PBS高端访谈:正处于水深火热中的保守党候选人-新关

 　　HARI SREENIVASAN: And to the analysis of Shields and Gerson. That's syndicated columnist¹ Mark Shields and Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson. David Brooks² is away today.

　　So, let's start talking first, on the politics side, elections, May 20, big day. Kentucky, Georgia, Oregon had elections. So your biggest takeaway from this?

　　MARK SHIELDS: We who cover politics are frustrated³ sportswriters. We love to say an easy question is a softball or an unfair charge is a cheap shot.

　　And to use tennis jargon⁴, a game that I have never played, you could say that Republicans this year have committed no unforced errors. They have not — they have put themselves in a position to compete, if not to win, in the competitive Senate races. They haven't nominated people that they're going to have to run away from who are seen as losers in May. That is seen an accomplishment⁶ to them.

　　MICHAEL GERSON: Yes. No, I agree with that.

　　I think that the Republican establishment is not a myth or a paper tiger. I think Mitch McConnell is evidence of that. There's something impressive about his utterly⁷ bland⁸ ruthlessness when it comes to these races.

　　(LAUGHTER)

　　MICHAEL GERSON: And I think it's true that Republicans have determined⁹ they want the Senate, they're not going to make stupid mistakes.

　　And that, by the way, given recent elections, is a huge accomplishment for them. That's not a — so I think they found, in the shutdown, that Tea Party groups, the leaders of the Tea Party groups are not appeasable. They're not going to be brought into the coalition¹⁰. They have to be fought. And we have seen a counter-reaction, the Chamber¹¹ and others, to these groups, and they have been largely defeated.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: So, should the Democrats¹³ be concerned that Republicans are taking the necessary steps to win back the Senate?

　　MARK SHIELDS: Sure. They should be.

　　They don't have the gimmes that they had in Indiana, where Joe Donnelly could win as a Democrat¹², Claire McCaskill could win reelection in Missouri, Harry¹⁴ Reid in Nevada. The Democrats have five seats in the past two elections that the Republicans just gave up essentially¹⁵ by nominating unelectable candidates as Tea Party people.

　　What the Tea Party had going for it, more than anything else, was surprise in the past. And that element was gone because the incumbents¹⁶ this year were ready. Michael mentioned Mitch McConnell.

　　If you want to get an idea of what this year is going to be about, I mean, there was no lift of a driving dream, no inspiring vision, not even policy initiative in his victory statement. It was just he thanked his family, made the obligatory¹⁷ nod to his opponent, and then immediately launched a diatribe¹⁹ against his opponent, who was brought to you by Barack Obama and Harry Reid. She's obviously a puppet and a creation.

　　And I think that is probably going to be the tenor²⁰ of the year.

　　MICHAEL GERSON: I do actually think that Democrats have some good candidates in Kentucky and Georgia.

　　But the problem here is that the battleground of control of the Senate is in Republicans states this time.

　　MARK SHIELDS: It's red states.

　　MICHAEL GERSON: And the Republicans only need a few.

　　And it's in the sixth year of the Democratic president that is down in the polls. So there's a swift current here that I think makes it very hard for even fairly good candidates to get traction²¹ in this election for Democrats.

　　MARK SHIELDS: Yes, I would not write them off anyway.

　　Georgia, though, is interesting, Hari, in the sense that the Republicans had five candidates. The true believers, sort of hard-liners, Tea Party finished fourth and fifth. And the two who won could be called country club Republicans or let's mete²² for cocktails²³ at 7:00. So they're in a runoff, and that will be brutal²⁴.

　　MICHAEL GERSON: I think it's even a little more because Republicans have opened up some routes like Oregon, I think, which is interesting, where they have a very strong candidate now in that race, in a traditionally blue state.

　　But the eastern part of the state is more like an inland Western state in many ways. And I think that Republicans are expanding the fields in these primaries, not just defending.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Do we see this roll out to Arkansas or Alaska, where they are going to be some competitive…

　　MARK SHIELDS: Oh, sure.

