them all, but I guess there still are some here...
...In many ways, the sweetest part of the day was that the gift shop was closed when I got there but the folks at the hospital opened it to sell me a few toys for Dillon...
...Friday I t has been two and a half weeks since the election...
...I asked them why they were in town...
...Those people, masks of rage, had signs that read, "Re-Count or Revolt...
...I keep thinking to my little self, hey, here's Dillon and many like him...
...I didn't do anything more than anyone else...
...He makes about $1,800 a month...
...So the next day his father, a slender young man, picked me up in the lobby of the Capital and off we went to the hospital...
...No, these were mid-dle-class Americans with trustworthy looks on their faces, people who did not look as if they were deranged...
...I stayed for ahnost two hours signing autographs and getting my photo taken, and then I went back to the bar to flirt with the beautifnl bartender, and then back to my room...
...We see that they are desperately ill and close to death...
...The song makes me sob, but then everything these days makes me sob...
...It's a political thing foisted on us by a culture that reveres selfishness...
...But the usual run of those shows was pos-itively Aristotelian compared with trying to talk to Margaret Cho...
...Well, good-bye, Ms...
...The Wall Street Journal FOREWORD BY HENRY KISSINGER AVAILABLE WHEREVER BOOKS ARE SOLD...
...This theory is called "legal realism...
...He and his men were pinned down by a North Korean machine gunner...
...On affirmative action, even though Nixon invented it (to his embar-rassment), Reagan pretty much un-invent-ed it...
...I called the desk...
...Now, I fear, it's all happening again...
...Painful work, but it must be done...
...In fact, I doubt if I will be invited back on CNN for a good long while...
...I have a suggestion...
...Think of how well the U.S...
...No men with beards and hate-filled faces...
...Oh, we treated him anyway," Col...
...The fact that in our modern, kind, gentle America, innocent babies are murdered in brutal ways by the thou-sands every day to make life more convenient and fun for the rest of us is simply not mentionable...
...One is that judges are people...
...Good at first for Bush and then bad for Bush...
...arms for the defeated Rebels, a move of respect that will live forever in decency and brotherhood...
...Likable, conciliatory, self-deprecating...
...We were talking about World War II and he said, "The Wehrmacht fought well and with integrity...
...Olafin Northfield, Minnesota...
...I have written about my father-in-law, the war hero, many times, so I'll just tell you the latest...
...Well, uh, uh, some votes count more than others...
...We are lucky this has not led to violence, but it is a les-son...
...Anyway, he's my man and now we have to support him as he stands up to the Democrat media/trial lawyer onslaught...
...I call it the Gore-Boles recession...
...Yes," she said happily...
...I am thinking about this particularly now as I get out of bed at a funny little hotel called the Country Inn, and go to speak to a huge crowd at a lovely school called St...
...I think of the Min-nesota regiments fighting the Mississippians and Texans in the Wheatfield at Get-tysburg, then a few years later, all joining together for the goodness of America...
...The demonstra-tors I saw tonight were patriots trying to save their country...
...Gore has called Bush to say he's not going to concede after all...
...she asked, peering through her stringy hair...
...There is strength in numbers when we stand together...
...I stood in a tiny anteroom...
...Tomorrow I am speaking to a student group...
...Still, we will do any-thing to save them...
...Anyway, I finished up on the set and came home to watch the election results with our wonderful pal, Barbara P., a Jewish woman doctor who hates Gore...
...Big mistake...
...She looked so tired...
...She is a lovely red-headed chanteuse with a voice like an angel and she's got a huge hit called "Graduation - Friends Forever...
...Lee hoped Grant would send over a few thou-sand...
...p. 15 Freddie Mac P. 5 Gilder Publishing p. 53 HarperCollins p. 47 Hoover Institution p. 75 Quotesmith.com Back Cover Thomas Aquinas College p. 19 Time Is Now Institute p. 21 World Aftairs Television P.6 To learn more about the benefits of advertising in The American Spectator, con-tact: John Funk, Associate Publisher-Advertising...
