THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 10, 1995 TAG: 9504070022
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
Daytime talk television shows try to out-weird one another. One show was about men who underwent sex changes in order to have lesbian relationships. If ``Men who marry clams were featured,'' viewers used to the weird shows would be only mildly surprised.
But truly weird was the ``Donahue'' show Friday. There was Gov. George Allen trumpeting his tough new welfare plan and arguing loudly with five past and present welfare recipients.
Oddly enough, the women were from Chicago and New Jersey, and thus unaffected by Virginia's new plan to limit benefits, make young mothers live at home with their parents and require able-bodied recipients to work within 90 days of receiving their first check. The arguments were heated anyway.
Apparently the governor is seeking national exposure for himself and his welfare plan, even if he must shed his dignity, and the commonwealth's dignity, to do it.
The Washington Post played the story of the governor's appearance on ``Donahue'' atop its Metro section front. The account said the five women rolled their eyes and clenched their teeth as Allen gave his stump speech promoting the work ethic over idleness.
``But the people in the audience were clearly on Allen's side,'' The Post said. ``They applauded when he said he is putting welfare recipients to work. They applauded when he said he is forcing unwed teenage mothers to go to school and live with their parents. They applauded when he said he wanted to track down the fathers of children on welfare.''
We'd have applauded, too.
Still, TV audiences, not to mention the nation, seem to lay the blame for whatever has gone wrong in their economic lives on those least powerful. It would make more sense to blame those most powerful, the ones able to hire the best-connected lobbyists and to contribute the most to political campaigns, the ones whose voices are heeded by Congress. But welfare bashing is the rage, and Allen was a hit.
Allen says, all people, the poor as well as the middle class, must assume more responsibility for themselves. Work is good for everyone, if jobs can be found. What's unbecoming is the zeal, if not the glee, with which many public officials approach eliminating welfare benefits.
In typically sleazy daytime talk fashion, Phil Donahue tried to cajole Allen into announcing he is running for ``the big one.'' Allen didn't bite.
But he didn't appear on ``Donahue'' just to get his message across to Virginians. He acknowledged he was seeking ``exposure.'' Now there's a talk show topic. by CNB