Bastion of Free Speech
by Niranjan Ramakrishnan
What prompts a fourth-generation Republican to bolt from his party? In a phrase - presidential hubris. This is what they're all saying.
But could it be, I mean could it just be - that someone like Sen. Jeffords was sickened, as so many have been, by the sheer joy taken by the Republican leadership in stripping the country of its savings, its environment and its commitments? After all, there is something strangely Leninist in George W.'s gleeful approach to his minority presidency. Once in, he has endeavored to keep his promises, even ones he didn't make.
Of course, on the same day Sen. Jeffords quit, thus changing the face of the Senate so completely, twelve of his erstwhile opponents in the Democratic party voted with the Republicans to pass the budget bill. Indeed, whether it is the matter of confirming John Ashcroft for Attorney General or Theodore Olsen for Solicitor General, even a basketball junkie could make out that Democrats have not been terribly energetic in opposing George W.'s choices - even the more egregious ones.
Of course, the rats were jumping ship even as Gore's bid for the presidency foundered on the steps of the Supreme Court, weighed down with five robed cement blocks. Sen. Toricelli of New Jersey was particularly eager to 'get on with the nation's business' as he put it those days. His eagerness for being kind and gentle to the minority president have been explored in the newspapers recently as problems with his election campaign have surfaced.
But for all that, Jeffords, a soft-spoken, mild-mannered, 'moderate' senator, has electrified Washington with his decision. At a time when Democrats, Labor and Women's groups, Social Workers, Environmentalists, all were in near despair at the progress of the Bush W. Minority Juggernaut, he has hit the brakes, causing alarums in the drivers' cabin. To those praying for Sen. Strom Thurmond's long life, Jeffords' action comes as a great relief.
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