Democrat Bob Beckel Throws Down the Gauntlet
Reported by Marie Therese - November 4, 2004 -
On Big Story with John Gibson (11/3/04) Democratic strategist and FOX News Political Analyst, Bob Beckel, and Bill Brock, former Tennessee Senator, discussed the election. On past shows Beckel generally adopted a middle-of-the-road approach, frequently rubber-stamping whatever POV the FOX host du jour was spouting. But, not on today's show. He came out with both guns blazing. Interestingly, every time John Gibson brought up words like "olive branch" and closing the "partisan divide," Beckel shot him down.
GIBSON: Why have the dogs been called off? Are we going to sing Kum-ba-Yah and hold hands?
VIDEOCLIP EXCERPT of President Bush's victory speech: "The campaign has ended and the United States of America goes forward with confidence and faith. I see a great day coming for our country and I am eager for the work ahead. God bless you and may God bless America." [Note the code words "great day coming." To an evangelical, the "great day" will be the second coming of Jesus." One wonders what the born-again president thinks his "real" work is - governing the country or enabling the rapture?]
GIBSON (patronizing): Now, Bob, you said a moment "I'm not gonna work with these guys" but John Kerry said "we've got to unite - I've talked to the President about this" and then the President said this:
VIDEOCLIP EXCERPT of President Bush's victory speech: "Today I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent. To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support. And I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust." [Dubya's got a real obsession with the word 'work,' doesn't he?]
GIBSON (dripping with sarcasm, taunting): Now, Senator Kerry has offered an olive branch and the President returned it and he's reaching out to you personally.
BECKEL: Yeah, right. Well, first of all, he can offer whatever he wants - lumber, stick - whatever he wants. Doesn't matter to me. Ya' know, those are the same words George Bush said four years ago. One point I want to make, Bill Brock, which is that, if he had not been in this Iraq War, he would have really won a mandate. That war took him down...You can't expect us to sit back on things like making these tax cuts for the wealthy permanent or goin' along with a war that's wrong. I mean, we are not in a totalitarian regime here. We're not all gonna go out and put Bush bumper stickers on and I'd say to my fellow Democrats rest well tonight, because, tomorrow, we ride at dawn.
GIBSON (laughs, shrugs his shoulders, feigned disbelief): Bill Brock, here's Kerry of all people sayin' we have got to do something to close the partisan divide and my friend, Bob, a jovial fellow, doesn't seem to be willing to go along with that. What are we gonna do? [Note use of the word "we" - Gibson identifies with his Republican guest.]
BROCK: Some of these Democrats just don't get it. And I respect Bob, but he's wrong. You know the big loss yesterday was Tom Daschle. He was the leader of the Democrats in the Senate. He lost because he constantly used every tool, parlimentary and others, to stop the Bush program from getting a consideration in the United States Senate. We have environmental issues that have to be dealt with. We can't deal with them as partisan issues. The children of America need an education. That's not a partisan issue. We've got to maintain standards and accountability. We've got to create jobs, hold taxes down, small businesses deserve our support, we have health issues and it's crazy to say "Well, we're gonna fight at the battlements until the last coon is dead. I just don't understand that." [Yes, he used the word "coon." I listened four times just to be sure, because I couldn't believe my ears the first time.]
GIBSON: Do you think if Kerry had won, Brock would be saying "no, we're not gonna reach out - we're not gonna be joining up - we're gonna fight Kerry?"
BECKEL: I think that Bill Brock would look at John Kerry's entire agenda and say "there ain't no way I'm associating myself with much of that." On some of the things Bill just said, I think they oughta be done and we oughta work together on education and the environment. That'd be good things [sic] to do. But I get back to the fundamental point. On creating jobs, it hasn't happened. We're not gonna sit [set?] down on this war. It's a wrong thing to do and these tax cuts are putting our kids in debt. Now what'ya expect us to do? I'm not trying to be a sore loser or be mad. I think Bush ran a good campaign. I give him a lot of credit for their turnout. But in the end, we ain't all gonna go down and line up and get registered Republican. It's not gonna happen. It's been four years. We haven't seen a single bit in four years of bipartisan branch-throwing at us.
BROCK: Bob, Bob, ya' lost the election. Ya' lost. We won the White House. We increased our number in the Senate. We increased our number in the House. The [red] American people said we want a more coherent, consistent program and we'd like to see you guys work with ..
GIBSON (interrupts): Bill don't rub it in.
COMMENT
Where was all of Beckel's bravado BEFORE the election?
As for Dubya's olive branch, he can take and put it where the sun don't shine.
Do the Republicans take us for complete idiots? Do they honestly think we're going to fall for the same trick a second time, especially when the motivation behind it is so transparent? If they had achieved a 60 vote majority, the tone of the day would have been "yada, yada, yada, hasta la vista, DemocRATS!" The Republican hand of friendship and reconciliation is nothing more than a metaphorical photo op.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
NOTE added at 5:30 PM EST: There was an error in the date posted in the first paragraph. It should have read 11/3/04. It has been changed.
