Battalion
o PINION
Page 11 • Tuesday, February 16, 1999
esident Quayle?
val Office aspirations of former vice president's
»r may spell ( Presidon y f for Republican Party
George W. going
) run ’ How
Douj Liddy Dole?
both run on the
e ticket?
rheipe are the
;tions that giddy
Means every-
p|yv pondering.
:esh ' iff of Presi-
^Riton’s Houdi-
David
LEE
te escape from the clutches of re-
1 from office last week, bitter
blicans on Capitol Hill are preparing
merciless onslaught on the Democ-
mikefuexte {. n the 2000 presidential campaign.
Jo Evans talks s the saying goes, payback is a pain,
an at-bat. tith the always charismatic Al Gore as
early lead hei kial lock for the Democratic Party’s
other team set dential nomination, the GOP is the
favorite among many political pun-
he one? who? ‘egai lless of which candidate they
ed ' it.' inate.
ed three errors owever, neither Dole nor Bush have
ered her firste; i a dy declared their intent to run for
of hittittg eontri Republican nomination. What if nei-
the hot batsca decide to run? Who will the Republi-
be left with?
re hits to ICU. fith Gore providing the only opposi-
any candidate the Republicans
n up is going to have an advantage.
, )f course, to everything there is al-
J C Rkp ; anfexception. In this case, the ex-
a Ulvli on is Dan Quayle.
smember Dan? Of course, who could
forget the vice president who managed to
alienate the entire single-parent popula
tion of America? Who could forget the
man who was out-spelled at an elemen
tary school spelling bee? As reported by
CNN earlier this month, Quayle an
nounced the formation of a presidential
exploratory committee in order to ana
lyze his chances for success in the up
coming election. If the public’s initial re
action to his candidacy is any indication,
the committee is sure to find Quayle is
seriously lacking in the area of public
support.
Unlike Vice President Gore and his
tree-like persona, Quayle proved to be a
source of comic relief during his term in
office, accurately portrayed by the media
as a dimwit. Notorious for making fun of
his own intellect (or lack thereof), Quayle
has inadvertently admitted his ignorance
on many occasions. Esquire Magazine
has been particularly fond of Quayle’s ex
ploits, often publishing many of his idiot
ic statements to the press. For example:
The Holocaust: “The Holocaust was
an obscene period in our nation’s history.
I mean in this century’s history. But we
all lived in this century. I didn’t live in
this century. ”
Midwestern Floods of 1992: “They
need help, and we have helped, and we
are here to help. And we are helping, and
we’re going to continue to help.”
Hawaii’s role in the Union: “Hawaii
oksatC
has always been a very pivotal
role in the Pacific. It is in the Pa
cific. It is part of the United
States that is an island that is
right here. ”
Quayle’s agenda as a senator:
“I know one committee I don’t
want: Judiciary. They are going
to be dealing with those issues
like abortion, bussing, voting
rights, prayers. I’m not interested
in those issues and I want to stay
as far away from them as I can. ”
Reelection in 1992: “If we do
not succeed, then we run the
risk of failure. ”
America in space: “For
NASA, space is still a high prior
ity.”
It is a relief to know the vice
presidency is truly a dead-end
job in light of these comments.
One wonders what Quayle
would have accomplished if he
had any real power during his
term.
This is probably why the Re
publican party refrained from
jumping up and down with glee
when Quayle expressed his inter
est in running for the nomination.
However, in the unlikely chance that
neither Dole nor Bush decide to run,
Quayle quickly becomes the front run
ner as no other noteworthy Republicans
have expressed an interest. Hopefully,
the Republican party will have the
wherewithal to nominate a no-name
candidate rather than nominate Quayle.
If he is somehow nominated, it would
ROBERT HYNECEK/The Battalion
be the equivalent of the GOP shooting
itself in the foot.
David Lee is a sophomore general
studies major.
epublican circus finally over,
erican audience already gone
r ell,
the
circus
m
9 to an
The big
las been
i dc wn.
Manisha
PAREKH
RT WORTH, If
is State
lel Bish-
nnner of
Davey
?n Na-
Quarter-
Award,
Monday
mid con- j'
playing
sionally
aada if it
I continuing his
osen position.
ne NFL scouts Tain ed an
xl reservations 3 have
iishop is too shr packed
ve passer in thef-the circus train and the per-
hop said hemigCersjare discussing past glories
detour throughb future stunts.
