The
Robo-Candidate
by Ralph Nader
Dissident Voice
December 8, 2002
Walking down a
busy street in downtown Washington recently, I began to hear interesting words
coming from an excitable conversation between two gentlemen briskly walking
behind me. "Do you have any idea what is emerging?," one said to the
other. "We're perfecting the robo-candidate from Washington, DC and making
it seem like it's local."
It turned out
the latest robo-candidate they were talking about was Republican U.S. Senate
candidate Suzanne Haik Terrell who, at this writing, is in a runoff race with
Louisiana Democrat, Senator Mary Landrieu."We now can select the candidate
from any state to beat the Democrats, frame the issues, convey the slogans,
raise the money, buy the tv ads and even provide the robo-rebuttals for the
debates." Hah, hah, hah, whopee, said the fast walking fellow who was the
younger of the two.
The other fellow
was no less exuberant. He added: "And we bring in Bush and Air Force One
for the finale with total media coverage totally unchallenged. It's working
again and again. The Dems are in a panic, falling all over themselves to agree
with the President. Landrieu even has a television ad showing how many times
she agrees with Bush." As they turned the corner, they couldn't stop
laughing.
The duo was
actually understating what the Republicans are doing to the Democrats who years
ago forgot who they were. All kinds of national Republicans -- Vice President
Cheney, Urban Development Secretary Mel R. Martinez, Senate Minority leader
Trent Lott and others -- have gone into Louisiana to campaign for Terrell.
Landrieu doesn't want any national Democrats to do the same. Only her fellow
Democrat, conservative Senator John Breaux is doing the honors from campaign
event to campaign event.
Robo-politics,
Republican style, is also quite visible. Terrell's campaign headquarters in the
state capitol, Baton Rouge is tiny, reports the Washington Post. She made only
one appearance the weekend before Saturday's election day, while relying on
huge television buys to get her robo-message (smaller government, less taxes,
bigger military and, surprise, she's against terrorism).
Meanwhile, back
in Washington, D.C., the Republican National Committee offices are
"Terrell Central." The RNC is running the show right down to the
words used in the debates: "You're 100 percent wrong Mary and you are so
negative." Where have we heard those words before November 7th around the
country? Everywhere!
After losing
more seats in the House and losing control of the Senate, the Democratic
strategists seemed to have learned nothing. Enron is close to Louisiana; so is
WorldCom. Yet, corporate crime, fraud and abuse, looted pensions, laid off
workers and depleted 401ks are not made into major issues where the
corporate-indentured Republicans are at their weakest. All kinds of corporate
crime crackdowns and reforms of Big Business and health care-denying HMOs,
could appeal to pollution-drenched Louisiana and its past populist traditions.
So could the living wage issue.
Somehow, the
Democrats believe that they can beat the opposing Republican Party by never
criticizing its leader -- George W. Bush -- America's burgeoning Big Brother
whose snooping, liberty-violating and anti-worker ways are getting a free ride
on the backs of our crumbling democracy, while giant corporations are laughing
all the way to the bank on the backs of the small taxpayers who are forced to
subsidize them.
And there is
Suzie Terrell sticking to her RNC-inspired lines: "He will know when Suzie
Terrell doesn't agree. I'm going to stand firm and strong for Louisiana,"
she told a smiling George W. Bush at the rally on December3rd. In Republican
circles, this is called the "independence streak" line to counter
charges that she and other such choreographed candidates by the RNC and the
White House's Karl Rove are going to be rubber stamps for the President.
The RNC even
knows when to let the robo-candidate twitch back on cue. Will the Democrats
ever free themselves of all that corporate money and wake up?
Ralph Nader is
America’s leading consumer advocate. He is the founder of numerous public
interest groups including Public Citizen, and has twice run for President as a Green
Party candidate. His latest book is Crashing
the Party: How to Tell the Truth and Still Run for President (St. Martin’s
Press, 2002)