|
Potomac Confidential
With Marc Fisher
Post Metro Columnist
Thursday, Dec. 19, 2002; Noon ET
Potomac Confidential fills the midday lull with discussion of the latest news and a rigorous slicing and dicing of the issues that define who we are and where we live.
In his weekly show, Washington Post Metro columnist Marc Fisher veers wildly from serious probing to silly prattle, and is open to topics local, national, personal and more.
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.
Marc Fisher: Welcome to the final edition of Potomac Confidential for this, the last palindromic year we will see for, what, a bit more than a century?
Today's column on Maryland's fine governors seems to have some of you itching to talk. Tuesday's effort looked at the Children's Hospital vs CareFirst matchup, which seems to be going Children's way big time.
And there's Lott(s) to talk about, as well as all manner of other stuff. Your turn.
Alexandria, Va.:
Marc - Thank you so much for this morning's governor vs. governor column. With recent reorgs in my company placing my coworkers and me under the supervision of equally incompetent fools, your column provided a three-minute long laugh, the first I've had all week. What's that you say? You had hoped readers would groan in response to the column? Oh, well, sorry about that. If politicians weren't placed on this earth for our entertainment, then what, pray tell, is their intended purpose? washingtonpost.com:
A Heartwarming Scene of Governors At Their Worst, (Post, Dec. 19)
Marc Fisher: Oh, I'm more than fine with laughs instead of groans. Willie Don and Parris played their parts to a T and I was happy to be their stenographer. I expect we'll get plenty to write about from Bobby Ehrlich, but I bet it won't be quite as amusing as the Schaefer-Glendening hatefest, which is absolutely 7th grade in quality.
Herndon, Va.:
Mr. F: Schaefer and Glendening -- what a team! I haven't seen anything so hilarious since the heyday of Martin and Lewis. While I'm no particular admirer of former everything Schaefer, it is fun to hear someone who's frank in his comments about his opponents -- or, more accurately, his enemies.
Marc Fisher: Hey, when you're well into your 80s and everyone in the state has long since decided whether they love or hate you, you're totally free to let it all hang out. One of my colleagues was just saying how she voted for Schaefer solely to hear more of his refreshing honesty--and man, is he delivering.
Alexandria, Va.:
Nice piece today...
So, which governor was more irresponsible leaving office: Glendening who's spening money that the state doesn't have or Gilmore who didn't even get a budget in his last year?
Marc Fisher: Hmmm, tough one. Glendening's a bit more brazen in his last-minute shenanigans, whereas Gilmore, who has wild fantasies of returning to the governor's office, was Mr. Sneaky in his final deeds. Your call.
Takoma Park:
I still miss Agnew. More and better lies!
Marc Fisher: And what alliteration! But that was really Mr. Wm. Safire writing those speeches.
Forest Glen, Md.:
May not agree with the man, but god bless Schaefer!
I wish more people actually spoke the truth like that!
Marc Fisher: Hey, where would we be now if Trent Lott spoke with Willie Schaefer's frankness? Now THAT would be a good scandal story.
Beltsville, Md.:
Isn't the Treasurer or some other third party also on the Board of Public Works?
What did the 3rd guy say or do during all of the festivities?
Marc Fisher: Indeed, the third person at the table at the Board of Public Works is Nancy Kopp, the Montgomery County delegate. She tried her darnedest to stay out of the way, even abstaining on one of the two big land deals the governors were squabbling over. But they all ended up voting for the big land deal. This was about personalities not content.
Charlottesville, Va.:
Given the events of the last election and
exchanges such as this, a question
naturally arises --
Has Glendening managed to alienate or
offend every single person in Maryland?
He has an infant child, perhaps that's one
supporter.
Marc Fisher: And the wife. For now.
Oooh, too harsh.
Derwood, Md.:
So, William Donald has announced that he gets Irritable Bowel Syndrome weekly.
If you were a restaurant, would you let him in?
I would think the last think most restaurant operators would want is to run the risk of being thought of a possible cause of his digestive problems!
Marc Fisher: One thing I didn't have space for in the column was a series of entertaining exchanges between Schaefer and various folks testifying before the board, in which citizens offered the ex-gov lifetime supplies of the various pies that he loves. (Coconut creme and lemon, if you must know.) I don't know how that stuff sits with Schaefer, and I don't want to know.
Washington, D.C.:
So, Marc, a burning question:
Is Schaefer going to get back his $25,000 contribution? There are rules about these things, but usually something can be worked out. Maybe he could use it buy back an acre of that Eastern Shore land they'll raze.