Hball League te nd the audience? The audi-
ysayers. ' was so insulted by the whole
anada could tut: ade — the unoriginal parlor
1 But I’m goingks, the easily seen through
L first,” Bishopric tricks — they packed their
Iren up and went home be-
the main act even began.
evnmm i m hmm i»*fter sitting through the circus
esident Clinton’s impeach-
I 4-^ JJ) t and removal, it is hard to
I U UUi i e the audience for not hang-
I Mind to watch the blustery
icians take their final bows,
it group of citizenry really
ts to see their “leaders” pull a
ppearing act with governmen-
me end money? Not the
lean people. I
7 18th
6T
1 President
you Can be htl like a pack of poor per-
ion. ters, the Republican clowns
pj to take their audience into
iunt; and no one, except for
mk ikik downs, was surprised when
down-filled krazy kar did not
-1515 toinfomi«4 enOU§h fuel t0 continue run '
hree (3) working^;. Hardly a soul applauded
ithe best ofourahf futile, infantile efforts.
— iiMiM^utff'’^? 7 did the circus fail?
trained monkeys — the
nl anagers — had certainly
,9 their homework. Ringmaster
1 y /tieth St arr was clearly in con-
trol of all their antics and did a
good job of helping them jump
through their hoops. Surely that
should have kept the audience’s
attention.
Simply stated, the circus failed
because it tried to hard to be
something it was not — believ
able. For every trick the magicians
threw at the audience, some
sharp-eyed observer realized what
the catch was; the Americans
knew every accusation was mere
ly an empty illusion.
The clowns tried so hard to
captivate the audience, trying to
outdo each other, the audience
got fed up and looked the other
way; the GOP grandstanded so
much — during hearings, on talk
shows and for the papers — the
American people got sick of the
show before it even got started.
It was the same with the
trained monkeys. They did the
same routine over and over again,
until the audience could predict
the next move.
But what about the grand ring
master? Why was he such a flop?
Starr was ready for the perfor
mance, he seemed to know what
the people wanted and he seemed
ready to give it them. But he
failed.
All of his flowery and magnifi
cent announcements could not
make up for the mediocrity of the
circus; worse, the circus did not
even come close to Starr pro
nouncements or predictions. The
epic-length Referral to Congress
— which can be likened to a cir
cus program — provided no struc
ture to the poorly framed circus.
But in the end, the circus failed
for one reason — it had no point.
A real circus is meant to hold
the interest of the audience; the
impeachment and removal trial
was meant to provide some solid
facts or verdicts to the American
people. Instead, the trial was a
mockery that insulted the intelli
gence of a nation. Even now, the
sore losers continue to pin the tri
al’s failure of the public because
they did not care enough.
Never mind the fact there may
have been a good reason the pub
lic did not care. Never mind the
fact Congress is elected to repre
sent the will of the people. Never
mind the fact impeachment and
removal of the President is carried
out by politicians because it is
precisely that — a political
process, not a judicial one.
Spoiled performers with little
to no talent will generally blame
their audience for their own fail
ure. Of course performers — cir
cus or otherwise — who have
egos the size of some the senators
generally find themselves out of a
job when the director has had
enough; the nation will wait until
the next election to make that
call.
So, the show is over. Hopeful
ly, the audience will not have to
suffer through another one like it
for a very long time.
And perhaps, in retrospect, it
is wrong to compare the im
peachment and removal trial to a
circus.
After all, the circus is usually
worth the price of admission.
Manisha Parekh is a junior
psychology and journalism major.
IF ELECTED
PROPMSE NOT to
HAVE TH S WITH
MY INTERN..
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Crawfish Eliot
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Trial failed because of American
apathy, political ignorance of duty
Zach
HALL
I t was busi
ness as usu
al on Capi
tol Hill,
however, this
time the dou
ble talk, spin
control and in
ability to take
a stand on an
issue did not
deal with policy making.
Instead, Congress was being
asked to deal with a much more
important issue: the impeachment
and conviction of the President of
the United States.
However, Congress did every
thing in its power to subvert that
duty, and, in the end, succumbed
to political and public pressure.
Clinton, through his actions, spit
on the Constitution, but Congress
not only let him get away with
this it walked all over the Consti
tution as well.
However, politicians were not
the only ones who turned their
backs on the Constitution. The
American people have shown
they have no clue about the ideals
and values this country was
founded on.