　　There's no question that the Republicans are eying, first of all, South Dakota, which had been held by Tim Johnson, who is retiring, and the president lost by 20-plus votes, and states that president — Mitt⁵ Romney carried by 14 points, Montana, where Max Baucus has left. And then in addition to that, you have got West Virginia, where the president lost by 27 points.

　　And, you know, those are sort of the immediate¹⁸ ones the Republicans have their eyes on. And then you have got to battle Democratic incumbents. But I would say every one of the Democratic incumbents is in a position to win. There's nobody you're writing off at this point, whether it's Kay Hagan in North Carolina. Mark Pryor leads in Arkansas, Mary Landrieu in Louisiana, and Mark Begich in Alaska.

　　They're proven candidates, and I think they are going to be competitive races.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: So is this idea of the Tea Party vs. the establishment a narrative²⁵ that the media likes, or can we say that they have already had an impact in moving the party in a more conservative direction?

　　MICHAEL GERSON: Well, I think there's a clear difference here.

　　The Republican Party is more monolithically conservative than it has been in the past, there's no question. But most Republicans are in a Reaganite kind of category. The Tea Party is making a fundamental critique of — Tea Party leaders of all of modern government. They would regard Reagan as a RINO.

　　So I think there is a clear difference in tone and style. And that's why there is a serious fight here. But Republicans face a huge challenge in this. They can defeat the Tea Party and try to get their base out in a midterm election, which sometimes wins with a message as complex as Obamacare bad.

　　But that will not win the 2016 election and will — in fact, could lose the Senate in 2016, which is the flip²⁶ side of the demographic advantage that Republicans have right now. So they're going to have to make a shift. They can win in 2014 with a certain message, but they're going to have to re-brand the party to win in 2016. Can they make that shift?

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: So, looking forward, June 3, Mississippi, a race that just got a lot more interesting in the last couple of days. We have got Thad Cochran, a little bit more of the establishment individual, and Chris Daniel — or Chris McDaniel.

　　And it was — I just want to hear your opinions on this, but I think four people have been arrested because supporters of McDaniel went into the nursing home of Thad Cochran's wife, who I think is in dementia, and posted a video of her on — this just seems like a new low.

　　MARK SHIELDS: Well, and all the story — the story is still assembling.

　　And the person who did it was with somebody who did it on his own. And the question is how deeply the McDaniel campaign either was aware of it, didn't stop it or was even complicit in it?

　　I don't understand — and Mrs. Cochran, sadly, is in dementia. She's been in — she is in hospice care. She has been there 13 years. What possible advantage — you just ask what sort of perverted²⁷ thinking leads to let's get a video of this disabled woman, invade her privacy, and put it on the — what sort of a polemic²⁸ politically can you use?

　　Anybody who did it ought to be disqualified from voting. They have demonstrated incapacity, quite frankly²⁹. And if McDaniel's campaign is involved with it any way, even remotely, they are going to pay for it dearly.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: McDaniel was doing well in the last few weeks.

　　MICHAEL GERSON: Yes, exactly. And Cochran is weak in many ways as a candidate. This is the last best hope of the Tea Party.

　　But I think that McDaniel is in serious trouble here. It was reported today that McDaniel, as a radio talk show host, had occasionally co-hosted the show with one of the people that was arrested, one of the four people that was arrested.

　　This is not a distant relationship. There's no evidence that the campaign was involved yet, but you are going to have an investigation³⁰, criminal investigation that's going to have e-mails. They're going to review e-mails and have subpoenas³¹ and other things.

　　I can't imagine right now that Mississippi Republicans would want to send a candidate into a general election that's in the middle of this controversy³².

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: All right, let's talk — shift gears a little bit to the sort of VA scandal that keeps kind of rolling out in the last few weeks.

　　Support for Eric Shinseki seems to be slipping from both Democrats and Republicans. Was the president too slow in doing something about this, as Bob Dole³³ said to the USA Today?

　　MARK SHIELDS: The president and Eric Shinseki suffer from two — the same political disability. That is, neither one is able to emote upon demand.

