Nordlinger

As usual, Nordlinger's column is well worth reading in its entirety, but this struck me as particularly interesting:

I thought of this in reading about the governor�s race in New Mexico. It features Bill Richardson, the large-egoed man who served in Congress, then at the U.N. (under Clinton), then at the Department of Energy. He is the Democratic nominee. His great claim to fame is that he is a Hispanic (through his mother). That�s why he was on the short list for vice president in 2000, before problems at nuclear labs put Richardson, as energy secretary, under a cloud. (One good thing came out of his VP efforts, however: He lost a ton of weight, in anticipation of being in the national spotlight. You used to know that Ted K. was running for office again that way: by noting whether he was slimming down. Nixon liked to make this point.)

Anyway, Richardson is running against John Sanchez, a state representative whose past jobs include flight attendant. And what snide little remark came out of the Richardson �camp,� as the New York Times put it? �While Bill Richardson was cutting taxes for New Mexico [he did?], John Sanchez was serving orange juice at 30,000 feet.�

That�s the Democratic party, all right: champion of the dignity of the working man. Until, of course, it comes time to belittle a Republican opponent.

[Posted at 20:16 CST on 10/01/02] [Link]