It was no secret President Clin
ton had been involved in scandal
after scandal since even before his
first days in office or that he had
admitted to lying to the American
people. Yet hundreds of politi
cians and millions of Americans
seemed to think none of this mat
tered. Congress was protecting its
own political future, and the pub
lic could not seem to understand
that it is “not the economy, stu
pid.”
For the Democrats, it was a
game of “take the side that was
not losing.” They did not take a
firm position on any issue relating
to the President since day one.
When the scandals first broke
they took their more traditional
“stick by the party at all costs”
approach. Even when the Lewin
sky scandal broke, they were try
ing hard to believe the President
and “stand by their man.” How
ever, soon after the President ad-
Aggie student
thanks Aggie thief
On the afternoon of Feb. 11,1
became the victim of a true Aggie
robbery.
1 would like to thank the con
siderate Aggie who, after a failed
attempt at relocating my bike from
the bike rack on my car, was kind
enough to gently lean my bike up
against my car instead of throwing
miffed he lied to the country and
his own colleagues, many Democ
rats were ready to jump from the
President’s slowly sinking ship
and head for safer waters on their
own.
But, along came the American
people and the November elec
tions. The poor results, and lost
seats for the Republican majority
seemed a “mandate by the Ameri
can people in support of Clinton.”
Now many of those same Democ
rats were back on the President’s
boat helping him bail water. It
seemed obvious many Democrats,
who had conceded the President
was immoral and did lie, were
struggling between protecting a
member of their own party and do
ing what they knew was the right
thing to do: mutiny the captain.
However, the Republicans were
not without fault in this bungled
impeachment process. Unlike the
Democrats, they had taken a fairly
consistent attitude toward this
president since the ‘92 primaries:
he is a worthless liar and a ruth
less political conniver. But, after
finally catching the President in
an act of wrongdoing, many Re
publicans lost their stomachs for
a confrontation. Many conceded
defeat on a conviction in the Sen
ate. Instead of fighting for the
constitutional ideals, they became
more content with appeasing
their constituents for the next
election.
Here lies possibly a deeper in
justice than the acts of the Presi
dent. Republicans such as Sens.
Trent Lott, Miss., Fred Thompson,
Tenn. and Arlen Specter, Penn.,
usually staunch critics of the Pres
ident, lied down in the final days
of the trial, conceding defeat. Lott
and his like need to leave Wash
ington with their tails between
their legs. The Constitution and
America have no place for such
gutless wonders.
What remained were the
American citizens. Contrary to
their popular opinion, they
should have had no influence or
decision making abilities in this
impeachment process. The Con-
MAIL CALL
it on the ground in frustration. I re
ally appreciate the thoughtfulness
of that action.
I also relish having a new Aggie
joke to tell: How many Aggies
does it take to steal a bike?
Some advice for the next time
you try to relocate someone’s
bike: make sure it is not attached
to the car!
Casey Wiefels
Class of ’98
a*
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stitution is not interpreted
through public opinion, nor is jus
tice determined through Gallup
polls.
Public reaction to the series of
Clinton scandals and the im
peachment process shows how
much society’s views of honor, in
tegrity and the constitutional ideal
have decayed since the days
when the country was founded.
More importantly, though, public
response showed how self-inter
ested American society has be
come.
While the politician’s only con
cern was his political future, the
American people had become
blinded by their own economic
security. Many claimed Clinton
had done so much good for
America, yet could not name two
or three good things. Others said
we should let Clinton get back to
“doing the job of running the
country;” yet he was getting a
“job” while he should have been
doing his job.
There was little doubt the Pres
ident would be acquitted of per
jury charges. The Democrats
made it seem as if they were pub
licly reprimanding Clinton in or
der to keep from further damag
ing the party while not offending
the public; hopefully they can still
look themselves in the mirror.
The Republicans, some at
least, fought to the bitter end; oth
ers, however, publicly reprimand
the President, hoping not to of
fend the American people. Their
cowardly actions are plainly obvi-
ous.
Finally, the American people,
comforted by low interest rates,
two cars in the driveway and a
growing apathy toward politics
and the constitutional ideal, have
continued to support Clinton and
will likely reelect most of the
same politicians who did not step
up to the challenge facing this
country.
Business is as usual, in Wash
ington and the rest of America.
Zach Hall is a senior
philosophy major.