QUESTION: LAST WEEK President Clinton and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole flip-flopped on major issues. President Clinton conceded to a Texas audience that he may have raised taxes too much and Sen. Dole changed, again, his stand on accepting contributions from gay Republicans. Which party has the worse record on truth-telling?
BONNIE ERBE: Unfortunately, history proves lying and flip-flopping is neither the exclusive province of Republicans nor Democrats.Yes, President Clinton flip-flopped on taxes. He admitted to a Houston dinner group he agreed with the sentiment that he had raised taxes too much. Then he came back days later with the tottery rejoinder that his mother had told him never to ad lib when he was tired. These are conversations that he should be having in the privacy of a therapists' office, where he, like most garden-variety guilt-ridden folks, can properly work through his people-pleasing tendencies.
But Clinton, as a Democrat, has no monopoly on this tactic. House Speaker Newt Gingrich calls himself an environmentalist and preaches family values. But he votes to gouge environmental protections and his extramarital involvements are the talk of the town. George Bush promised not to raise taxes, and then turned around and did. What is worse is that Bush lied about his involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal. According to a memo by former Secretary of State George Shultz, Bush's disclaimer of any involvement in the arms sale to Iran was pure folly. Ronald Reagan, too, lied about his involvement in the affair.
Three presidents this century promised to keep the country out of war. All three - Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson - involved us in major, long-term, costly conflicts. In fact, the only president in recent history who failed to break a major policy promise was Jimmy Carter. And he was unceremoniously dumped by the American voters for, among other things, his lack of conviction.
Do our politicians lie and flip-flop? You bet. Who is to blame? Just look in the mirror. It is those of us who keep re-electing them.
BETSY HART: Needless to say, I've heard of politicians in both parties flipping. (Though I wouldn't agree with my colleague that many of the instances she sites are accurate examples of such gymnastics.) I've even heard of them flip-flopping. But last week's speech by President Clinton was the rhetorical equivalent of a triple flip with a half-gainer ending in a belly-flop.
The speech to the tony Houston group was not the first time Clinton tried out his "I raised taxes too much" theme. He used it in front of another group several days earlier. No apologies there, because the press didn't widely pick it up and report it. Only when his comments were forced onto the front pages did the president say "Oops. Where's Mom when you need her?"
Clearly, he does have a pathological need to please whomever he's talking to at any one time. But here's the most amazing thing of all. During the double-flip (before he tripled back) he said the largest tax increase ever in the history of the United States was really the fault of Republicans. Hello, anybody home? Every single Republican in the House and Senate voted against that tax hike, and with good reason.
Politicians have long histories of trying to blame someone else when things go wrong. But to blame the very people who tried to stop the president from taking the action he now regrets (I think) is revisionist nonsense worthy of Russia, not America.