...Well, usually they can...
...Now the recession is starting...
...If they feel a certain way, they can always make up an argu-ment to rationalize their bias and make it sound all legal...
...Yet if they are a day before birth, or even minutes before birth, as a nation we have laws that allow us to have "doctors" kill them...
...The greatest Asian strategic thinker of the modern world" --Business Week Lee Kuan Yew FROM THIRD WORLD TO FIRST THE SINGAPORE STORY: 1965-2000 "[A] fascinating account of the dramatic transformation of this island nation into a stable and prosperous society...
...Certain truths cannot be said aloud in today's America...
...has been to the former Soviet Union after the end of the Cold War...
...Kennedy traveled in a private plane...
...This time he did not speak...
...Bush and Mr...
...In particular, I am endlessly amazed that the Jewish vote goes Democratic...
...True, Ms...
...Bush, and be done with it...
...Friendly, kind, inter-ested...
...Then I'm leaving," I said...
...My wife's uncle, Bob Denman, is telling us why he turned down a citation for a Silver Star medal...
...The election results on the TV are mixed...
...They are calm, well behaved, brave, with good senses of humor and a lively Humphrey stared straight ahead, a deer run over by the Kennedy limousine...
...Supreme Court was slightly, but only slightly, more subtle...
...The 2000 election proved that the Club for Growth model works...
...Cheney...
...But some of the people around Mr...
...Hard questions...
...A woman reporter from the BBC asked me what I In the waiting room, Margaret Cho glared at me with distinct hatred and wariness...
...Monday A s I worked on my speech in the noon hour, I noticed an immense wasp crawling along my window...
...Boo-hoo...
...They were demonstrators with placards, only they were not what we're used to as demon-strators...
...even Mr...
...He just looked at me through the glass door...
...Two days later, when General Gor-don led the tattered remnants of the Stonewall Brigade to stack arms in sur-render, a federal general who had fought in many a bloody contest against the Southerners ordered his men to carry BENJAMIN J. STEIN is a writer, actor, econ-omist, and lawyer living in Hollywood and Malihu...
...I think he's a bit strange, but we don't hate him or anyone The American Spectator . February 2001 45 else...
...I know a man who was wounded and they worked like mad not to have to amputate his arm...
...It is played at every high school graduation and that's a lot...
...Then another appeared...
...generosity to Germany after World War I. If it had been matched by all of the allies, there might have been no Hitler...
...They were from somewhere called Senti-nole County, there to sue to throw out a lot of absentee ballots that they suspected were for Bush...
...Generosity, even wild generosity, is built into the American soul...
...What happened then...
...Booklist "Smart, thoughtful, blunt and provocative...
...Well, we're all Bush fans at this table," I said...
...The food is great, and the people are cheery and have excel-lent, pleasant features...
...Wifie started jumping up and down with joy...
...The basic generosity of the American spirit is simply without histor-ical precedent, except maybe the prece-dent of Love Your Enemies...
...She looked elated, as if she were a cat who had caught a mouse in a corner...
...This year...
...We walked only a few blocks until we came to a medium-sized crowd in front of a state office building...
...I just have a lot of crying in me ever since my parents went off to immortality, leaving me to try in my pathetic way to look after my family by myself...
...From then on, Lee would never allow a harsh word about Grant to be spoken in his presence...
...In my room, the phone did not work...
...Harris certified that, once more, Mr...
...T-shirts were sold that said, in the same logo style as the Gore-Lieberman banners, "Sore Loserman...
...Dillon was exhausted, barely awake...
...I suspect he is my favorite public servant on the Democrat side ever...
...I'm at the Capital Hotel, a charming old place built dur-ing Reconstruction...
...When Lee rode away from Appomattox, still straight and dignified aboard Traveler, Grant said of him and his men, "They will live in history...
