FIRST PUBLISHED OCTOBER 1, 2000

In the 2000 general election George W. Bush is "asking for your vote" based on his promise to end partisan bickering in Washington, even though it's Dubbya's Grand Ole Partisans that are largely responsible for that very bickering and worse. The Republican eight-year reign of terror against Bill Clinton was unprecedented in its nastiness. It included a $52 million, taxpayer funded "fly" fishing expedition that, as far as the President's culpability was concerned, turned up some dissembling about an Arkansas gold digger and an affair with an overeager intern. For which the President has profusely apologized and endured a public humiliation that makes the Salem Witch Trials seem like a Wicca solstice celebration.

Electing George W. Bush would be a vindication of the Republican politics of destruction in general, and, in particular, the grossly one-sided, undemocratic, and destructive demagoguery of the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Bob Barr, Sean Hannity, Ollie North, and their ilk.

George W. Bush is the good-natured, good timing' front man for the dark back side of the Republican Party and its operatives. It's no surprise the GOP chose to elect such a simple, congenial, frat boy; a man who makes Dan Quayle seem like a Mensa brat. All the better to distract the American public from the patently evil Republican reign of terror. The Republicans, and ONLY the Republicans, created the bad will in Washington, DC over the last eight years. Newt Gingrich shut the government down TWICE. What a duplicitous act of disingenuous propaganda to ignore that fact and blame the ill-mannered tone of Washington debate on Mr. Clinton himself, an admittedly flawed man, who, nevertheless, tirelessly tried to rise above the base and heartless fray.

Remember Ronald Reagan? Remember what a nice fellow he was? A bit of a half-wit. Didn't care too much about the details of public policy. Depended heavily on a cadre of aides to make and frame his every utterance. And who were some of those men behind the scenes? Real honest altruists, right? Men like convicted Iran-Contra criminals Elliott Abrams and Robert C. McFarlane, and other Iran-Contra criminals who got off the hook: Caspar Weinberger, Clair George, and a man by the name of George Bush, Senior.

With George Bush, Junior, you will be getting, as Yogi Berra put it, "deja vu all over again." Good ole Dubbya: nice, uncomplicated, and unthreatening, both physically and intellectually. A bumbler. A fumbler. Not a wonk. Not a thinker. A man who depends heavily on the kindness of strangers. Except his henchmen are no strangers. We know the type: the same kind of shadowy creatures that have hung out behind Republican nice guys for decades: Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle, Feith, and more.

Al Gore is no Bill Clinton. Arrogant, stiff, a trifle immature, he's not perfect. But when are we all going to grow up and admit there is no such thing as a perfect president? Every single candidate has a personal foible or two or three. Forget that Al Gore served his country in an unpopular dwar. Forget that he has been a tireless champion of the environment. That he has been faithful to his wife and constituents. Big Al's major foible seems to be that he gets excited and exaggerates. Big deal. You can't exaggerate public policy. Let his record speak plainly, when he can't.

Heck, maybe Ralph Nader, this year's Jerry Brown, is right. Maybe the differences between Gore and Bush will not be as great as we fear, or hope. Which is why we should continue to push for campaign finance reform and a genuine and positive third party alternative. But, for now, we have some unfinished business to take care of. A little matter of payback. Eye for an eye, Mr. Lott. Tooth for a tooth, Mr. Hastert.

Remember the indignation many of you felt during the impeachment? Perhaps, like me, you were disappointed with Mr. Clinton's lapse of moral judgment. But far more than that you were outraged that the Republicans, in their bitter, desperate, self-centered, and hypocritical scorched earth vendetta against this man, had succeeded in winning an international audience for their paranoiac delusions (Filegate), outlandish conspiracy theories (Vince Foster), unconscionable invasions of personal privacy (The Ken Starr Porn Report), and rapacious character assassinations that would make Machiavelli blush. These weren't minor ad hominem attacks, but, rather, a systematic attempt to unseat a sitting and freely elected President, by any means necessary.

Many of us vowed to pay the Republicans back in November 2000. Well, November 2000 has arrived. And lost amidst the barrage of pundits, ads, and the illusory veneer of competing policy positions, is our righteous and wholly justified anger at the way Bill Clinton was hounded by the Republican Congress and their brazen puppets on AM radio, at Fox Television News, and in countless other arenas of American public life.

The 2000 Presidential election is not about prescription drugs for seniors, or how to spend the surplus, or a dozen other policy positions, even though Al Gore needs to argue that it is. We know that Mr. Gore cannot make our case for revenge. We need to make it for him. Al Gore needs, as he says, to "stand as his own man," even though we know he cannot hold a candle to Mr. Clinton. If he were running against his boss, he wouldn't stand a chance. He knows that. We know that. But this election is not about Al Gore. And it certainly is not about George W. Bush.

It is about who we are as a people.

I ask you to remember the fire you felt back in January 1999. Remember the umbrage? This election IS about ethics. It IS about character. It is about the ethics and character of our public life. Whatever you feel about Bill Clinton's personal peccadilloes, there is no denying that he withstood an astounding level of unjust and brutal attacks from the very moment he entered office. There was no honeymoon for Mr. Clinton. Yet through it all, he managed to maintain an almost superhuman composure, an astounding degree of decorum, humility and grace. This is the great legacy of William Jefferson Clinton.

And in a country which has only gotten more shrill in its opinions, cruder in its reporting, more personal in its attacks, Mr. Clinton's gentlemanly example of how to be civil in public discourse must be honored and preserved. Such civility is more important than candidate campaign promises that will invariably shift once in office. Civility is so important because it ensures a proper and safe environment for real solutions to appear. Civility engenders trust and freedom to disagree, to risk, and, yes, to grow. Al Gore will preserve that civility, however abrasive he may appear at times. George W. Bush may very well preserve that civility too. But in electing George W. Bush, and by extension his behind-the-scenes Republican attack dogs, we will send an unequivocal message: an eight year pattern of vicious, cruel, and imbalanced attacks will not only be tolerated, but rewarded at the ballot box.

America deserves better.