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Political Insider Live
With Charles Babington
Staff Writer and Chief Political Correspondent for washingtonpost.com
Friday, Dec. 21, 2001; 1 p.m. EST
Farewell Show!
For over a year Charles Babington has come online every Friday to answer your political questions from the past week. As of January he will become deputy national editor (for congressional coverage) at The Washington Post, where he spent 10 years before joining washingtonpost.com.
Babington will continue to contribute to the Web site through his editing, occasional video spots and perhaps an online chat now and then, but Friday, Dec. 21 was his last online chat in his role as washingtonpost.com's Political Insider.
The transcript follows.
Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live
Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts;
guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
Charles Babington: Yes, it's true, I'm heading back to the Post as an editor. I've enjoyed the weekly chats very much, and hope to be a guest 'chatter'' now and then if my dot-com friends can fit me in.
Ithaca, N.Y.:
Congratulations on your new post at the Post.
We'll miss you.
Why do you think the House Republicans and President Bush underestimated how important COBRA based insurance programs are to working Americans?
This was one item that the Democrats could not give up on.
washingtonpost.com:
Partisan Fight Stalls Aid for Jobless (Washington Post, Dec. 18, 2001)
Charles Babington: Thanks for writing...Insurance questions seemed to get rather lost in the bigger dust-up over matters regarding tax cuts and unemployment benefits in the economic stimulus debate. It's possible that Congress will come back next year and break out some individual issues -- possibly the insurance program you mention -- and take action without getting into debates about tax cuts.
Sorry to see you go!:
Your chats have been a highpoint in the week and I will be sorry to see you go. Will anyone else do something like this, or will it just be individual one-time guests?
For those of us out here in the country (I live in Oregon), it seems like the attacks on Daschle sound like that old saying "When they act like that, you know they know they are losing." Whatever the polls say (did they predict the 2000 election would be a tie?) I think many folks have tired of the generalized insults (Hastert saying Daschle has to deal with a pocketful of radical Senators to keep the caucus together, for instance), especially in these serious times.
And the difficulty an ordinary citizen has getting specific answers to questions like "Which details of the economic stimulus bill do you support/oppose?" strike me as both sloppy and unwise. Those who believe substance should be a major issue next year won't vote for those who only talk generalities.
Good luck in your new job!
Charles Babington: Thanks for the kind words... It would be nice (tho perhaps too much to ask) if politicians and strategists from both parties would stop using labels such as "radical,'' "extremist,'' "far right,'' "far left,'' etc. In truth, there's virtually no one elected to Congress or other high office in this country that fits those descriptions. Most voters take their jobs seriously, and they elect candidates from the relative center, not the fringes.
Unfortunately, we in the news media sometimes devote too much energy to labeling people's political leanings instead of diving a bit more deeply into substance -- just as you suggest.
Washington, D.C.:
Farwell Charles and Happy Holidays! Fellow political junkies have appreciated your insights
So, how do you assess a very difficult first session of the 107th? I see Big wins for the administration (tax cut, anti-terrorism legislation) and big losses (failure to pass economic stimulus and Terrorism insurance legislation).
Do you think the president will call Congress back early, and what will likely be the first order of business?
Charles Babington: And happy holidays to you, too.
I think the administration's two big wins this year were the tax cut and the education bill. President Bush had to make several concessions on the education bill (he dropped vouchers, for example), but he made only modest compromises on the tax cut. These two issues were among his top campaign priorities, and he delivered.
Both parties will try to find some political advantage in the collapse of the stimulus package. I tend to agree with your suggestion that it may hurt the president (and Republicans more) because they made a bigger issue of the need for the package but couldn't find a way to make it happen (unlike the tax cut).
I've heard no suggestion that the president would call Congress back before late January, when lawmakers plan to reconvene.
Somewhere, USA:
I was reading somewhere that Ventura was upset with Bush administration. Is he a possible presidential candidate?
Charles Babington: Jesse Ventura for president? Oh my.... My my my.
Mt. Lebanon, Pa.:
In the months and years to come are we going to witness more history whitewashing by the Clinton administration and apologists? It seems that his outfit had 8 years to get the TRUE story out. Why the rush now to publish these "inside stories?" Maybe there wasn't an inside story: other than tragically wasted opportunities to thoroughly and competently stem terrorist activity during the Clinton regime. Thanks much. washingtonpost.com:
The Covert Hunt for bin Laden: Broad Effort Launched After '98 Attacks(Washington Post, Dec. 19, 2001)
The Covert Hunt for bin Laden: Struggles Inside the Government Defined Campaign(Washington Post, Dec. 20, 2001)
Charles Babington: I don't think the Post "rushed' to publish an inside story. Details about the Clinton administration's war against terrorism and al Qaeda are certainly timely, and I assume the Post published these stories as soon as they got them ready.
