The Former Confederacy & Modern American Politics, Part Twenty

Mid 1991 saw George H.W. Bush's nomination of Clarence Thomas for a seat on the Supreme Court. Thomas was a black conservative Republican judge chosen by Bush to replace retiring black progressive justice, Thurgood Marshall; thus, shifting the Supreme Court to the political right. Interest groups from both sides of the political spectrum mobilized over the Thomas nomination. The nomination hearings reached fever pitch, with millions of Americans tuned in, when Anita Hill, a lawyer who had worked with Thomas when he was her supervisor, testified that he had made inappropriate sexual remarks to her, perhaps constituting sexual harassment. President Bush, pressed by conservatives to stick with, and to fight for, the nomination, did so. The bitter process ended with Thomas winning confirmation by a narrow margin, as eleven Democrats voted for his confirmation, while only two Republicans opposed it. Senators from former Confederate states voted 14 to 8 in favor of Thomas's confirmation.

With the economy in recession, Bush's popularity tumbled, giving Democrats hope of defeating the incumbent president. Hard line conservative Pat Buchanan entered the Republican nomination process and criticized Bush for working with Democrats and for breaking his "read my lips, no new taxes" pledge. Buchanan made a strong showing in New Hampshire, but Bush won and he continued on to a relatively easy renomination, but the attacks from Buchanan took a toll, as a part of the conservative base of the Republican Party remained unenthusiastic about George Bush. To placate conservatives, Bush gave Buchanan the keynote address spot at the Republican National Convention in Houston, Texas. In that speech, dripping with venom, Buchanan attacked the Democratic nominee, Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, and Democrats in general, who, he said, were in a fight to take over the soul of the country by advocating abortion, gay rights, and a diverse society. Buchanan obviously forgot his own mixed background of Irish, Scottish and German.

Democrats nominated Bill Clinton of Arkansas and that state's governor. Clinton did well in all of the primaries in former Confederate states. He chose fellow Southerner Al Gore of Tennessee as his running mate, as the Democrats pitted a Southern ticket against the Republicans and Ross Perot, a billionaire businessman who entered the race and quickly became a favorite of many disgruntled Americans. The thing was, while Perot started off well, as with his own money, he didn't need big campaign contributions. Increasingly large sums of money in the political process was something that had become a growing concern among some Americans. Further, his use of charts and pointers about certain issues also played well with many voters, but he later began to display some erratic behavior, at one point even withdrawing from the race, only to later say he had dropped out because Republicans had planned dirty tricks to disrupt his daughters wedding. Further, Perot asserted that the CIA was involved in trying to destroy his campaign by tapping into his stock trading program to prevent him from financing his campaign, and there were other unsubstantiated charges of assassination plots, etc. The White House and the Bush campaign leaders called it all nonsense. Perot's poll numbers tumbled and Bill Clinton's rose, putting the Democrat ahead of the field. Later Perot decided to get back into the race. On top of the display of paranoia, Perot had selected retired, highly decorated Vice Admiral James Stockdale as his running mate. During the vice presidential debate, Stockdale, who had had little time to prepare for the debate, looked into the television cameras and asked, "Who am I? Why am I here?" Stockdale's apparent confusion and lack of focus throughout the debate produced a series of one liners from comedians and it further called into question the judgment, if not the very sanity, of Ross Perot. The thing was, Perot's paranoia and conspiracy theories played right into the minds of a number of Americans obsessed with such things, and to whom Republican tricks were assumed to be commonplace, no proof required.

Clinton and Gore put the South back into play for Democrats, and Bush seemed to be mired in low poll numbers. On election day, the voters had their say: Clinton/Gore received 43% of the popular vote and 370 electoral votes, including those of former Confederate states Georgia, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee. Bush carried the other states in the South, but he received only about 37 1/2% of the national popular vote. Perot won no states, but he received about 19% of the popular vote. In the U.S. Senate elections, Republicans gained a seat in a close election in Georgia, and defeated the Democratic incumbent in North Carolina, too. In elections for the House of Representatives, based upon redistricting from the 1990 Census, Republicans gained a seat in Alabama, making that delegation 4 Democrats and 3 Republicans; in Arkansas, Republicans gained a seat to make the delegation 2 Democrats and 2 Republicans; in Florida, a state which saw an increase in representation because of population growth, Republicans won 13 seats to 10 for Democrats; Georgia added one new seat and the new delegation was 7 Democrats and 4 Republicans; Louisiana added an additional seat and the new delegation was 4 Democrats and 3 Republicans; Mississippi's delegation remained totally Democratic, with 5 Democrats; North Carolina gained one seat and after the election the delegation was 8 Democrats and 4 Republicans; South Carolina saw Republicans gain a seat to make the delegation 3 Republicans and 3 Democrats; Tennessee remained steady at 6 Democrats and 3 Republicans; Texas added new seats, and after the election, the delegation was 21 Democrats and 9 Republicans; Virginia added one seat, and after the election the delegation was 7 Democrats and 4 Republicans. In elections for governors of former Confederate states, the only change was that Democrats won the governorship from Republicans in North Carolina.   