...Apparently he was so weak that he could not have visitors...
...I get sick from the smell...
...Lee's critics must concede his courage and vision...
...No insecticide...
...The Democrats love to push Israel around and kiss up to the PLO...
...My relatives here are amazing peo-ple...
...No men or women who looked dangerous...
...The night we arrived in Little Rock, I signed on to AOL and found a letter from a woman who is the aunt of a two-year-old boy named Dil-lon Rolins...
...But this is only part one of many parts...
...Third, while we all have to cheer on the team, it only takes a few thousand lawyers and activists to fight these wars at this stage...
...He was so committed to civil rights that he lived in a modest neighborhood because it was not restricted against Jews...
...Yesterday the Supreme Court handed the chalice to Mr...
...On the walls, though, there are photos and poems of young men and women who have passed through the Oneology Ward and thence to eternity at a young earthly age...
...There was room service but when they brought my toast and butter, they failed to bring a knife or any other implement...
...46 February 2001 . The American Spectator He was with his Mom...
...The decent people of this country have been screamed at and pushed around by the militant cranks for too long and now they are pushing back...
...Smart contestants...
...Paul to Washington as a U.S...
...Bob, the most modest man on earth, said that he would only take it if every-one in his platoon shared in it...
...I am happy but exhausted...
...These are good people...
...No children...
...thought was going on...
...I am especially thinking of Hubert Horatio Humphrey, late statesman from Minnesota...
...He was not hanged...
...And generally, Jews should know that Holocausts come from Big Govern-ment, which is the Democrat mantra...
...I would be ultra shocked if I ever spent any quality time with Ms...
...She interrupted me right off the bat and I asked her if she were going to keep interrupting me...
...The American Spectator . February 2001 49...
...The hotel has not charged me for any of it...
...I can't imag-ine another nation where that could hap-pen...
...I suspect at the end of it, Gore will be president, and I hate that thought, but I am going to see if there's anything I can do to help my man, Governor Bush...
...Advertiser Index By patronizing the companies and products posted in this issue, your positive response rewards them for advertising in one of the gems of American publishing, The American Spectator...
...That's something like treason...
...they all asked...
...It's the revolt of the decent people against the indecent people," I said...
...I'm thinking of this because I am read-ing one of the best books I have ever read, Robert E. Lee: The Last Years, by a man named Flood...
...Yes, in the middle of the night...
...I'll spray your room with insecticide...
...I killed it...
...They generated so much uncertainty' and fear that buy-ers just stopped buying altogether and now we are headed for difficult times...
...They were a lively bunch...
...Why do we kill some babies and race like demons to save others...
...What about making every vote count...
...Just the kind of young people Amer-ica needs...
...But the mood remained upbeat and solid...
...If they took prisoners, they treat-ed them right...
...I killed it...
...I am guessing they are friends of Jesse Jackson...
...Again I recall my old Dad warning me against going on TV talk shows...
...My son loves its broad halls where he can play with his remote-controlled car...
...My two guides from FSU and I had some tea and snacks...
...I can recall well how the political chaos around the Watergate events of '73-'74 did much to start the catastrophe of the mid-seventies recession...
...I am telling you, the Denmans are remarkable people...
...Should I file a protest...
...But tonight, my hosts have taken me to a strange place called the Doubletree Hotel...
...We take care of our pals...
...Now we are in for what Mao Tse-tung called ''a prolonged struggle...
...They're really just babies...
...They have their views and biases...
...Gave a great speech...
...Bush is the winner...
...They remind me a lot more of Kennedy than of Humphrey...
...We expect to see as many as 50 open seats to be filled with new congressmen next year, the greatest number in over 30 years...
...So we fight like madmen to keep them alive...
...The e-mail told me that Dil-lon was suffering from serious cancer, was in the Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, and asked me to send him a photo...
...Dale Denman...
...The Club passed the $2 million mark in total contributions for candidates and issue advertising in its first year, one of the fastest starts by a political group ever...