Marc Fisher: I wouldn't hold my breath. Glendening is gonna be out of the picture momentarily and he's not about to start giving anything back.
Annandale, Va.:
Thank you for your column on Childrens and Care First. There truly are no good actors here, but the result is tragic for the families caught between the two "economic actors." I have a one-year old who is, thankfully, healthy so far, but all my fears about what might happen were brought to the surface by your column. I don't know if some sort of universal government health care system is the answer, but I do know that living in fear of what companies like Childrens and Care First might do is not acceptable.
Marc Fisher: It is scary stuff, but as today's A1 story explains, it is CareFirst that has backed down because their position was indefensible. Children's has some faults of its own, particularly its own hugely extravagant executive salaries--something that really ticks off the docs there, by the way--but on the whole, what Children's has done here is downright heroic. Real change in our broken health care system will come only when hospitals, docs and patients all stand up to the insurers and their out of control profitmongering.
Carefirst Mess:
I don't have kids, but I certainly sympathize with people who have sick kids. What do Children's and CareFirst expect these people to do -- cut a tumor out of their kid's brain themselves at home? Maybe they think everyone has a chemo machine, too.
Marc Fisher: CareFirst's chief of medicine went on and on with a straight face, arguing that Children's specialists could be matched and replicated at any old hospital. Then those other hospitals went to CareFirst and said, um, fellas, we have neither the expertise nor the staffing to do what Children's does. Between that and the desperate desire of CareFirst execs to get their sale approved and pocket their mega-bonuses, CareFirst backed down. For now, anyway.
Washington, D.C.:
Marc, please dont spike my question on Augusta National Golf Club. Do you think that the NYTs brave fight looks a little silly alongside the serious discussion of racial discrimination sparked by Mr. Lott? And why so much ado over the crusade of one very rich woman (see the USA Today profile of Martha Burk) who is trying to get what we all know would be a very rich woman into a private club? Its depicted as David v. Goliath, when really its Doris Duke v. Joseph Rauh.
Marc Fisher: Strikes me as a silly, pumped up controversy. This country has a real problem with insidious social club discrimination of the quiet, secretive kind--clubs that routinely keep out blacks, Hispanics, Jews, etc. But the open and straightforward desire of a private club to be all-male or all-female is something completely different and gets to the heart of the meaning of freedom of association.
Arlington, Va.:
Last week I posted in that I wished the Lott episode would drive the final nail into whatever was left of Strom Thurmond's reputation, and you corrected me by saying that Thurmond had apologized for his segregationist past.
I wonder if you caught Tim Noah's piece in Slate this week in which he argues that Thurmond's supposed contrition is the stuff of senatorial myth. Although Thurmond was shrewd enough to hire black staffers and cast some symbolic votes, he never, Noah argues, offered any forceful apology for his shameful past. Noah points out several interviews in the 1980s when Thurmond tried to disavow his inflammatory rhetoric from the 1948 campaign until confronted with the tape. Even then he tried to argue that his 1948 campaign was not about race, that he was just a Reagan Democrat ahead of his time.
Perhaps there is an object lesson here for both parties: if you don't want the ghosts of the past exhumed, don't keep them in the U.S. Senate.
Marc Fisher: Nope, I haven't seen Tim Noah's piece, and I'm sure he and you are right that Thurmond was never forcefully contrite. But there is a difference between how Thurmond changed his public tone and how Lott has consistently sent subtle and not so subtle messages sympathetic to old seggies. Maybe Strom was privately racist throughout his century; I've heard people talk convincingly on both sides of that question. But public officials should be held most responsible for their public statements, and Lott's are in a special class of their own.
Ciara Jobes:
One hundred thirty people, some of them dressed, we are told, in expensive clothes, found time for 15-year old Ciara Jobes after she was starved and beaten to death. They found time to cry at her funeral, and comfort each other. Some of these "mourners" were close relatives. Why could none of them find time in her 15 years to wonder about her health, to take her into their homes, to share some of their wealth and comfort, instead of waiting to posture before us about what a sweet child she was and what a tragic life she had. THEY COULD HAVE PREVENTED IT, and I weep for her. washingtonpost.com:
Tears for a Short, Horrific Life, (Post, Dec. 18)
Marc Fisher: Do take a moment (after the show, of course) to read Darragh Johnson's compelling piece on that funeral. Well, is that really so surprising, that people pay attention only after a tragedy? Of course we'd all want to be able to say that we stepped in and tried to save such a person, but the fact is that many, many people live in conditions in which poking into someone else's miserable life is both dangerous and beyond the capacity of stressed and fragile existences. Yes, somewhere someone should have stepped in, but there's an awful lot of anonymity in this society--remember how the snipers lived among us for so long, so openly. Or the 9/11 terrorists, for that matter.
