Dick Morris to stump for Zaccaria

Former Bill Clinton adviser Dick Morris, who is credited with helping to introduce "triangulation" into the political lexicon, will be the special guest during a fundraiser this evening (6:30 pm, Westerly Yacht Club) for Mark Zaccaria, US Representative Jim Langevin's Republican opponent.

With unbounded optimism, Zaccaria's campaign says that Morris . . .

will give you his analysis of just how the Second District Race could come down to the wire, and what might happen when it does.

Since his fall from grace during the Clinton years, Morris has been columnizing. One of his latest pieces (written with Eileen McGann) floats the view that John McCain could get a bump regarding the unpopular bailout.

The Democrats and our politically-challenged president have failed to appreciate the difference between spending and lending. Treasury Secretary Paulson can be excused for not realizing it. Politics is not his thing.

But John McCain must realize the crucial distinction and must use his leverage to stop a taxpayer-funded bailout, insisting instead on loans and insurance.

If McCain stands firm, the Democrats will either have to pass the bailout package on their own, without Republican votes, and rely on Bush's signature on the bill to provide a fig leaf of bipartisanship - or they will have to cave in and pass the Republican package.

Either way, McCain comes out ahead.