Bookmark: MAP's link to shadow convention items:
http://www.mapinc.org/shadow.htm

Note: Shadow Convention websites: http://www.drugpolicy.org/
http://www.shadowconventions.com/

LIMITING DEBATE -- AND VOTER INTEREST

If you want to know why so few politicians have the courage to take even
mildly controversial stands, why the vast majority of modern political
rhetoric has been reduced to pointless pabulum, and why so much of the
public says it hates the media -- look no further than Tuesday's column by
Bob Novak blasting Sen. John McCain and the other Republicans even thinking
about taking part in the upcoming shadow conventions in Philadelphia and
Los Angeles.

Though these gatherings (of which I'm a co-convener) have been designed as
nonpartisan events aimed at spotlighting three issues -- money in politics,
poverty and the failed drug war -- left unaddressed by both major parties,
Novak prefers to slime them as exuding "a distinct far-left aroma."

In the World According to Bob, if you are uncomfortable with the corrupting
influence of money on politics, then you must be a "left-wing GOP-basher"
out to "ridicule" the Republican Party. Concerned that the $40
billion-a-year war on drugs has turned into a war on blacks? To Novak, that
makes you some kind of pot-puffing druggie bent on the "legalization of
narcotics." And if you raise the issue of persistent poverty in the middle
of unprecedented prosperity, you are part of "a conclave" resembling "the
bar scene in 'Star Wars.' "

It's an all-too-familiar tactic, perfected in political campaigns turned
into demolition derbies -- the last candidate left standing wins the
checkered flag of high office. And any reasoned debate is shuttled off to
the deep freeze.

This nattering Novak of negativism seems particularly worked up about the
involvement of George Soros, whom -- in words reminiscent of the World
Trade Organization protesters -- he labels "a master currency speculator"
and a "billionaire global financier." Global, eh? At precisely what moment
did "global" become for Novak an epithet to be hurled at his enemies? Novak
clearly has Sorosis of the brain -- mentioning him no less than nine times
in his splenetic 641-word spew. That's one "Soros" every 71 words. And even
though Soros is only one of a number of shadow convention funders, Novak
insists on branding the Philadelphia Shadow "the Soros convention." Soros'
crime? He thinks the time has come to rethink America's disastrous drug policy.

It's the new math, Novak style: two shadow conventions plus three neglected
issues equals a vast left-wing conspiracy hellbent on turning us all into
coke-snorting junkies. What's next, unmarked black helicopters zooming in
to confiscate our guns and sell our children crack? Novak makes Oliver
Stone look like a reasoned observer of the political scene.

Although I'm all in favor of newspaper columnists doubling as political
missionaries -- I've been known to head out on a crusade or two myself -- I
draw the line at columnists moonlighting as political strategists. But that
is precisely what Novak seems to be doing, working behind the scenes to
persuade GOP Shadow Convention participants to drop out. If I didn't know
better, I'd think he was sniffing around for Karl Rove's gig as George W.
Bush's chief campaign strategist.

Novak certainly shows a talent for that prerequisite skill of a successful
strategist: the ability to talk out of both sides of his mouth, without
ever once moving his brain. It's quite the neat trick: work to eliminate
all GOP involvement, then slam the shadows for not having enough Republican
participants (Novak helps make his point by conveniently overlooking the
presence of Rep. Tom Campbell -- California's Republican Senate candidate
- -- on the roster of Shadow speakers).

About the only thing Novak gets right in his slagheap of misinformation is
the unattributed Senate cloakroom gossip that McCain is "out of control."
Thank God. It is precisely because McCain remains outside his party's
control that voters find him so appealing -- and why Bob NoFacts felt
compelled to send McCain a warning to keep his common-sensical opinions on
campaign-finance reform to himself and refrain from expressing them on
opening day of the GOP Shadow Convention.

Thanks to our tightly controlled political universe, more and more citizens
are checking out of the political process every year. Already, as the
Vanishing Voter Project at Harvard announced this week, 43 percent of
registered voters say they do not plan to watch any of the GOP convention.
When an identical question was asked in 1996, the figure was 23 percent.
And the convention's TV rating that year was the lowest ever recorded. This
year's may rival the numbers pulled in by test patterns.

If we want to bring these voters back -- not just to the party conventions
but to the voting booth -- we better stop trying to scare politicians away
from the kind of robust debate that has been surgically removed from our
convention rituals.

Huffington can be reached via e-mail at arianna@ariannaonline.com.