Philadelphia, Pa.:
Being the good (exiled) Washingtonian that I am, I feel compelled to note that Sally Quinn's defense of Washington as a better city than New York on Monday's edition of "Crossfire" on CNN was rather lackluster. Then again, maybe that's because there are so many Yankees fans living around me. Which brings up another question: what are your thoughts on the D.C. vs. Virginia baseball stadium debate?
Marc Fisher: I didn't see it, but it's hard to make the case for DC as a better city than New York overall; NYC's size, more than 10 times that of DC's, accounts for much of that advantage. You could certainly argue that this is a far more livable place in many ways, and for its size, I'd buy the argument that the advantages and offerings here are remarkable.
On the baseball stadium, the history of sports stadia in this country in the past 30 years argues powerfully for downtown facilities. But both DC and Virginia are playing with fire by moving so slowly. As Tom Boswell wrote so well earlier this week, this is the moment. Major League Baseball is going to decide over the next few months, and we are the leading contenders. But Virginia is still playing coy about its stadium sites, refusing to say where they are for fear of fomenting a NIMBY rebellion. And the District needs to move much more quickly on narrowing its field of five sites to the real thing.
McLean, Va.:
Marc,
More of a comment than a question: I got rid of my automobile recently, and have been depending on a motorcycle, bicycle, and public transport to get to work and elsewhere. When riding a motorcycle, one must be ACUTELY aware of one's surroundings. It's a survival thing.
My newly found acute awareness has made me aware that D.C.-Virginia-Maryland drivers have precious little respect for human life, even their own lives. Biggest offenders: Cell-phone yakking yuppies in SUVs and expensive luxury vehicles. Law of physics doesn't apply to them, I guess, or at least not in any way that could cause THEM harm.
I think bicycle commuters deserve a medal for every day they arrive at work alive!
Marc Fisher: A pretty good network of bike paths has developed in this area, but you're right, commuting on the streets where SUVs rule is risky business. I feel that way walking or in a small car, so biking must be far worse.
Handing out medals won't solve anything; we need a more confrontational way to redress the imbalance of power. Ideas?
More on Strom:
It's not true that Thurmond wasn't "forcefully contrite" enough: he was never contrite at all. His position (as quoted by Tim Noah and your own Howie Kurtz) is that black people have "come up in the world" and aren't just servants anymore, and so that fact has to be recognized NOW in the political process. But he still believes that before they made such impressive progress--in 1948, for example--they had no business voting. You can look it up!
Marc Fisher: I'm not going to defend Strom. I just think Lott is a far more important issue because he's the majority leader and because he has repeatedly and recently made public comments sympathetic to segregation.
Strom & Trent:
There's a big difference between the two Senators. Thurmond's comments reflect only on himself and the people in South Carolina who vote for him. Lott, on the other hand. reflects on the entire Republican party that chose him as a leader.
Marc Fisher: What he said.
Southern Maryland::
It strikes me that all this stink about Trent Lott's comments are out of proportion. The African-American mouthpieces -- Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton -- were strangely silent when it was discovered the two Beltway snipers are black. Not a racist word has been uttered about them, but some offhand comment made about segregation starts a tempest in a teapot.
Marc Fisher: I don't get the analogy, sorry. Why should Jackson and Sharpton feel obliged to speak out just because the snipers are black? And "some offhand comment about segregation" by the majority leader of the U.S. Senate seems like a pretty important statement. Nobody even asked him about it; he volunteered it, from his heart.
Vienna, Va.:
Get a life, Lott-bashers. He is NOT a segregationist (Al Sharpton's comments notwithstanding). Lott's mistake (if he did indeed make one at all) was in not differentiating what he DID support in Thurmond's platform from what he did NOT. We know he did NOT support Jim Crow laws, even though they were popular in Mississippi at the time ... he has verified that himself. So what are we bashing him for? ... essentially nothing. He is correct in saying that many of Thurmond's policies would have saved the country a lot of trouble, even if Thurmond was wrong on segregation. For one thing, our military would have been a whole lot stronger, and we would not have been the world's whipping boy like we were under Ford and Carter.
Marc Fisher: Our military would have been a lot stronger than it is now, when we rule the world without question or challenge? Man, I don't think I would want to see what that would have looked like.
Baltimore, Md.:
You actually think there's any chance the District will move quickly on deciding a site for a baseball stadium? Anthony Williams couldn't even get his own name printed on a ballot, for crying out loud.
