Wish Dole were on ballot
Bob Dole still has a lot of practical wisdom to offer state and federal officials. The problem is that many of them won’t listen.
The 91-year-old former Kansas senator and GOP presidential nominee was interviewed recently by Chuck Todd of MSNBC. In excerpts that were broadcast this week, Dole spoke about the gridlock in Washington, D.C., and what the Republican Party could learn from Kansas.
Dole was asked whether the U.S. Senate, a body he once led, was broken. “Well, the Senate may not be broken, but it’s badly bent,” Dole said, adding that fixing it will require “some strong leadership in both parties.”
“You’ve got to get things done,” Dole said of Congress.
Clearly that’s not happening – as the current Congress is on track to be the least productive ever.
Dole particularly wants the Senate to ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities. Two years ago, he appeared on the Senate floor to encourage passage of the treaty. It would protect the human rights of the disabled in other countries in the manner of the Americans With Disabilities Act, which Dole also championed. But members of his own party – including, shamefully, Kansas Sens. Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran – blocked the treaty.
Dole hopes the treaty will get another vote this fall. He said language has been added that takes care of concerns (unfounded, in his view) about U.S. sovereignty, abortion and homeschooling.
“We don’t know of any reason now that it couldn’t be a unanimous vote,” Dole said, adding that “of course it won’t be.”
Dole also was asked about Kansas politics and elections. He predicted correctly that Roberts would win the GOP primary. He also predicted that Gov. Sam Brownback would be re-elected in November, though he noted that GOP infighting could help the Democratic challenger, House Minority Leader Paul Davis.
“I try to stay out of the inner party fights,” he said. “I’m too old for that, and don’t want to do it anyway.”
But Dole said the national Republican Party could learn a lesson from the GOP’s problems in Kansas.
“We’ve got to be an inclusive party,” Dole said. “We can’t say, ‘Well, we don’t need that group; we don’t need that (other) group.’ Pretty soon there’s no groups left, or very few left – not enough to be elected.”
Dole has been touring Kansas and hopes to have visited all 105 counties by October. “I want to finish before the election so I don’t get involved in all that,” he said.
Too bad he won’t be on the ballot.
For the editorial board, Phillip Brownlee
This story was originally published August 7, 2014 at 5:13 PM with the headline "Wish Dole were on ballot."