A Whole New League
McAuliffe as the DNC’s Vince McMahon.

Mr. George is an editorial page writer for the New York Post
February 7, 2001 3:15 p.m.

he XFL got all the news, but the real smashmouth ugliness was on display elsewhere.

The new Democratic party, under the tutelage of Terry McAuliffe looks a bit like the new football league--though without any redeeming entertainment value.

Instead, it's merely sleazy, in-your-face and on a search and destroy mission. There we have it, the ultimate legacy of the Clinton administration. McAuliffe obviously would like to be Vince McMahon, the hyperbolic entrepreneur magnate that has made the World Wrestling Federation one of the great success stories of the 1990s. McAuliffe has been entrepreneurial in fundraising, managing to become a millionaire himself while raising millions for Democrats. Of course, one of the reasons why the WWF has become a success is that, in addition to selling the "sport" (wink, wink) of pro-wrestling, McMahon creates storylines of "good" wrestlers vs. "evil" wrestlers verbally bashing each other in as outrageous ways as possible, scantily clad women and double-entendres from announcers.

It's a tawdry spectacle — yet it sells. Remarkably, this is quite similar to what passed for political debate in the 1990s. Bill Clinton and the Republican party engaged in a death-match for the better part of that period. Thanks to Clinton's own lusts, an endless array of women kept popping up to provide titillation for the masses. His affair with Monica Lewinsky, being the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back, helped create a climate where discussions of DNA and stained blue dresses became regular around America's dinner table and fodder for late-night comics.

Of course, Bill Clinton thrived in this environment. He was able to "sell" himself to the public, while "selling" (with McAuliffe's help) the White House to favored donors. Despite everything, he departed office with the highest approval ratings of any president. Of course, the public also disliked him as a person — a sentiment which is likely to grow as attention continues to focus on gifts, pardons and what not. But, hey, Bill Clinton has always had a target on his back. Match the "He Hate Me" nickname that adorned XFL running back Rod Smart's jersey Saturday. Clinton has thrived on the contempt of his enemies — while demonizing them.

It is that last tactic that Terry McAuliffe has adopted as chairman of a Democrat party that has neither the presidency nor at least one chamber of Congress for the first time in nearly half a century. Refusing the hand of bipartisanship that George W. Bush has extended, McAuliffe asserted a scorched-earth approach:

He declared that the Republicans had stolen the election. "If Katherine Harris, Jeb Bush, Jim Baker, and the Supreme Court hadn't tampered with the results, Al Gore would be president!" Democrats must seek "…victory after denial, democracy after Florida…and justice after the United States Supreme Court."

Someone would undoubtedly note that if there is any "denial" going on here, it's from Democrats. That aside, this is a menacing development in the American political process. It's not quite the hardball politics that we've gotten used to over the years. Just like the XFL, this looks like football, but it's really a whole different league.

McAuliffe is planning on keeping Democrats in a perpetual state of grievance. Tactically, this is cunningly smart. Liberals have mastered the status of victimization in recent years, thus Democrats would be predisposed toward it. There is energy in aggrievement. However, in the context of what is good for the country, this is repugnant.

The focus of the grievance is not simply against the Bush administration — which many Democrats regard as lacking legitimacy — but also against the Supreme Court. McAuliffe doesn't care that members of the liberal part of the group found the recount unconstitutional. He charges the entire body with acting as a partisan tool of the Republican party. It's a smashmouth slur, that, as Jim Gilmore stated this weekend, questions the legitimacy of an equal branch of the republic.

No, this doesn't quite reach the standard of treason, but McAuliffe is dancing rather close to it. Of course, Democrats should be worrying more about their new leader. McAuliffe doesn't have the Vince McMahon/Bill Clinton talent for making demagoguery entertaining. Add the fact that McAuliffe will undoubtedly be asked (as he was on Meet The Press) constantly about possibly illegal Teamster/DNC fundraising during the '96 presidential campaign.

The Democrats and the country are in for a long few years.