Boswell will be writing these pathetic columns howling at the moon for years to come once the Expos move to Portland, Oregon or San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Marc Fisher: Yes, BALTIMORE, I think the District can do this. San Juan's not even in the running. Portland is a lovely place, but tiny. The city government doesn't run a team or a stadium; billionaires do it all, and the city's role is only to grease the way for a stadium site and help out with financing through dedicated taxes or bonds.
Falls Church, Va.:
Hey Marc -
Regarding the demolition of the beloved Capital Centre, how come not a single Post article mentioned that it was also home to the Hoyas when they were National Champs? The Bullets/Wizards were mentioned, countless reveries about pot-laden concerts, and of course, the hockey team, but nothing, nada, about the Hoyas.
Why?
Marc Fisher: Media conspiracy.
K Street:
So it's not kosher to discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity, but AOK to discriminate on the basis of gender. The things I learn from Washington Post columnists! Gee, wonder if there is any link between the glass ceiling at work, and the all male country club, where many business deals get done.....?
Marc Fisher: Yes, indeed, that's the law, and that's how it is for single-sex educational institutions, women's and men's clubs, certain sports activities. There are many aspects of life in which men and women were kept artificially and wrongly apart, and many of those barriers have fallen over the past generation or two. But there are also differences between men and women and the Constitution has been repeatedly held to protect the right of a private group to separate itself from the other sex.
And yes, all-male social clubs have used their no-women policies to exclude women from important business connections, and yes, that is wrong. Much of the case law on clubs has properly centered on that question, and the social discrimination that is generally protected is only that which can be shown to be separate from any business discussion.
Arlington, Va.:
I know that Children's has saved many lives, but the day-to-day administration of that place is a nightmare -- lost appointments, triple-booked appointments, incorrect billing, the list goes on. My son has to see a variety of specialists, and at first we went to doctors at Children's (the doctors were excellent). But the mismanagement has gradually driven us to replace those specialists with ones not associated with Children's.
I'm sure providing care to children brings additional costs, but running a better operation might lower those costs (how 'bout billing right the first time, instead of waiting for a parent to call and tell you what you did wrong?).
Marc Fisher: I couldn't agree more. I've spent literally hundreds of hours on the phone trying to sort through billing insanity from that place. The medical care is breathtakingly good; the administration is a nightmare.
Washington, D.C.:
Suggestion for McLean and his bike: If you don't like yuppies and SUVs, you're living in the wrong 'burb. You're surprised the suburbs aren't friendly to pedestrians?
Marc Fisher: The writer has a point. Suburbs are designed for cars. That was the original idea, and it's remained at the heart of street and neighborhood design ever since.
Route 1 offramp:
Having also driven a motorcycle in the greater metro area for 11 years, I can attest to the amazing cluelessness of certain types of drives. Before luxury Japanese imports (Lexus, Infinity, etc) and hugely upscale SUVs, those same drivers drove BMWs. It's as if they existed alone on the area's highways and woe to the person that got in there way. I remember reading something in the Wash Post during that time frame about "confessions of a BMW driver" who was totally suprised to see how much better people treated him on the roads when he "wasn't" driving his bimmer. We useta joke that whenever we saw a Lexus driver behaving exactly like a BMW driver, it was most likely because the latter had traded in for the former.
Marc Fisher: Fair enough, but that said, motorcyclists deserve their share of carping about road habits, too. Weaving around traffic, shooting up the right side, that sort of thing.
Oakton, Va.:
I agree that Lott should leave the Senate ... and run for President. Thurmond was a conservative who supported Jim Crow laws ... Lott is a conservative who did NOT (and does not)... exactly what we need today.
Marc Fisher: Ah, there's the future of the Republican party: moderate segregationists. Racism without Jim Crow. Somehow, I don't see Karl Rove buying into that. Lott's toast.
Burke, Va.:
With the election of the new guy in Korea, now there are two world leaders who have won by running against the U.S. government. Do you think this is a trend?
Marc Fisher: Sure, it's like running against Washington in this country. Fabulous appeal. My bet is that most American political consultants who work overseas are hawking that as the Winning Strategy of the Year.
Fairfax, Va.:
Vienna is RIGHT ON here ... Thurmond may have been wrong on segregation, but history has proved him right on just about everything else.
Marc Fisher: He never really had much of an "everything else." The Dixiecrats thrived on one issue--race.
Washington, D.C.:
This whole thing about the Dixiecrats and the military is an utter canard. The Dixiecrats had NO foreign policy positions -- they were a one issue party, and we all know what that issue was. It's amazing the lies that people can come up with to stop from facing the awful truth.