...At three a.m., more or less, I was awak-ened by a crowd of demonstrators in front of the courthouse across from the hotel...
...He mouthed "Ben Ben," over and over...
...Then, off with my two guides from FSU to watch the results of the Florida vote certified by the estimable Katherine Harris...
...He looked at us, said nothing, and walked away...
...I always think of Humphrey when I am thinking about the contemporary Democrats...
...In a pixieish mood, I said to them, "Can you believe Gore just went on TV and conceded...
...What great young men and women these were and are...
...Tonight, I am at dinner at a place called Gapers, in West Little Rock, a place I love a lot...
...from (I think) the Columbia Law Review called "Some Realism About Legal Real-ism," by a famed law professor named Karl Llewellyn...
...Thank you, A1, for thinking so much about the rest of us...
...The Florida Supremes just said, "This is our prejudice, so do what we say...
...So you're saying Democrats are indecent...
...In the restaurant was a beau-tiful bartender whose name I have now forgotten, but a stunning beauty nonethe-less...
...But the ordinary Democrat who works for a living is still (I think) every bit as good as any other man or woman...
...The American people are so magnani-mous that they shine forth like diamonds across all of the ages of history...
...Just a guess...
...I am situat-ed in the midst of a group of college bas-ketballers...
...In the waiting room she glared at me with distinct hatred and wariness...
...Of course, I began to sob like a baby...
...I can see his cara-van working its way along the road...
...It's far more evil than slavery, and I hope we can some day abolish it as thoroughly as slav-ery was abolished...
...Then there was a lot of screaming and shouting, and then at the end Ms...
...I wrote my speech and then went out with my guides to a round of activities...
...I went down to the desk to complain...
...It was in Korea, at Pork Chop Hill...
...The kids are so friendly, have such sweet looks on their faces, ask such touching questions, by and large...
...Lee was further moved when Grant said that the soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia could keep their swords, pistols, and horses...
...You sure...
...Oops...
...Yes, there are wasps' nests on this floor...
...The crowd was super friendly to me, but frankly I was cold and tired and had to go inside a restaurant at the Doubletree to get warm...
...They shouted words I could not make out, and then left...
...The men looked at me as if I had just pulled a gun on them...
...Address: The American Spectator, P.O...
...He was a Gore fan...
...I am here on the set of my show, actually working like a madman...
...At this late hour, the halls are deserted...
...The GOP just says, "Hey, Israel, we have some pals in the Mideast...
...My room is tiny, with low ceil-ings and decrepit furniture...
...There are a few lessons here...
...No stringy haired emaciated women with mustaches...
...intelligence...
...Then I left...
...I was sitting next to him at a fund-raiser in Beverly Hills a few weeks ago when a state party official said, "And let me tell you something-we're going to carry California...
...The higher-ups would not allow the medal to be shared, so Bob turned it down...
...I went to vote at my son's school before tap-ing...
...I have seen both the Democrats and the GOP up close and personal about issues of import to Jews...
...Cho, you would look good in feldgrau...
...Gore are troublemakers who do not really love this country as much as they love themselves...
...Or go back farther to the U.S...
...He was not arrest-ed...
...But I dried my tears and went in to see Dillon...
...Anyway, I made my way through the demonstrators and I shook a lot of hands and signed autographs...
...Still, Gore has left in a motorcade from his HQ in Nashville to concede...
...At the desk were three men who were readily apparent as Democrat lawyers...
...The Jesse Jacksons of the world can-not push endlessly without some response if they have no legitimate cause...
...Humphrey in an old bus...
...They were black kids who got out of buses...
...I love the friend-ly people...
...Then two more...
...senator...
...I highly recommend an ancient article One-quarter of the new House Republicans, and the GOP's rising stars, who were sworn in January 3 were backed by a new group whose members donated up to $200,000 in campaign contributions for each candidate...
Vol. 34 • February 2001 • No. 1
