May 15, 2000--Wall Street Journal
Commentary
Moms' March Had One Degree
Of Separation From Clintons
By Lisa Schiffren, a full-time mother and a member of the board
of the Independent Women's Forum.
Motherhood is one of the things politicians are most eager to
co-opt. So Americans flipping on the TV yesterday were subjected
to endless coverage of righteous marchers declaiming earnestly
about the evils of guns, and led by those towering moral leaders,
Rosie O'Donnell and Hillary Clinton.
Donna Dees-Thomases, the organizer of the
Million Mom March, is a putative political
newcomer. She likes to be considered, as Time
magazine described her, "a housewife and mother
of two young children, from New Jersey." And
she appears to be an intuitive genius at politicizing
motherhood.
For one thing, even though a mere 100,000
marchers were expected, the "Million Mom"
moniker conveyed intimidating political heft. For
another, she rustled up vast press coverage,
almost all entirely sympathetic and willing to take
her assertions at face value. She pitched perfectly
to potential marchers and the media by talking
about the "frustration of moms" at gun violence,
and describing her willingness to spend the past year organizing this movement
as a pure outgrowth of her "maternal instinct."
Indeed, in myriad interviews, Mrs. Dees-Thomases attributed her
crusade to watching the terrible footage of small children being
led out of the Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills, Calif.,
last summer, after a gunman opened fire in the lobby, killing
several kids. She has children that age, so naturally she
immediately reserved the Washington Mall for a march the
following Mother's Day.
I'm embarrassed to say that, even though I am a mom with children
at a Jewish preschool, who was also deeply horrified by that
shooting, I didn't think of organizing a march. It would have
been fun, especially if we didn't have to drag along the
double-strollers, snacks and changing pads. But our school
immediately sent letters advising parents that it was instituting
antiterrorism measures. Given the actual goal of protecting
children, that seemed to be a bit more on point.
You may have guessed by now that Mrs. Dees-Thomases is not
precisely a housewife. She is currently on leave from her job as
a publicist at CBS, where she now works for David Letterman and
previously worked for Dan Rather. That explains her media savvy
and contacts. It also happens that she is the sister-in-law of
Susan Thomases, Hillary Clinton's closest friend, long-time
political strategist, heavy-handed enforcer, and, frequently,
attorney of record. Ms. Thomases is known to have been summoned
to Arkansas to scare off women threatening to sue or squeal on
President Clinton. She was Mrs. Clinton's attorney through part
of the Whitewater scandal, reportedly so that Hillary could
confide in her without fear of subpoena. She was active in both
Clinton campaigns, and is said to be influential in this year's
Senate campaign. Oddly -- or not -- only two of the two-dozen
newspaper articles I read on the march beforehand mentioned this
interesting relationship.
Call me believer in the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy, but my guess
is that Donna Dees-Thomases didn't act alone: The event was a
White House put-up job. When a novice organizes a major media
event and putative "grassroots movement" perfectly orchestrated
to promote an issue that the Clinton administration, senatorial
candidate Mrs. Clinton, and presidential candidate Al Gore wish
to raise during this election cycle, it is worth noting that the
organizer,
Mrs. Dees-Thomases, has but one degree of separation from the
Clintons. It is stunning that almost no reporters have asked what
advice and assistance Mrs. Dees-Thomases received from her
sister-in-law, and from the Clinton White House.
Why, you may wonder, is gun control so important to the permanent
Clinton campaign? As an issue, it has two fabulous attributes. It
is essentially, free, unlike policies that win votes by
redistributing the money of the voting classes. And, more
importantly, it is a quintessential gender-gap issue. Democrats
depend on what has been an almost automatic majority of women's
votes. But Mrs. Clinton has actually been behind among women
voters in New York, and George W. Bush appears to be giving Al
Gore more of a run than Republicans usually do for women's votes
nationwide.
It happens that a large majority (73%, according to some surveys)
of women are in favor of additional gun controls. So ginning up
the issue -- starting by creating unfounded fears about the
likelihood that middle-class children will be killed by random
gun violence -- is a ploy to win those necessary women's votes.
The Million Mom March has all of the hallmarks of a classic
Clinton issues campaign. As with health care in 1992, they are
manufacturing a crisis where there is none, shamelessly
exaggerating and distorting the facts. Contrary to what we heard
intoned solemnly and repeatedly this weekend, gun deaths among
children are at an all-time low, despite the fact that gun
ownership is at an all-time high. Those deaths have declined
roughly 30% in the past decade, due largely to enforcement of
current laws and effective gun-safety campaigns.
The Million Mom ladies and the Clinton administration claim that
"thirteen children die every day from guns." But fewer than 3% of
them are under 10 years old. Seventy percent of the dead children
are 17-19 year-olds killed in gang fights. That is not a happy
picture -- but it's far from the innocent toddler carnage the
Clintons want you to envision.
To be sure, any needless death of a child is tragic. But, as all
mothers know, the world is full of useful things that are safe
when used properly but that must be kept from small children.
Kitchen equipment, cleaning liquids and power tools come to mind.
And of course, thousands more children die in car, swimming pool
and bicycle accidents than from guns.
The gun control mantra is not going to solve problems as
complicated as those that have contributed to the much-publicized
child killings over the past year. Neo-Nazi violence in
California, teenage alienation and evil at Columbine, Colo., and
the myriad social pathologies that led a damaged six-year-old in
Michigan to kill a classmate, will not yield to trigger locks and
waiting periods.
Life is a little more complicated than the moms on the mall and
the Clinton campaign want us to believe. But your mother told you
that, didn't she?
=================================================================
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*Mike Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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