Tuesday's election may well be the most important, significant political experience any voter will experience. It does not represent the definitive choice between tyranny and maintenance of the fragile fiction of our republic -- but it's damn close.

Al Gore, author of "Earth in the Balance," represents a clear and present danger to virtually everything our ancestors fought to establish and gift generations with and virtually everything countless American servicemen bled and died to preserve and protect.

The fact the race is allegedly as close as reported is a sad commentary on both the myopic gullibility of Americans, and the inimitable malfeasance of the mainstream media who have abandoned any legitimate claim to the fourth estate.

In the world of hardball, down-and-dirty political obfuscation, Democrat operatives have slandered Ralph Nader and dredged up a 24-year-old drunk driving case against Bush.

One-time Democrat consultant, current columnist and erstwhile toe sucker, Dick Morris writes, "The extenuating circumstances surrounding (George W. Bush's) arrest will likely shield the GOP nominee from the kind of initial damage which could kill him outright. Nobody was hurt. There was no accident. He was still young. It never happened again. He gave up drinking and moved on with his life. Most impressively, he didn't pull strings to avoid prosecution. His father was a famous man, particularly near his Maine home: He had already served as chairman of the Republican Party, head of the CIA and ambassador to China. George W. could have tried to throw his weight around -- as Ted Kennedy did at Chappaquidick, for example. Bush didn't. He was arrested. He was convicted. He paid his fine. His license was suspended in Maine."

Meanwhile -- notwithstanding the protestations and wink-wink/nod-nod shock from the Gore camp -- are we all supposed to forget that Bill Turque of Newsweek wrote that Al and his former buddy and alleged drug supplier, John Warnecke, "would gather to talk politics late into the night, fueled by Grateful Dead albums and the high-grade marijuana that Warnecke imported from the West Coast. 'We'd get stoned and talk about what we'd do if we were president.'" God forbid!

The mainstream felt compelled to spike the story of Gore's alleged drug use, but reveled (headlines ad nauseam) in the "news" that a young George Bush was stopped for driving too slow while under the influence of beer.

A recent e-mail I received crystallized the growing frustration of most reasonable folks with IQs higher than their shoe size: "I can't understand why the Republican Party doesn't aggressively expose the treasonous and illegal agreement made by Vice President Al Gore with the then Russian Prime Minister Chernomyrdin to blatantly disregard the Gore-McCain treaty in which Russia agreed not to make sales of guidance and control instruments or advanced weapons to nations who harbor or support terrorism. ... After these instruments were sold (5 years ago?) to Iraq and submarines, torpedoes and airplanes were sold to Iran, Chernomyrdin wrote a letter to Al Gore asking him not to tell Congress (which would have been required by law). Besides, Mr. Gore had no authority to make such an agreement with the Russians.

"This information was broadcast over C-Span Wednesday, Nov. 1, in a speech by a House member. Since then, not a peep in the media! Why the silence?"

Obviously I don't know, but I can suggest a couple of reasonable and probable reasons:

For starters, Congress lacks courage, testosterone and the ability to even defend its own territorial imperative. Sure 10 senators sent a sternly worded letter to Secretary of State Albright "demanding" all documents related to the apparently illegal deal. They even threatened to issue subpoenas. However, while Albright diplomatically flipped them off and offered "some" of the documents to "some" of Congress, these same indignant "statesmen" still haven't decided whether or not to follow through on their impotent "threat." Sure, the administration would probably stonewall. That's standing operating procedure. However, at least then Congress could have made the gesture of holding the realm "in contempt of Congress."

Next, some have suggested the ubiquitous "FBI files" -- still apparently in the possession of the administration -- are the "sword of Damocles" hanging over the heads of any congresscritter who might presume to pursue the issue.

It's enough to gag a maggot.

Bush's youthful poor judgment 24-years past, followed by 14 years of non-drinking suggests he learned a valuable lesson and became a better man for it. The incident is as significant as a small yellow hole in a Kennebunkport snowdrift. Conversely, Gore has routinely, consistently and unendingly lied -- about things small and large.

And the Gore-Chernomyrdin deal is huge:

1. Gore violated his fiduciary responsibility to his office.
2. He unilaterally cut a deal with a foreign leader.
3. He intentionally cut Congress out of the information loop in violation of law (a law that, by the way, he co-sponsored).
4. He ignored the seminal constitutional guarantees of the three branches of government that the framers in their wisdom established.

 

 

Bill Clinton lies to a grand jury. No biggie. Bill Clinton has a sexual relationship with a young intern. No biggie. Filegate, Travelgate, Chinagate, Bimbogate, E-mailgate. No biggie. Gore uses office of the vice president in a DNC campaign fund-raising venture. No biggie. Gore's alleged habitual pot smoking. No biggie. Gore's Russian deal about Iranian arms. No biggie. Ted Kennedy leaves a dead body in his car at the bottom of a pond at Chappaquidick. No biggie.

Bush got popped for DUI some 24 years ago. STOP THE PRESSES!

It is enough to gag a maggot.

Twenty-four years ago George W. Bush had too much beer, and was nailed for driving under the influence up in Maine. Contrary to some of the misinformation being fanned by Dem flacks, there was no accident and no injuries resulted. Bush stood in front of a judge and accepted responsibility for his inappropriate behavior -- something by the way the President has yet to do. He admitted his error and accepted his punishment. He didn't use his important dad to bail him out. He didn't lie about it or try to blame someone else for his failure. He didn't reinvent language or parse meanings, and he didn't develop "selective memory loss" like just about every Clinton-Gore witness giving testimony in the long list of administration scandals.

Frankly, in the down-and-dirty world of hardball politics with the professional scandal snoops like Terry Lenzner desperately searching for anything sordid, if this is the best they can do (a 24-year-old DUI on a guy who hasn't touched booze since his 40th birthday), Bush may end up being the most squeaky clean candidate to come down the pike.

And, by the by, contrast the shocking news about G.W. slow driving arrest with the spiked, killed, cremated and ashes-thrown-to-the-wind story that the same embarrassing mainstream walked away from in February, about Al's habitual use of Thai stick (marijuana laced with opium).

It's enough to gag a maggot.

Shame on the mainstream. Long live New Media. Throw the bastards out and give the country at least the chance to restore the republic to what it could, should and ought to be.

Montesquieu wrote in "Spirit of the Laws," "When once a republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil."

Thomas Jefferson copied that line in his "Commonplace Book."

Two smart dead old white guys, sugar coating what I'm saying: Throw the bastards out!