Susan Estrich
Thursday, Aug. 12, 2004

I happen to like Ann Coulter, but what does she get herself spiked for by USA Today at the Democratic National Convention? Something hot? Mind you, I've written for USA Today for more than a decade and the only grounds ever for rejecting my pieces have been that they were dull. So what did Ann do to cause them all to squirm? Treason? Treachery? No. Something about Republican women being better looking than Democratic women. Seriously. And having a secret code.

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  Last week, Monica Crowley and Kellyanne Conway, both Republicans, were on a vicious tear on Fox News against Teresa Heinz Kerry, such that Geraldo Rivera had to do no more than keep his head down. It wasn't her accent, they agreed, as much as her wealth and her way of flaunting it. Had these women heard of philanthropy? Eleanor Clift asked. Did they know it was Republican wealth? Since when were Republicans against wealth? Why didn't these women go shopping, Eleanor suggested. I did not try to keep a straight face.

This is why I continue to believe that John Kerry and John Edwards will win this election.

If this is the best they've got, keep it coming.

There are moments, as when discussing first ladies, when graciousness is in order, as Laura Bush herself has demonstrated. Attacks by beautifully coiffed wealthy Republican talkers don't hurt Teresa Heinz nearly as much as they do those associated with the attack. Sometimes when you pick up mud, you just end up dirty.

But Republicans this year seem almost incapable of lowering the temperature, even during such moments, and their convention will be a test of whether they have an ounce of the Democratic discipline. Otherwise, in a year of bounceless events, could there be a reverse bounce if it's too nasty?

First lady chatter is nothing compared to the controversy surrounding John Kerry's war record. Here the decibel level has been even higher, even if most of what we've heard has been kicking around Massachusetts campaigns for years, and Vietnam Vet politics for even longer. At the end of the day, the question remains whether veterans, or decent Americans, are going to accept an effort ultimately funded by those who did not serve to discredit one who did?

Or will they turn on the talkers for going too far?

How nasty can Republicans be and still not offend America? I'm actually beginning to wonder. The old rule in politics was that you used to pretend to like your opponents, even if you privately hated them. Sometimes, we actually did like each other. At least you said pleasantries about the women. But there seems to be a new generation that can't even make nice about first ladies.

They've spent their whole lives on the attack, and it's always worked. But sometimes you reach limits, and sometimes you have to learn to back off. Republicans are angry because the war was supposed to be better, and the job numbers were supposed to be better, and the polls were supposed to be better, and they were supposed to have much more money than the Democrats. They were supposed to be winning. They aren't. The mood is as important as the message.

I'm sure Monica and Kellyanne were offended by Eleanor's line, but they shouldn't have been. In the old days, we used to joke that when the going got tough, the tough went shopping. I got some great things in the Mondale campaign.

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