Marc Fisher: Yup.
Georgetown:
Bicyclists complain and complain about car drivers. While some of their complaints have merit, they do need to take responsibility for themselves. Bicycle riders routinely ignore the rules of the road and traffic signs, both of which apply to them. The next bicyclist I see actually stop at a stop sign will be the first.
Marc Fisher: Quite true, but bicyclists, despite their rule-breaking, do operate at an enormous disadvantage on the roads.
Baltimore, Md.:
Although not in the running, the Expos will be playing in San Juan, Puerto Rico this coming year.
MLB wants a city to step up and make its case for Expos
If MLB was serious about putting a team in Washington, I'm sure RFK would be a better venue then some stadium on an island.
Marc Fisher: Les Expos will play 20-ish games in San Juan. Ever been to Puerto Rico in August? Sheesh. Makes Washington seem like the Yukon Territories.
Washington, D.C.:
"help out with financing through dedicated taxes or bonds"
Aaaarrrrggghhh!
Please explain to me why you dumb jock fans feel it's okay to steal my money to subsidize your entertainment choices? I'm not demanding you pay up to subsidize the 9:30 club.
Marc Fisher: The mayor has said of late that no general tax money will go toward a stadium. Any city support would come largely from a tax levied on businesses in the stadium neighborhood that benefit from baseball fan trade--hotels, restaurants, souvenir shops, etc. Certainly, the MCI Center has been a splendid case of showing how a reasonable amount of city support can help create a facility that sparks remarkable growth for an entire neighborhood.
Re: Augusta National:
I had been thinking along the same lines as other posters -- that the debate was all blown out of proportion, and that the club had every right to limit its membership to men... but one of my coworkers pointed out to me that often major business deals take place over a round of golf. So some women execs may be losing out in a business deal because they can't be there when the negotiation is really taking place... It seemed like a valid argument, as well.
Marc Fisher: Lots of late entries on this and on the plight of motorcyclists and bicyclists. I'll toss a few in on the way out the door....
Hell's Kitchen, N.Y.:
Are you saying discrimination against ethnic minorities is unacceptable but it's okay against women? That it's somehow less important? Wow. Nice rationalization there.
As long as Augusta continues to host professional tournaments and major sports events, their stance is wrong (and it seems like many of their members admit this already). If they want to exclude women and cite their private club status, they should withdraw into the shadows. That's why people object to Augusta's stance -- because they host major events. It amounts to an endorsement on the part of the people who play there, even if they don't intend that. This same logic is why companies divested from South Africa.
This idea that women should find something "real" to fight, that this isn't important is infuriating. Who are you, a man, to say this doesn't offend me? If they didn't allow Jews or blacks in, people would be up in arms -- why is sex discrimination still trivialized and treated so more lightly than color discrimination in this country?
Marc Fisher: One more on this...
Olney, Md.:
I'm sorry, Marc, but could you elaborate on exactly how you think gender discrimination is better than racial discrimination? If a group of men don't want to associate with women, let them play poker at home. Why should they be able to exclude women, but not blacks or Native Americans?
Marc Fisher: And a few of the cyclist comments...
Law of transit...:
Be it in the air, on the sea, on the roads or darn near anywhere else, the smaller vehicle bears the responsibility in normal transit of avoiding the larger. The smaller vehicle is more nimble and takes up less space, and can maneuver better than the larger vehicle.
Marc Fisher: Yeah, until it's crushed.
Vienna, Va.:
Got to disagree with both sides here on the pedestrian-SUV question. Suburbs ARE pedestrian-friendly ... If for no other reason that you can walk and actually get somewhere. In your vehicle you simply sit still in the endless gridlock and traffic impediments around here.
Marc Fisher: You've got to be a championship caliber walker to get most places in the suburbs.
Driver/Motorcyclist:
Yes, there are motorcyclists with bad habits. They are a minority. Whereas with drivers, honestly, 50 percent of them behave as if they are out to kill you.
As someone who drives and rides I am hyper aware of people on bikes when I'm in my car, and most riders are very careful. (The ones that aren't are probably hospitalized or dead.)
Part of the reason is the nature of things. You CAN'T be zoned out on a bike. You can in a car. Cars are much more forgiving of a moment's inattention than a motorcycle.
Marc Fisher: We're over the hour, folks, so I have to cut it here. But thanks for playing along. Live Online isn't next week, so we'll be on furlough. Have splendid and gentle holidays; the online show returns on the first Thursday of the new year, Jan. 2, same time, same Bat-station.
And the column continues in print and among the flying electrons.
Out.
| |
© Copyright 2002 The Washington Post Company | 
