La Donna Is Catastrophe : Gore's ghastly Brazile - Al Gore's campaign manager, Donna Brazile

National Review, Feb 7, 2000 by John J. Miller

Comments like these wouldn't amount to much if they were made by, say, a Gore lackey in the envelope-stuffing department. A reporter probably wouldn't even bother to write them down. But when they come from the mouth of someone called campaign manager, heads start to turn.

And that's precisely what happened among Democrats when Brazile delivered this bit of political analysis: "The four pillars of the Democratic party are African Americans, labor, women, and what I call other ethnic minorities," she said in November. "The emerging constituencies are environmentalists, gays and lesbians, and those with physical disabilities."

"New Democrats" gnashed their teeth at hearing these words. "This 'base constituency group' strategy was central to the failed Democratic presidential campaigns of the 1980s," said the Democratic Leadership Council in a weekly memo. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, head of the DLC, took to the airwaves and essentially asked Gore to repudiate his campaign manager's assertion. And so Gore himself entered damage-control mode: "I am very conscious of the fact that independents hold the balance of power in the general election and the majority of primary contests, including New Hampshire," he told USA Today. "It's hardly a revelation to say that in Democratic primaries, you're going to concentrate on getting a good turnout among [those Democrats who] traditionally turn out in larger numbers."

Brazile wound up making tail-between-the-legs phone calls to both Lieberman and Al From, the DLC's president.

A few weeks later, Brazile uttered her remark about blacks and Republicans. She might have gotten away with it-the mainstream media rarely report Democratic race-baiting-had she not mentioned Powell. The comment incited him. He waited for Gore to call with an explanation. When none came, he sent a blistering letter to the vice president. "Let's not start the new century by playing the polarizing 'race card,'" he wrote. "I . . . help feed, educate, and spiritually nourish all of America's children, black and white, and not just for a photo op. And I do so as a Republican."

The Powell flap was news: The retired general, who previously had not been active in the presidential race, had become energized. Gore and Brazile both phoned him with conciliatory messages and praised him publicly as an American hero. But the episode-combined with Gore's recent statements about gays in the military and litmus tests for the joint chiefs of staff- may convince Powell to become more involved in this year's campaign than he had once planned. Gore can't like that.

On the Today show on January 10, Katie Couric asked Gore about the Powell fracas. "I regretted the way he heard Donna's comments," said the vice president, as if Powell were a poor listener. "She does a fantastic job."

Of course she does.