What Anti-Bush Forces Must Do for the Next 4 Years: Mandel

Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit

published by the daily Tribune of San Luis Obispo
Jan 13, 2001

A Liberal Critique: Bashing Bush's Cabinet Nominees

Activist William Mandel told a gathering at Cal Poly Friday that liberals
will weather the George W. Bush presidency if they can block the
appointments of several cabinet nominees.

Mandel was a vocal opponent of Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s and has been
involved in high-profile civil rights battles since that time. He also was a
radio talk show host in Berkeley from 1958 to 1995.

On Friday night, Mandel addressed a crowd of about 80 people -- diverse in
age and ethnicity -- as a precursor to a speech he will give Sunday at the
annual SLO Arts Council Martin Luther King celebration in Pismo Beach. But
where that talk will focus on civil rights and King's message, Mandel's
speech Friday addressed how liberals will survive the next four years.

Though Mandel was critical of how Bush won the election, the 84-year-old
said he is more worried about some of the president-elect's cabinet choices.

"There are no liberals among the cabinet nominations, and there are five
people who are simply intolerable," Mandel said. His list includes attorney
general nominee John Ashcroft, interior secretary nominee Gale Norton, New
Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, who is the Environmental Protection
Agency nominee, Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, the nominee to head the
Department of Health and Human Services, and ousted labor nominee Linda
Chavez.

The fact that Chavez withdrew her name after a scandal with an undocumented
worker is good, Mandel said, in that it proves that Bush will work within
the confines of the country's democracy.

"There was some question as to how extreme Bush would be," Mandel said. "I
am a good deal less pessimistic today than I was when the Supreme Court
selected Bush for the presidency."

Mandel said liberals now must set their sights on Ashcroft, who he called
"the worst kind of bad news."

"This is a man with just about a zero record on women's rights, who is
totally against abortion and whose record on civil rights could not be
worse."

Mandel said he is heartened by a coalition of more than 200 national
organizations -- including the AFL-CIO, the Sierra Club and the National
Organization for Women -- opposing Ashcroft's appointment. Beyond Bush's
cabinet, the coalition should remain together to bring a candidate to the
White House who will affect change, Mandel said. "If the coalition...can
hold together on the range of issues it represents, we could be on our way
to a coalition for a presidential candidate who will bring about change.
This, to me, is the four-year goal."

For the full range of Mandel's views on public issues, and the lifetime of
civic experience on which they are based, see his autobiography, "Saying No
To Power," published by Creative Arts, Berkeley, 1999.
 
=================================================================
  NY Transfer News Collective   *   A Service of Blythe Systems 
           Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us          
              339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012             
  http://www.blythe.org                  e-mail: nyt@blythe.org 
=================================================================
 
nytrc-01.19.01-07:21:55-3665