Issue 1 is the GOP presidential debate. Issue 2 is the Seattle protests against the World Trade Organization.
Most pundits think George W. Bush’s performance was tepid and formulaic–these include Bill Kristol (ABC’s This Week), Jeff Birnbaum ( Fox News Sunday), Brit Hume (Fox), Paul Gigot (PBS’s NewsHour With Jim Lehrer), and Bob Novak (CNN’s Capital Gang). (For Ballot Box’s roundup, click here.) George F. Will (This Week)–the only pundit, liberal or conservative, who doesn’t seem to be pulling for John McCain–scoffs at Kristol’s reaction, noting that Bush still has a 50-point lead in South Carolina and remains the most secure GOP front-runner in “living memory.” (Steve Roberts [CNN’s Late Edition] and Mark Shields [Capital Gang] make similar points.)
Most pundits think McCain won the debate, and many–like Fox’s Susan Estrich and Dick Morris–appreciate his jokes about Alan Greenspan’s mortality and his own temper. (Tony Snow [Fox] and Tucker Carlson [CNN’s Late Edition] venture that McCain may actually have started the “temper” rumors; Brit Hume notes that the issue allows McCain to pose as both a victim of unfair innuendo and as a passionate war hero with fervently held political beliefs.) The pundits also praise Gary Bauer’s eloquence, though none thinks the evangelical is a serious threat. Morris says that, according to e-mails received at his Web site, Alan Keyes won the debate. (Suffice it to say that Morris’ empirical methods may be open to question; for more on his Web site, click here.)
The commentariat splits on the merits of the WTO–and not along ideological lines. WTO supporters include conservatives Will, Gigot, and Rich Lowry (PBS’s McLaughlin Group) as well as liberals like Al Hunt (Capital Gang) and Eleanor Clift (McLaughlin). WTO opponents include conservatives Novak, John McLaughlin (McLaughlin), and Tony Blankley (McLaughlin) as well as liberals like Shields (NewsHour and Capital Gang) and Margaret Carlson (Capital Gang). Many pundits flay President Clinton for his “I-feel-the-protestors’-pain” comments. Gigot notes that the protestors–union members, consumer activists, and environmentalists–are not exactly marginal to the Democratic Party, and Clift acknowledges that Clinton has done a poor job selling his free-trade stance. Steve Roberts points out that Bush has emerged as a stronger supporter of the Clinton administration’s free-trade policy than the vice president. Kristol and both Carlsons–Tucker and Margaret–blame Seattle’s mayor for treating the protestors with kid gloves (“a weak mayor of Seattle, I’m afraid, a kind of cappuccino sipper,” jabs Tucker Carlson). Lowry argues that the protestors, who favor the imposition of higher labor and environmental standards, actually want to give the WTO more power. Free traders Hunt and Kristol, however, call the WTO arrogant for its highhanded dismissal of the protests. (“The Week/The Spin” and “Frame Game” also give their takes on the Seattle demonstrations.)
Election notes: On NBC’s Meet the Press, John McCain says he would not accept the GOP vice presidential nomination. George Stephanopoulos (This Week) announces that McCain and Bill Bradley will soon make joint campaign appearances, promising voters that if they are the nominees they will devote themselves to campaign finance reform. (Stephanopoulos also predicts a more aggressive Bill Bradley on the horizon.) Appearing on Late Edition, This Week, and Meet the Press, Gov. Jesse Ventura, REF-Minn., speaks in favor of free trade, says that John Anderson would be a viable Reform Party presidential candidate, and says he plans to go to church on Christmas (a Lutheran service).
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Shields
On Friday’s NewsHour, Mark Shields gives John McCain’s debate performance a mixed verdict–McCain inspired idealism and was sharp on foreign policy, Shields says, but his knowledge of domestic issues was weak and he wasn’t aggressive enough. The next day, on Capital Gang, Shields says flatly, “I thought John McCain bombed on Thursday night.” Why the shift of emphasis? Pundit Central suspects that the forum holds a clue: The NewsHour format permits a more leisurely, nuanced discussion, while on Capital Gang Shields has to moderate four other guests and probably felt compelled to foil his fellow panelists’ unstinting praise of McCain’s performance.
Tea and Crumpets, Mr. McLaughlin?
Question: Who is more out of place–a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s court or a courtly Brit* on the McLaughlin Group? To give his panel some economic heft for a WTO discussion, John McLaughlin invites the Financial Times’ American editor, Robert Thomson, to participate. The Right Honorable Gentleman From the FT seems astonished by the whole, well, vulgarity of the debate. Every time the camera lands on him, he is staring at McLaughlin, Clift, Lowry, and Blankley with mouth agape, stone silent. McLaughlin even ribs his new panelist on his wardrobe (Thomson is wearing a dapper suit–with vest–and spectacles). Later in the program, Thomson looks directly at McLaughlin and says, “Anybody with a temper [like McCain’s] shouldn’t have a distinguished position anyhow,” to which the host gives a knowing smile.
*See below.
