Weekend Warriors

            Pundit in Chief Bill Clinton
made an hourlong appearance on Meet the Press , marking the
50 th anniversary of the show that invented TV talking heads. Issue 1
on his agenda was Iraq. Clinton takes the view that there will be
"consequences" if Saddam doesn't start behaving. The rest of the Sunday
commentariat--unconstrained by the ability to actually do anything--made even
noisier threats. The official sound bite of the weekend--offered up by Clinton
and by National Security Adviser Sandy Berger (on CNN's Late Edition )
and aped by the heads--was that this confrontation pits Iraq against the world,
not Iraq against the United States.

            Several weekend warriors
were ready to fly to Baghdad and grease the dictator themselves. New York
Times columnist Thomas Friedman made this position respectable in a
Thursday piece that called on the United States to take Saddam out with a "head
shot" before the United Nations "starts tut-tutting and rushing to his
defense." (Friedman was not engaging in metaphor, as you can see by clicking
here.) George Stephanopoulos elicited a gasp from Cokie Roberts
on ABC's This Week when he too demanded Saddam's "assassination." "G.I.
Bill" Kristol concurred: "We need to go in and get" Saddam, even if it requires
ground troops. On The McLaughlin Group , even Pat Buchanan--who ardently
opposed the Gulf War back in 1990--endorsed unilateral American military
action, noting only that Saddam will "take hits for a long time."

            In general, the heads seemed
almost giddy in anticipation of battle. There was no talk of body bags. Late
Edition 's Steve Roberts grabbed the obvious war-is-the-health-of-the-state
angle. One Democrat had told him, "Thank God for Saddam Hussein!" Anthrax
cocktails on the house for both Roberts and the unnamed Democrat, please.

            There was
similar unanimity last weekend on Issue 2: the fast-track trade bill, which
teetered on the Hill as the Sunday pundits gabbed. The virtues of free trade
are a given among the commentariat. So instead of debating the merits, they
analyzed the political shadows cast by the legislative battle. Why are so many
Democrats deserting their president, and why are so many Republicans deserting
their free-trade principles? The pundits' answer, which may even be correct:
labor-union cash and hatred of Clinton, respectively. (David Broder on PBS
Washington Week in Review , Cokie Roberts on This Week , and Mark
Shield on CNN's Capital Gang all noted the Democratic National
Committee's $15-million debt. Campaigngate has left Democratic donors angry and
stingy.) Clinton's failure to rally House Democrats has reduced him to a
"prophet without honor in his own party," said Paul Gigot on PBS's
NewsHour . Fast track's ultimate winner? Newt Gingrich, said
Stephanopoulos in a somewhat stagy display of his newfound powers of
objectivity. Why Newt? He'll get the credit if it passes and Clinton will get
the blame if it loses.

            Clinton said on Meet the Press that his weekend
speech to a gay-rights group was an all-American blow for civil rights,
although he confided that he didn't think the gay alternative should be taught
in school. This Week guest Bill Bennett seized on this comment to insist
that the president's gay-rights position isn't really analogous with civil
rights. Dan Quayle--who confessed he hadn't heard or read the Clinton
speech--said on Fox News Sunday that the administration was behind a
"left-wing agenda to change people's attitudes" about sexual orientation.
Minutes later, Quayle upgraded it to a "radical left-wing agenda."
Bennett reprised Quayle's talking point twice, calling the speech a "signal" of
the "new agenda for liberals."

            Bennett may or may not be
correct that gay rights is at the center of the liberal agenda. But Sunday's
lockstep sound bites are confirmation that the issue is now at the center of
the conservative agenda. And yet even conservatives are careful to express a
degree of acceptance that would have been considered radical just a few years
ago. (Quayle urged a sort of tolerance for homosexuals that stops short of
"approval and endorsement"--which sounds suspiciously like Clinton's "don't
ask, don't tell" construction.)

            Clinton
credited the Republican sweep of Tuesday's election to 1) a good economy and 2)
the abundance of Republican incumbents. Stephanopoulos backed this party line.
The Republican party line was, of course, that the country is turning
Republican. On NewsHour , Gigot urged Clinton to get back into the game
by rehiring Dick Morris, who could save the Democrats by "triangulating"
policies in a Republican direction. "Reagan Democrats are now Republicans,"
said This Week 's Kristol, hinting at a broad political realignment.

            

               Pundit Bites: Former Christian Coalition
leader Ralph Reed was billed on Late Edition as a "Republican
strategist." This is a new chyron for Reed, who used to insist that he and the
coalition did not serve Republicans but "the name that is above all names."
... 
               Fox News Sunday 's recent efforts to uplift the debate with
expert round tables that aren't pegged to the news (race in America last week
and "the media--is it fair?" this week) leave "Pundit Central" hankering for
McLaughlin Group -style shouting matches. ... "I will run for
president someday," threatened Dan Quayle on Fox News Sunday .

            

               --Jack
Shafer