Now that Bush is tentatively our President, will both sides of the isle work together for the good of the people? Any opinions, Pro or Con?

-- Rolex Hoffmann (rolex@innw.net), December 13, 2000

Answers

Rolex,

I know how passionate you can be sometimes, but I feel as if I am holding my breath, waiting to see if "W" embarasses us as Republicans and all of us as a nation.

Not that Gore would be better, he wouldn't.

-- Marsha (acorn_nut@msn.com), December 13, 2000.

to Rolex: You ask: "Now that Bush is tentatively our President, will both sides of the isle work together for the good of the people?"

Which isle are you talking about? The Isle of Wight? There are so many isles in the world. Could you be more specific?

-- Matthew M. Warren (mattinsky@msn.com), December 13, 2000.

I suppose it depends on whether GW finds all the hidden mini cams Al planted under the desks, behind the filing cabinets, etc. in the oval office.

www.whatsgeorgeupto.net/livecam

-- Jim Cusick (jc.cusick@gte.net), December 13, 2000.

"Will Government get anything done"

About a quarter of a century ago, I knew the (Democratic) senior staffer on the Senate Appropriations Committee. It was early in August (the federal fiscal year started July 1st then) and Congress was still running the government on continuing resolutions since they STILL had not gotten out the new fiscal year budget. In youthful pique, I asked him why both parties couldn't just settle down and do the people's business.

He laughed so hard he couldn't speak for almost a minute. When he did speak, this is what he said:
Zowie--
1.The republic has existed for almost 200 years.
2. For most of that time, there has been a Congress.
3. All the really important laws that needed to be passed, were passed in the first few decades.
4. Why do you think that we are going to be bright enough to pass, this year, things that we weren't bright enough to pass the first 200 years?

He then explained to me that what they really did was to take last year's budget, add a cost of living allowance, subtract 5% if the program was out of favor, add 5% if the program were in favor. In favor was defined as providing pork that favored the majority leader, and anyone he had to make a deal with to get what he wanted. Out of favor, was a pork program that favored your political opponent.

I really didn't start getting cynical until I checked what he said for myself, and found that he was right.
The poor bastard had been doing that for 23 years. His contempt for the system was almost complete, and he'd been a significant player in it for all of that time!

-- (zowie@hotmail.com), December 13, 2000.

precisely why politics should never have been or be a " career "

-- no chance (kingoffools_99@yahoo.com), December 16, 2000.