Copyright (c) 2000 by Michael Finley

First of all, I don’t care much about Elian Gonzalez. Whichever way his case went, he would have been more or less OK. Worst case scenarios: he is returned to a father who is Castro's pawn, or he stays with relatives in Miami. Either way, he is cared for and loved.

I am sorry for the boy's suffering, but there are boys with far worse options in every city in America. And in each case, it is the government's job to make an imperfect arrangement. Which is what has happened here.

My ideal scenario was that somehow the two governments, who have a 40-year long dysfunctional relationship out of all proportion to the danger they pose one another, would sit down and work out a win-win solution -- perhaps dual citizenship, with visitation privileges all around. The agreement might even have served as "ping-pong diplomacy," bringing the two squabbling parties within earshot of each other.

Well, forget that.

Which brings me to Matt Drudge. The morning after the INS "rescue," Drudge headlined two Elian-related teasers on his website. The first challenges the reliability of a picture of Elian reunited with his dad:

MY, ELIAN, HOW YOUR HAIR GREW THIS MORNING!

'PAPA' PHOTOS FAKED? DID ELAIN'S HAIR GROW? CLICK FOR 3 HOUR HAIR CHANGE OF BOY...

Sure enough, the boy's hair in the earlier picture looks a bit different than in the immediate post-rescue picture. The insinuation is that the picture was taken during happier times, back in Cuba. What Drudge's insinuation omitted however, was that he cropped the picture to exclude his dad's wife and other child -- a six-month old boy who would have looked quite different five months ago.

But Drudge isn’t done. He reproduces a picture of the INS officer who carried Elian off in her arms -- in the form of a WANTED poster, telling her name and informing readers that she lives in nearby Miami Beach:

WANTED: INS AGENT BETTY A. MILLS, FOR SEIZING ELIAN GONZALEZ WITHOUT A COURT ORDER...MILLS, 33, IS A RESIDENT OF MIAMI BEACH... SHE HAS BEEN WITH THE INS FOR 8 YEARS... SHE IS WANTED FOR QUESTIONING BY US CITIZENS...

Get the picture? Because she helped carry out the operation, Drudge decided to sic the angry crowds of Miami on her.

I submit that a line of comity and decency has not just been crossed here, it has been rubbed out. spat upon, and sewn with rock salt.

 

The agent, who is shown frantically smiling as she performs this excruciating task -- trying to make it somewhat easier on the terrified boy -- is just doing her job. For her trouble, Drudge has made her a target for -- who knows?

And it makes me wonder what the hell is happening to this country. I know that politics is not pattycake. Dirty tricks and mischief-making has been part of the national fabric since Aaron Burr.

But jiminy -- the last couple of years these tricks have approached treasonous levels. Drudge is coyly encouraging Miamians to stalk and harass an agent of the U.S. Government -- shades of Oklahoma City. The mayor of Miami vowed that the government can’t count on the city to help it enforce its laws -- shades of Fort Sumter.

And politicians everywhere, including both candidates for the presidency, people who not long ago were foaming at the mouth about the primacy of the rule of law (not to mention the primacy of the family) are insisting that the rule of law (and the primacy of the fgamily) be set aside in this one case. Sure it's a mob, but it's a mob with its heart in the right place.

I am old enough to remember when conservatives had the best manners in the ring. You debated with William F. Buckley, you knew you would come away skewered, and there wasn't much you could do about it. But he didn’t body-slam you and stick your head in a woodchipper, the way the take-no-prisoners generation of radio boss Rush Limbaugh, and Congressmen Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and Dan Burton (R-Ind.) do.

Indeed, what conservatives used to want to "conserve" was the integrity of law over the emotions of the mob. Conservatives know better than liberals that people are often no dang good.

And Matt Drudge -- much as I enjoy the slam-bam immediacy of his brand of newsmaking -- is the kind of person you would ask to plant evidence on an enemy, which is what he has done here, in his eager to please, Iago-ish way.

And reporters, loving a story that that pumps us with intellect-sapping adrenaline and stays on the front page for months, do nothing to remedy the mischief.

Well, I say it's the bunk.