WORD HISTORY:
One-This word, closely related to original English words of Germanic derivation "only," and to the second part of "alone," ultimately goes back to Indo European "oinos." The Germanic branch of Indo European continued with "ainaz." This was passed down to Old English and Old Frisian as "an" (long "a" sound). There seems to have been a wide variety of pronunciations for the English word, and it later tended to have a long "o" sound for quite some time in many areas of England. The "w" sound, however, seems to have developed in western England, and it eventually was accepted as "standard," although not until the 1700s. The Indo European word was also passed along to other branches of its family, as Latin had "unus," for example, and that word further developed into French "un," and Italian and Spanish "uno." The other Germanic languages have: German "ein," Low German Saxon "een," Dutch "een," West Frisian "ien," Danish "en," Icelandic "einn," Norwegian "en," and Swedish "en" (Swedish also has "ett").

It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Twenty-Two

This was first published in November 2012


 "Bush's Poll Numbers Plummet"

President Bush wanted to deal with the huge federal budget deficit and he had to work with Democratic majorities in both houses to accomplish that. Democrats wanted some tax increases as a part of any deal and Republicans, especially hard line conservatives, wanted only budget cuts. For Bush, his campaign pledge, "Read my lips, no new taxes," was a major obstacle for him, but the President made the commitment to keep tax increases as part of the negotiations. The deal reached cut spending by more than $300 billion and raised revenues by a little more than $150 billion over a five year period. The deal had a provision for any new spending or tax cuts to be offset by some form of spending cuts and/or tax increases elsewhere. The bill passed the Senate with 35 Democrats and 20 Republicans voting FOR the bill and 19 Democrats and 25 Republicans voting AGAINST the measure, and it passed the House with 217 Democrats and 10 Republicans voting FOR and 40 Democrats and 163 Republicans voting AGAINST the bill. President Bush deserves credit for putting the country first and his political party, and his own ego, second. It takes a big person to go against "Read my lips, no new taxes," and his party's increasingly venomous right wing, which attacked him for supporting and signing the legislation. Bush and congressional leaders formed a coalition to get the legislation passed, based upon compromise for the good of the nation. George Bush also drew the wrath of the NRA (National Rifle Association), which had essentially become part of the Republican coalition (with some exceptions), when he supported a ban on the import of some semi-automatic weapons.

Another major event during Bush's presidency was his nomination of Clarence Thomas for a seat on the Supreme Court. Thomas was a black conservative Republican judge chosen by Bush to replace retiring black progressive judge, Thurgood Marshall. Interest groups from both sides of the political spectrum mobilized over the Thomas nomination. The nomination hearings reached fever pitch, with millions of Americans tuned in, when Anita Hill, a lawyer who had worked with Thomas when he was her supervisor, testified that he had made inappropriate sexual remarks to her, perhaps constituting sexual harassment. President Bush, pressed by conservatives to stick with, and to fight for, the nomination, did so. The bitter process ended with Thomas winning confirmation by a narrow margin, as eleven Democrats voted for his confirmation, while only two Republicans opposed it.

The Bush bashing by many conservatives and the slipping economy brought Bush's popularity plummeting back to earth from the stratosphere, where he once had 85-90% approval. The blood was in the water and the political sharks began circling the figure struggling to stay afloat, George Bush, who now looked more and more vulnerable in the upcoming election.

Next, the 1992 Election  

WORD HISTORY:
Clout-Like its close relatives "clot" and "clod,"^ this word goes back to Indo European "gleuh," which had the notion of "stick together, adhere." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "klaut," with the same general meanings.This then produced Old Germanic "klutaz," which had the notion of  "piece of material" ("something put together"), and also, "material used to cover something." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "clut," meaning "piece of cloth or other material used to cover something." This of course carries the original notion of "fixing or having something adhere to." Later, the meaning "hit" developed, and the Oxford Dictionary makes a good point about the possible origin of this change in meaning, as it notes that a target long ago was likely a piece of cloth or some other object fixed to a tree or post, and that the idea of hitting that target transferred the meaning to "clout," likely first through a verb form, and with the noun then meaning "a hit, a blow." In American English the "hit" idea then developed into the figurative "political power; strong influence" as in, "The mayor has clout with the city council." Its use in English for a "piece of cloth," and a "handkerchief" is now archaic. Of the other Germanic languages still retaining the meaning "cloth" in some form: Danish still has "klud," with the meaning "rag" or "piece of cloth," Icelandic has "klútur," meaning "handkerchief," Norwegian has "klut," meaning "rag." If you have been following this progression so far, from "clot" and "clod" to "clout," you may be able to guess what the next word will be. 

^ See the "Word History" in "It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part 21" for "clot/clod."
 http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2012/11/its-about-coalitions-not-purity-part_9286.html