Sneering vs. mush; this is a debate?

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© St. Petersburg Times
published October 16, 2002

Gov. Jeb Bush and his Democratic challenger, Bill McBride , had an hourlong debate Tuesday morning on statewide radio. Bush was better than McBride but too snotty. He can't help it. McBride was woolly and ineffective. Apparently he can't help that either.

It is a mark of our modern politics that the two parties have only dripping contempt for each other. No idea, no action or motive of the other side can possibly have any merit whatsoever. So they think that the rest of us automatically want to share in their contempt.

Bush displays this by being unable to answer a question without a nyah-nyah tone, saying more or less, "Well, if my opponent knew anything at all about this," or, "Well, if my opponent really had any sense," "If my opponent wasn't a lawyer," and so forth.

Dear governor: I am sure your party leaders and your young staffers are slapping you on the back and saying, wow, you really showed those liberals! But there is only a sliver of undecided voters who will decide this election. They do not like nyah-nyah.

McBride, in turn, still does not feel compelled to say a danged thing about what he would do if he became governor. The Democrats dislike Bush so much that they apparently believe all they have to do is say, look, we have nominated the Not-Jeb.

This is what we know of McBride: If he becomes governor, he will "roll up his sleeves." He will bring people "around the table." He will provide "leadership."

One gathers from this rhetoric that McBride believes that Bush does not roll up his sleeves. Or perhaps McBride is only implying that Bush does not roll them correctly. Maybe Bush is one of those sissies who rolls the sleeve up precisely, each turn equal to the next, until there is a perfectly creased cuff. McBride, perhaps, will give us a real Marine roll-up, sleeves jammed willy-nilly above the elbows while engaged in the important work of bringing people around the table.

Dear Bill: Being Not-Jeb with rolled sleeves is not enough to persuade the undecideds.

There were 12 questions put to Bush and McBride. Bush is clearly sweating over the class-size amendment and tried to work dire warnings against it into several answers. McBride, interestingly, abandoned his laser focus on education and opened with a scatter-shot shopping list: economy, unemployment, insurance rates, prescription drugs, environment. Also, he threw in at the end an unspecified call for more veterans' benefits.

How would McBride fix the Department of Children and Families? He said he would "roll up my own sleeves." (This new twist on the sleeve-rolling theme seemed to imply that under other circumstances, McBride's sleeves might be rolled up by someone else. The Republicans should investigate.)

To pay for the amendment for smaller class sizes, if it passes in November, McBride said that besides raising cigarette taxes (which would not be enough), he would . . . work with the Legislature. Ah.

McBride was asked about specific solutions to Florida's water crisis. How about underground storage? How about desalination?

McBride replied that he recently had "sort of one of those revelations" while jogging, when he discovered at the convenience store that bottled water costs more than a gallon of gasoline. This, McBride concluded, was because of poorly managed growth under Bush. End of answer.

Asked to name which specific tax breaks in Florida should be repealed, McBride said, "I've been very consistent on this," and then managed not to name any at all. "I do believe that any exemption should be looked at periodically," he added helpfully.

Bush's answers were more specific. (In case nobody noticed that, Bush kept using the word "specific.") You might not like Bush's answers, but he has them. He opposes the class-size amendment. He is unapologetic about standardized testing. He thinks that repealing tax breaks is the same thing as a tax increase, which he opposes.

"If you want a different approach," McBride said in his closing statement, "I'd like you to go with me on this." The trouble is, nobody has the slightest idea where that is. Pay no attention to me, though. I also said he would never beat Janet Reno.

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