he first rule of politics should be: Beware the conventional wisdom. Right now, for example, the entire mix of thugs, scoundrels, sharpies, and junkies that defines itself as ''the political community'' is appalled that Vice President Al Gore would put on his campaign payroll one Carter Eskew.
The reason is not unimportant: the 44-year-old media consultant's hard work last year on behalf of the tobacco industry's successful campaign against sharply tighter regulation and sharply higher taxes, which helped persuade the Republican Congress to do what it does best - nothing.
But the reason doesn't justify the unquestioned attempt by too many people with skeletons in their own closets to blacklist a fellow professional for sins more venial than mortal. Upon examination, the retention of Carter Eskew by longtime pal and client Gore is the kind of move one would expect of someone serious about running for president.
More than anything, it shows the kind of single-minded determination that presidents need to have; it shows Gore in charge, not simply sitting at the head of a table ringed by competing egomaniacs.
Granted, Gore has to take heat for giving comfort to those who remember that before he became an emotional antitobacco political leader, mining the memory of his sister's death from lung cancer, he had just as vigorously defended the tobacco farmers of his border state region.
But since the vice president's commitment today is undeniable, his willingness to take heat from his left is a sign of strength, not desperation.
Like most people, I find much of what politics entails today distasteful and a lot of it borderline disgusting. Surveying the Republican and Democratic landscapes, however, the fact that some people work both sides of fences, that others raise dirty money, and that still others use tactics more suited to gang wars than democracy is part of a landscape on which Carter Eskew hardly stands out.
The truth of the matter is that Eskew went to work for the industry in order to sell the out-of-court-settlement, worth potentially hundreds of billions of dollars, with state attorneys general to Congress. It was only after there were efforts to stretch that deal beyond its breaking point that the industry went all out, with Eskew's professional assistance, to torpedo legislation.
People like me were on the other side, but that doesn't mean it's appropriate to question Gore's motives or his sincerity because he retains someone he has worked with almost his entire public life.
In fact, the person to wonder about is Bob Squier, Eskew's former mentor and business partner, who currently has Gore's media job but who has publicly questioned the vice president's move. Now everybody in politics loves Squier, and for all the right reasons, but the fact is, he has undercut his boss instead of supporting him. Gore's toleration of that so far is much more questionable than his hiring of Eskew.
The flap is a perfect example of something that progressives have long assumed to be the sole province of right-wingers - the brutal enforcement of purity standards in a manner that puts all disagreements over issues, or professional backgrounds, into the realm of orthodoxy v. apostasy.
On the left, this silliness is even more pervasive. The classic example stems from the time a generation ago when the Democrats ripped themselves apart over the Vietnam War.
Obviously, you were either for United States involvement or against it, and just as obviously it was entirely appropriate to cast a vote for or against someone in a primary on the basis of his views on the war. But among Democrats, the fact that someone came out against the war six months before someone else frequently became the internecine weapon of choice, usually to the benefit of those who really supported the war.
And they're still at it - condemning Representative John Dingell of Michigan for his progun activism even as they worship him for his advocacy of health care reform, or trying to keep right-to-life Democrats like former Pennsylvania governor Bob Casey or even House minority whip Dave Bonior from top party posts and visibility.
There have to be limits - racism comes to mind. But the idea that Gore is suspect because he hired Eskew is a sign of what happens when insider politics goes berserk. You can hear the less virginal Republicans laughing.
