Democrats’ Ill Wind Blows in GOP Favor

Memo to congressional Republicans: Get a grip. Please.

Bill Clinton, Al Gore, the DNC and their tawdry gang of assorted hustlers, money launderers, drug dealers, stonewallers and jailbirds have handed you a political royal flush. And you’re playing it like you were dealt a pair of deuces.

Right in front of you is full-blown Democratic sleaze--a stench bought and paid for by an entrenched party near-crazed to keep its vise grip on the power of the executive branch. Haley Barbour showed you what needs to be done: Start playing offense.

Thus far, the Democrats seem to appreciate more than you the stakes in this historic battle. That’s why committee Democrats went into three-alarm damage control from the very beginning of the Senate investigation. They brought on a Washington-based pollster--Mark Mellman--who meets with them regularly to plot and coordinate strategy, write speeches and impose unapologetic and disciplined foot-dragging.

The Senate stonewalling has its counterpart in the Clinton camp where daily strategy sessions to blunt the hearings are chaired in the White House by political hardballer John Podesta. Podesta works in concert with Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle’s personal scandal-fuzzer, Glenn Ivey, a veteran of sidetracking the Senate Whitewater hearings.

Elsewhere, mud jockeys like James Carville labor tirelessly--and brazenly--to ensure that First Family and Democratic Party knaves slip, slide and duck past the onrush of prosecutors, investigators and nosy reporters. At every opportunity these Democrats are in front of cameras and on Sunday talk shows to make chicken salad out of chicken droppings.

So put behind you the whiny little rebellion against Newt Gingrich. Your squabbling is a gift to Democrats desperate to deflect attention away from themselves. In an environment target-rich with Clintonista scoundrels, stop shooting at yourselves.

Here’s a plan: Organize teams of your most articulate congressional spokesmen--each with a different area of expertise and staffed by your brightest minds. Frame the national debate with public comment at the beginning and again at the end of each day. Areas of opportunity:

(1) Corner Clinton at every turn. Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey once called Clinton “an unusually good liar.” But lately, he’s also been an obvious one. Thus, when confronted on July 9 with evidence of his own role in sending John Huang to the DNC to raise money, Clinton lost his charm-boy demeanor. His face tightened as he said: “. . . I think I may have said to someone that he wanted to go to work at the DNC. I do believe I did say that to someone.” And then this whopper: “I wish I could tell you more. That’s all I know about it.”

Sen.Sam Ervin observed during the 1973 Senate Watergate hearings that the only thing that might be better than a good memory is a “good forgettory.” Republicans lost an opportunity when they let Clinton squirm away from this one. Don’t let it happen again.

(2) Deprive the stonewallers of their anonymity. Make their names public down to the last junior staffer. Display with charts the Democratic strategy. Detail White House, Senate staff and outside political coordination. Offer the public proof that a major cover-up is underway.

(3) Look at the cover-up with a criminal as well as political eye. When there is intent to hide criminal wrongdoing by suppressing public knowledge, the coordination of such efforts can rise to the level of obstruction of justice. If actions warrant the charge; make it.

(4) Keep attention on the most embarrassing facts. Charlie Trie is on the lam. John Huang and Johnny Chung are refusing to testify. The Justice Department drags its feet on immunity for key witnesses. Hustlers, drug felons and foreign interests bought their way into seeing the Clintons.

(5) Put the mirror of shame in front of John Glenn. This American hero has become a disgusting prat boy for Clinton--squandering his good name to defend obvious campaign sleaze. He should be reminded on a daily basis of how pathetic he looks shoveling out the stables for the ilk that has shamed his political party.

Try these for starters. If you keep the pressure on, it won’t be long before even the most ardent Clintophiles will begin wondering why they’re using up political capital for a malodorous cause.