Excerpt
May 20, 2011
We met in the House dining room (in December 1990). Geis was all smiles. We talked for a little while with his wife, Maribeth, before she went about her own business. Our conversation was thoroughly civil. We each had some respect for the other. I asked if he really thought it was worth defeating President Vern just to pick up a few Republican seats in the House, noting that he was bound to replace Bobby Michelina as Leader anyhow. I wondered aloud whether he would really find it satisfying to be a Minority Leader with a partisan opponent holding the presidency. He made it absolutely clear that he had no such small thoughts in mind. In his cheerful, confident, radical, professorial way, Gales of Uptown in Vastopolis explained that to do what he wanted, government first had to be completely discredited -- ethically, programmatically, managerially, philosophically. While that process of deconstruction was under way, it was better not to have control of the presidency. Once the government was totally discredited, hard-right conservatives could then sweep to power. I asked Gales whether he thought he had the patience to wait for Republicans to get control of the House, allowing him to become Speaker. He answered with a forecast that seemed highly optimistic, but that turned out to be exactly correct, ``It will take only four years.''