I read the stories somewhat differently from you. Yes, they showed some moments when (especially in hindsight) we can wish the administration had acted more forcefully. But they also explained the uncertainty and conflicting advice that surrounded efforts to locate and kill or capture Osama bin Laden. I think many people would say it's an overstatement to label the efforts "tragically wasted opportunities.''
South Bend, Ind.:
Do you think the retirements of Phil Graham and Dick Armey had any connection to the Enron debacle and potential involvement of them, their staffs or their family members?
Charles Babington: I see no reason to think the retirements (after 2002) of Sen. Gramm and Rep. Armey are connected in any way to then Enron collapse.
Boston, Mass.:
I have seen some criticism of how Bush handled the negotiations with Daschle, especially how he tried to go around him the other day in declaring that they had a deal. Did that hurt the prospects of a stimulus package even more?
Charles Babington: The stimulus package collapsed because Democrats and Republicans never agreed on how it should be shaped. I don't think the president's talks with or without Daschle determined its fate.
Alexandria, Va.:
Like many others, I wish to re-elect Gore and Lieberman in 2004. What are the chances that Al Gore will run for re-election?
Charles Babington: According to his friends and associates, Al Gore is genuninely undecided on whether to try again for president. Given that, my guess -- and it's 100 percent a guess -- is that his prospects of running are about 50-50. And I doubt he will announce a decision until after the 2002 elections, so we have quite a long time to wait and wonder.
Washington, D.C.:
Maybe it seems like a big win to have gotten the tax cut through, but isn't there just a teensy chance that many folks will find the return to mega-deficits and not enough money to do many important things unsettling as we gear up for the 02 elections?
Sure the presidents staunch backers will always be there for him, but as a parallel, don't you think it says a lot that a Democrat now will govern Virginia?
I know everyone wants his cake and to eat it too, but I'd like to think that in this recession, the lower and middle classes may get hip to these giveaways to the wealthy and big business and that could hurt the GOP in '02.
Thanks for your great work here, and best of luck in your new role!
Charles Babington: I think you've pretty much laid out the Democratic campaign story board for 2002. (The Virginia governor's race, however, had much more to do with local issues and the respective nominess, I believe).
Thanks for writing.
Cherry Hill, N.J.:
Charles, congradulations on the new position! How long do you think Bush's popularity will stay high if we do not find bin Laden. My thinking is that it will come down in a hurry if by February or March we don't have him.
Charles Babington: I'm very bad at making such predictions. Why do you think his popularity would drop sharply in Feb-March (as opposed to maybe a gradual slide from his current high ratings) if bin Laden isn't found?
Raleigh, N.C.:
Charles,
I read recently that John Edwards might seek the presidency. I beleive that he is up for re-election in 2004. Do you think the Democratic leadership might ask him to re-run for the Senate, especially if the Congress is split, rather than risk losing the Senate seat?
Charles Babington: Yes, Sen. Edwards will be up for reelection in 2004. And yes, some party leaders indeed may urge him to seek a second term. But only John Edwards can decide whether he wants to make the big try for president. If he really wants to be president -- and thinks he has any kind of chance -- the party leaders won't be able to dissuade him, I'm guessing.
Washington, D.C.:
Ventura is soon going to have a lot of time to bleed and lick his wounds. Re-election as governor in Minnesota appears less and less likely.
Charles Babington: I wrote a column a few weeks ago dealing with the difficult autumn that Gov. Ventura has had.... and his job-approval ratings have plummeted. Still, Ventura has proven to be a surprisingly good candidate, and it's too early to give him the ten-count.
Washington, D.C.:
I feel like I'm the only person in this country who thinks the anthrax attack was politically motivated. It doesn’t seem like the press is willing to pursue the domestic extremist group angle. I have read a few article that the FBI think it’s a domestic group, but nothing about their motive. It doesn’t take expert to see they were trying to take out some of the Democratic leadership that directly opposed the Republican Party. If that’s not a political, then what is? Moreover, if the FBI is 95 percent sure it’s a domestic terrorist, then why aren’t they rounding up known members of U.S. extremist groups? Maybe it’s because they have names like Bubba and not Mohammad.
