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Wladyslaw Pleszczynski and William McGurn

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The Stunning Effect of Dubya

By Wladyslaw Pleszczynski
Posted Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2001, at 6:27 PM ET

Dear Bill,

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Just got your latest. It's nearly 5 p.m. and still no word on the Judiciary Committee vote on Ashcroft that was scheduled for two and a half hours ago. Maybe the president should send a team of time management consultants over to remind the good senators that the Clinton era is over.

From what I hear, Sen. Lieberman was among 25 Democrats to vote against Gale Norton. Can he afford to divide his ballot and vote for Ashcroft? How would he otherwise explain to women that he voted against one of theirs while supporting a very suspicious male who sings but doesn't dance? Whatever Joe does he does at his own risk, as do all the other tragically small minds who've already made their negative choices. Opposition to Ashcroft really comes down to nothing more than bigotry and spite. Who's Dianne Feinstein to say someone is not in the "mainstream"? The New Republic should be ashamed. It runs Tevi Troy's marvelous testimony then turns around to editorialize against Ashcroft. What's the point? Will Ashcroft's genuine martyrdom make up for Gore's frustrating defeat?

But of course for sheer political pathology, nothing tops New York. Maybe because I don't live anywhere near there, I couldn't care less about Andrew Cuomo's prospects. Anyway I thought Carl McCall was the state Democratic Party's choice for governor. Perhaps everyone should take a deep breath and ask Hillary to settle the matter. Maybe she'll ask Sen. Schumer to deal with the problem himself. Include me out, is all I can say.

On the other hand, I probably didn't do justice to your earlier discussion of political dynasties. To my mind, the interesting thing is that until George W. Bush was actually inaugurated, no one really thought to place the Bushes alongside such families as the Kennedys and Cuomos, not to mention the Roosevelts. For one thing, you're not going to be mythologized if you're Republican. For another, as Michael Powell noted in the Washington Post, "the Bushes are unburdened ... by the hubris, arrogance and taste for self-inflicted tragedy that has sunk the better known dynasties."

Which can only mean that the Bushes are the genuine article. Sometime it takes a while for the obvious to sink in. But how else explain the stunning effect that having George and Laura Bush in the White House has had on the nation?

In love,
Wlady

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