Syndicated Column 3-15-04
Does Pataki know something we don't?

by Alan Chartock

G.W. Bush denies it, his current vice president, Dick "Halliburton" Cheney, vigorously denies it. Nevertheless, the word on the street is that Cheney is not going to run for vice president. Observers from both parties now believe that Cheney constitutes a political liability for Bush, something that the president cannot afford to tolerate in what is looking like a very close election. Even big-mouthed right wing talk show hosts are giving odds that Bush will reach out to someone else.
The theory, and it makes sense, is that Bush will have to choose as a running mate someone who practices a more liberal brand of politics than he does. Everyone knows there are more middle class and poor people in the country than rich people. By now, unless you are very stupid, you will have seen that Bush caters to the wealthiest of Americans. He says when you cut taxes on the rich and help them to get even more than they've got, their money will trickle down to the rest of the people who don't have huge incomes. Bush's own father, "George I," once called that "voodoo economics." He was right, of course, and now his own son, "George II" is practicing the same thing that pater Bush warned Ronald Reagan not to do.
The theory being advanced is that Bush, the present president, will need to take a page out of Bill Clinton's political play book and "triangulate" against the Democratic foe. That means he'll need to rob them of some of their issues and find a veep candidate who will appeal to the middle-of-the-roaders, or at least enough of them to "pull out the election."
We are told by informed sources that the reason why George Pataki has been running all over the country like a madman is that he thinks he will be that candidate. Up until now the thinking has been that the conservative base of the Republican Party would never stand for a pro-choice, sometimes liberal man like Pataki. Nonetheless, the people who are pushing this Pataki for vice president rumor suggest that the conservatives really have no place to go except to Bush. A liberal, Catholic governor running for vice president might be just the thing to put a stop to John Kerry who would be the first Catholic to become [resident since John F. Kennedy and therefore an attractive candidate to Catholics around the country who are all too aware what political discrimination is all about.
We all know that Pataki has been running around the country like a man possessed, raising money for Bush and the Republican Party. It is tempting to think he knows something that we don't. If we're hearing that Bush is going to dump Cheney, so is Pataki and he's out there, knowing something. Maybe he and Bush think the occasion of the Republican National Convention in New York would be the ideal time to tell Republicans that the New York governor will be number two.
It really isn't all that far fetched. After all, Cheney has suffered multiple heart attacks and all he needs is a doctor who publicly advises him not to run again. His exit would be neat and graceful.
Cheney, of course, still can continue to run the government. They'll just have to find another title for him. No one seriously thinks that even if Pataki becomes vice president, he will replace Cheney, one of the real powers in the present administration.
Of course, Pataki comes with some real liabilities. He has played out his string in New York and he cannot win again, especially against a strong candidate like New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Pataki has a reputation for ruthlessness against his political mentors and the White House has to know that. Why would you want someone with a sharp knife at your back? Worst of all, more and more information has been surfacing about the awarding of questionable contracts by members of the Pataki administration. You will remember one Spiro T. Agnew who had to resign the vice presidency not for what he did when he was number two but because of his activities in political office before he became vice president. Further complicating things is the fact that Pataki owes his career to Alfonse D'Amato who, we hear, is still in constant touch with the governor. D'Amato is hardly the last word in ethical, clean politics.
Finally, Pataki doesn't bring a state with him. New York certainly is not going to vote for Bush on Pataki's word. Heck, it's doubtful they'd even vote for Pataki himself.
Maybe there is something to it. Bush and Cheney keep denying it but what do you expect them to say? Clearly Pataki is acting like it's a possibility. Does he know something we don't know?







- posted by Alan @ 3/17/2004 01:45:00 PM