　　Eric Shinseki is somebody who doesn't beat the table with his shoe and doesn't beat his chest and doesn't — he's a remarkable³⁴ American with a record of service to this country basically unmatched. And the fact that he hasn't been angry has aroused the ire of Jon Stewart and some other observers.

　　Is the president slow? Yes, it shouldn't have been there for three weeks. And then the response itself seemed to be almost an emergency response. But I think it's classic the president. He is going to wait for the report to come in, which will be in. They have expanded the investigation to 26 hospitals now.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: But the president has said in multiple years over and over again, I will fix this problem.

　　MARK SHIELDS: And this problem — and I would argue that the VA has had a much larger mandate³⁵ under this administration and this secretary.

　　They have expanded it to all the victims of Agent Orange from Vietnam. They have expanded it to PTSD, beyond — the presumption³⁶ now is, if you're in combat, we have a belief, we believe you have a problem. You don't have to come in and prove it anymore.

　　And obviously it expanded the number of people being covered.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Right.

　　MARK SHIELDS: And I'm not in any way minimizing. If 40 people died, then heads should roll and people should be held accountable, make no mistake about it.

　　But I think the record of achievement and his record in particular will stand the test of time.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: But you have said in your column this week that this is the scandal that is going to stick with the Obama presidency³⁷. So, is this a leadership crisis? Is this a management crisis? Is this a systemic problem at the VA? Is there somebody else that could clean this up if it wasn't Eric Shinseki?

　　MICHAEL GERSON: I think it's a very good question. How much of this is leadership? And there's a temptation to have scapegoats³⁸ in this kind of matter. You could be giving too many responsibilities to a public institution.

　　The system itself could be poorly designed. This one hasn't been reformed, fundamentally reformed, in a long time. But I think you have identified the problem for Obama is, this is a — there have been many problems over decades in this system, but he came to office identifying this as a problem, putting presidential credibility on the line, saying, I'm going to fix this.

　　And then he appears, like at the press conference that he had, and positions himself as an outraged³⁹ bystander. That is more of a self-indictment than it is a defense⁴⁰ in a case like this.

　　You're the president. You have had five-and-a-half years to make a decision like this. I think that's his real risk. You can't just say, I'm angry. They put him out there in this press conference to say, I'm angry.

　　But you have to have anger plus action in order to be credible⁴¹ on these issues, and it hasn't happened yet. It may.

　　MARK SHIELDS: No, but the report is coming in the middle of next week. And we will see. We will see what the president does.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: All right.

　　MARK SHIELDS: But I think this is his strength, as well as his shortcoming.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: All right, Mark Shields, Michael Gerson, thanks so much.

　　MARK SHIELDS: Thank you.

1 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

2 brooks   

n.小溪( brook的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks gave the business when Haas caught him with his watch. 哈斯抓到偷他的手表的布鲁克斯时，狠狠地揍了他一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ade and Brooks exchanged blows yesterday and they were severely punished today. 艾德和布鲁克斯昨天打起来了，今天他们受到严厉的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 jargon   

n.术语，行话

参考例句：

• They will not hear critics with their horrible jargon.他们不愿意听到评论家们那些可怕的行话。
• It is important not to be overawed by the mathematical jargon.要紧的是不要被数学的术语所吓倒.

5 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

6 accomplishment   

n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能

参考例句：

• The series of paintings is quite an accomplishment.这一系列的绘画真是了不起的成就。
• Money will be crucial to the accomplishment of our objectives.要实现我们的目标，钱是至关重要的。

7 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

8 bland   

adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的

参考例句：

• He eats bland food because of his stomach trouble.他因胃病而吃清淡的食物。
• This soup is too bland for me.这汤我喝起来偏淡。

9 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

10 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

11 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

12 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

13 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

15 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

16 incumbents   

教区牧师( incumbent的名词复数 )； 教会中的任职者

参考例句：

• In general, incumbents have a 94 percent chance of being reelected. 通常现任官员有94%的几率会再次当选。
• This arangement yields a wonderful gain to incumbents. 这种安排为在职人员提供了意外的得益。