Charles Babington: I respectfully disagree. First, the media have reported rather extensively that the anthrax source may be domestic rather than foreign. The trouble is, the investigators have very few leads to help determine who might have done this. Just because letters were addressed to Daschle and Leahy, do you think the sender really hoped to kill those men?(Does ANYone think a senator sits at his desk and opens his mail?). And if the letters were politically motivated, isn't it possible the targets are a deliberate misdirection -- i.e. someone not associated with the political right but hoping to damage the reputation of rightwing groups?
Finally, do you really want the FBI to start "rounding up known members of U.S. extremist groups'' even if there's no evidence to link them to the letters? I don't think we've revoked the Constitution quite yet.
Dallas, Tex.:
Can I do two questions?
What has happened to the controversy
over military trials?
If tax cuts are the cause of the defecits,
why is the projected loss of revenue so
much smaller than the newly projected
defecits? Seems to me that the economic
slowdown is more to blame than tax cuts.
Thanks for all the chats. I for one will
miss you and wish you well.
Charles Babington: Thanks for writing.
1. I'm still reading and hearing quite a bit of debate over the notion of military tribunals.
2. Most responsible analysts I've read agree with you: The economic slowdown is caused by several complicated factors. Tax cuts play a small role, if any.
A Former Intern:
Chuck, I interned this summer in D.C.
You ask how many people think that a Senator actually reads/opens mail?
TONS AND TONS!
These are the same people that call on the phone and ask to speak to the senator directly -- and when we say he/she isn't available they ask for a good time to call back or a personal note delivered to him/her.
Besides that if it was a foreign terrorist for all he/she knew Senators DO open their mail.
Charles Babington: You're telling me that Tom Daschle, Pat Leahy and other senators actually sit down with a stack of unopened envelopes, take a letter opener and slit them open, pull out the letters, unfold them and read them? I don't doubt for a second that they READ their letters (once an aide has stacked them in an In box). I seriously doubt they have to open the evelopes themselves (which is the whole point here, because that's when any powder would be released).
Capitol Hill:
No question, just a comment. Thanks for these chats; I've found them most enjoyable and informative. Your comments are always informed and fair and you do not look to place easy blame or apply simplistic criticisms to what are usually complex situations. You will be missed here. Good luck in your new position! (and no, I'm not related to you.)
Charles Babington: Wow, thanks for those kind words. I've enjoyed these chats because I get such a wide variety of good questions and interesting (and often provocative) arguments.
Watertown, Mass.:
Do you detect a venom and vitriol mismatch between Republicans and Democrats? For example, is the phrase "get over it" more applicable to "Clinton-bashers" or "Sore-Losermen"? Is the vast right wing conspiracy more vocal than the former fellow travelers?
Charles Babington: My Post colleague John Harris wrote an interesting article a few months ago pointing out that in the realm of vitriolic political rhetoric (on TV, talk radio, magazines, op-ed pages, etc.) conservatives beat the bejabbers out of liberals.
Washington, D.C.:
The intern's point is that PEOPLE don't know that! I was a receptionist on the Hill and tons of constituents used to call and get mad that they couldn't speak DIRECTLY to the Senator.
People have no idea how the Hill works.
Charles Babington: OK OK OK. But I still think someone evilly clever enough to make high-grade anthrax is gonna GUESS that the senator doesn't open envelopes.
Newton, Mass.:
Thanks for doing the chats, but also thanks for moving on. I found myself following your chats too closely at work. Now I'll be able to concentrate on my job. I demonstrated less self restraint than a Congress with a surplus.
When Congress gets back, could Daschle call up some of the less popular / populist Republican portions of the stimulus package, such as cuts in the corporate alternative minimum tax, in a single issue bill, in order to get Republicans on record on these matters, or would they then be allowed to amend such a bill and add on other popular items like individual tax cuts, unemployment relief, etc? Conversely, could he bring up the consensus issues and Democrat-favored positions, such as health insurance subsidies, and force the Republicans to filibuster and block these?
Charles Babington: All good questions. Daschle might want to break out some elements and try to pass them without tax cut provisions. Whether the Republicans could attach tax-cut amendments, I don't know. You see, I'll have a lot to learn as congressional editor. My reporters will save me.
As to your first paragraph: Yes, I realize you guys are pulling my leg.... and I'm greatly amused. Thanks!
Charles Babington: On that fun note, I bid you farewell and all best wishes for Christmas and the New Year. It has been a treat to chat with you every Friday, and I'll miss it. Lots of good friends here at washingtonpost.com -- especially my producer, Meredith Bragg -- have made it fun and easy for me. The web site's Live Online section has tons of interesting guests every week, so keep tuning in.
So long.
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