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Gifts for all occasions in the Galleria! Subscribe to the "What is the Deal?" mailing list. December 21, 2003 What is the Deal with Politics? By Jan A. Larson It can't be surprising that politicians practice politics. After all, that's what politicians do. However at some point, the game of politics deteriorates from a world championship chess match to a childish game of liar's poker. The capture of Saddam Hussein was an important and momentous event that marks the end of one of the most brutal and ruthless regimes the world has ever known. One might think that the politicians might take a break to grasp the true significance of the event and to appreciate the efforts of those that played a role in Hussein's apprehension. The best Howard Dean could do was to remain mostly silent on the issue for a grand total of one day. The next day, he promptly proclaimed that the United States is not a safer place because of the capture of Saddam Hussein. It didn't take long for others to crawl out of the woodwork with equally ludicrous statements. Washington Congressman Jim McDermott said that the military could have found Saddam a long time ago but it was timed for political reasons. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright made a startling comment to journalist Mort Kondracke in the "green room" at Fox News. Albright suggested that the Bush administration has Osama bin Laden hidden away and will announce his capture before the November elections. Albright insists the comment was tongue-in-cheek, but Kondracke apparently didn't get the joke, if it was a joke. Everyone's favorite party-Senator, Ted Kennedy, suggested that the entire Iraq war was dreamed up in Crawford, Texas as a way to further President Bush's political standing. Dean tossed out the utterly contemptible notion that the President knew of the September 11 attacks in advance and did nothing. Kennedy, if given the chance, might have sent thousands of American soldiers into war for political gain and Dean, if presented the opportunity, may have let several thousand Americans die in a terrorist attack for some points in a popularity poll, but it takes some real chutzpah to accuse the President of the United States of doing the same. Richard Gephardt and John Kerry, two Presidential hopefuls waiting for Howard Dean to stumble and bumble his way back to them in the race for the Democratic nomination, must have a hard time looking in the mirror with a straight face. So desperate are they to win the political game that they condemn virtually everything the President does with respect to Iraq despite the fact that both voted in favor of the authorization to use force to remove Saddam. Gephardt's description of the President as a "miserable failure" lost much of its credibility as Saddam crawled out of his hole. The Republicans are certainly not innocent bystanders when it comes to politicking when the opportunity presents itself, but it seems the current crop of Democrats seem to have taken the lessons learned from the political master, Bill Clinton, to new heights. When I was growing up and working for my father, it didn't matter if we disagreed on why things should be done, when things should be done or how things should be done when it came time to get to work. We worked and left the politicking for another time. In Washington, the politicians never let work, the work of protecting America from those that would wish us dead, the work of removing a madman from power, the work of preserving the western way of life, the work of growing the economy, the work of securing the retirement of Americans or any other kind of work stand in the way of politics and political maneuvering. There seems to be nothing so important that politicians won't try to use it for political gain or accuse others of doing so. What they don't seem to know is that the American public is not so dumb not to notice. -- Send feedback to the author. The "What is the Deal?" column will appears weekly on the Pie of Knowledge website. Guest submissions are welcome and encouraged. To submit an article to "What is the Deal?" click here. To subscribe to the "What is the Deal?" mailing list and receive early notification when a new column is available, click here. The Pie of Knowledge will never, ever divulge email addresses to any third party for any reason unless so ordered by a court of law. Contributions to the Pie of Knowledge are greatly appreciated. 
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