17 obligatory   

adj.强制性的，义务的，必须的

参考例句：

• It is obligatory for us to obey the laws.我们必须守法。
• It is obligatory on every citizen to safeguard our great motherland.保卫我们伟大的祖国是每一个公民应尽的义务。

18 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

19 diatribe   

n.抨击，抨击性演说

参考例句：

• He launched a diatribe against the younger generation.他对年轻一代发起了长篇抨击。
• The book is a diatribe against the academic left.这本书对学术左派进行了长时间的谩骂。

20 tenor   

n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意

参考例句：

• The tenor of his speech was that war would come.他讲话的大意是战争将要发生。
• The four parts in singing are soprano,alto,tenor and bass.唱歌的四个声部是女高音、女低音、男高音和男低音。

21 traction   

n.牵引；附着摩擦力

参考例句：

• I'll show you how the traction is applied.我会让你看如何做这种牵引。
• She's injured her back and is in traction for a month.她背部受伤，正在作一个月的牵引治疗。

22 mete   

v.分配；给予

参考例句：

• Schools should not mete out physical punishment to children.学校不应该体罚学生。
• Duly mete out rewards and punishments.有赏有罚。

23 cocktails   

n.鸡尾酒( cocktail的名词复数 )；餐前开胃菜；混合物

参考例句：

• Come about 4 o'clock. We'll have cocktails and grill steaks. 请四点钟左右来，我们喝鸡尾酒，吃烤牛排。 来自辞典例句
• Cocktails were a nasty American habit. 喝鸡尾酒是讨厌的美国习惯。 来自辞典例句

24 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

25 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

26 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

27 perverted   

adj.不正当的v.滥用( pervert的过去式和过去分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落

参考例句：

• Some scientific discoveries have been perverted to create weapons of destruction. 某些科学发明被滥用来生产毁灭性武器。
• sexual acts, normal and perverted 正常的和变态的性行为

28 polemic   

n.争论，论战

参考例句：

• He launched into a fierce polemic against the government's policies.他猛烈地抨击政府的政策。
• He wrote a splendid polemic in my favour.他写了一篇出色的文章为我辩护。

29 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

30 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

31 subpoenas   

n.（传唤出庭的）传票( subpoena的名词复数 )v.（用传票）传唤（某人）( subpoena的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• My company has complied with committee subpoenas by supplying documents confirming all that I have said. 本公司按照委员会的要求，提供了能够证实我刚才发言的文件。 来自辞典例句
• Congressional Investigations: Subpoenas and Contempt Power. Report for Congress April 2, 2003. 金灿荣：《美国国会的监督功能》，载《教学与研究》2003年第2期。 来自互联网

32 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

33 dole   

n.救济，（失业）救济金；vt.（out）发放，发给

参考例句：

• It's not easy living on the dole.靠领取失业救济金生活并不容易。
• Many families are living on the dole since the strike.罢工以来，许多家庭靠失业救济金度日。

34 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

35 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

36 presumption   

n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定

参考例句：

• Please pardon my presumption in writing to you.请原谅我很冒昧地写信给你。
• I don't think that's a false presumption.我认为那并不是错误的推测。

37 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

38 scapegoats   

n.代人受过的人，替罪羊( scapegoat的名词复数 )v.使成为替罪羊( scapegoat的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They were made the scapegoats for the misfire of the program. 他们成了那个计划失败的替罪羊。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Only some of the guards and a minor hotel employee, chosen as scapegoats, were imprisoned. 只有一些保镖和那个旅馆的小职员当了替罪羊，被关进了监狱。 来自辞典例句

39 outraged   

a.震惊的，义愤填膺的

参考例句：

• Members of Parliament were outraged by the news of the assassination. 议会议员们被这暗杀的消息激怒了。
• He was outraged by their behavior. 他们的行为使他感到愤慨。

40 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

41 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？