From the WSJ Opinion Archives
Best of the Tube Tonight
We're scheduled to appear tonight on Fox News Channel's "Hannity
& Colmes" discussing "Presidential Leadership: Rating the
Best and the Worst in the White House," which, as fate would have it, is
available from the OpinionJournal
bookstore. The program airs from 9 to 10 p.m. EDT, and we're told our segment
will air at approximately 9:45. If this is too early for you, the show reairs
at 2 a.m. EDT.
Radio and TV bookers: We're still available at opinionjournal@wsj.com for anyone who'd like to have us on. Just a thought, but what better topic for an Independence Day broadcast?
And to those readers who are put off by what some have characterized as our "self-promotion," we apologize. We'd note, though, that this isn't self-promotion, it's book promotion. (But enough about us . . .)
The
Thin Man
Even a monster like Saddam Hussein can occasionally perform a public service
without realizing it. Iraq's erstwhile dictator, who appeared at a preliminary
hearing before an Iraqi magistrate this morning, is all over the news today,
which means anti-American filmmaker Michael Moore is suddenly getting very little
airtime.
The only problem is, sometimes Saddam and Moore are hard to tell apart. For one thing, they both have those scraggly beards. And the things they say sound awfully similar:
"The real criminal is Bush."--Saddam, July 1, 2004
"I'm telling you, we haven't heard the last of [Bush's] criminal behavior."--Moore, MichaelMoore.com, Nov. 3, 2000
"What is this court? Who are you? Under whose jurisdiction did you fall? I am the president of Iraq."--Saddam, July 1, 2004
"Al Gore is the elected President of the United States. He received 539,898 more votes than George W. Bush. But he does not sit tonight in the Oval Office. Instead our elected President roams the country without purpose or mission, surfacing only to lecture college students and replenish his stash of Little Debbie's Snack Cakes. Al Gore won. Al Gore, President-in-Exile. Long live El Presidente Albertooooooo Gorrrrrrrrrrre!"--Moore, "Stupid White Men," February 2002
See what we mean? The only way we've come up with to distinguish these two is that Saddam is the thin one.
Dowdifying
the News
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd got her start as a reporter, and now a
technique she developed at the op-ed page is finding its way into the Times'
news coverage. Salt Lake City's Deseret News reports that a Times
story yesterday dowdified a quote, and the Times acknowleges as much in
a correction
this morning:
An article yesterday about Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, the American marine held by kidnappers in Iraq, quoted incompletely from a comment by a cousin of his in Salt Lake City about speculation that the corporal might have deserted. The cousin, Tarek Hassoun, said of a conversation two months ago with Corporal Hassoun: "He said a lot of soldiers, they don't want to die, especially when they see someone dying in front of them." When the report from Salt Lake City was added to the Baghdad article, this further comment from Tarek Hassoun was omitted: "But I'm sure he didn't run away."
This is a classic dowdification, changing the speaker's meaning 180 degrees--and, as usually seems to be the case with such "errors," in a way that reflects badly on America, its servicemen and the war effort.
Meanwhile, a Times editorial denounces the National Rifle Association's new TV station as "propaganda disguised as journalism." Don't those gun guys know the Times owns the patent on propaganda disguised as journalism?
Gore
No More
Yesterday we
quoted blogger Josh Marshall: "I take it as a given that virtually
no Gore voters from 2000 will pull the lever for Bush." This we said was
far-fetched, and there's anecdotal evidence we were right. Several readers wrote
us to say they voted for Gore in 2000 and plan to vote for Bush this year. We've
collected the letters at the link atop this item.
These erstwhile Gore backers cited, among other reasons for their switch, Bush's strong leadership since Sept. 11, Gore's descent into madness, and Michael Moore's anti-American propaganda. Their concerns are unlikely to register in the partisan echo chamber the Democratic Party has become, but at least some opponents of the president are realistic enough to recognize the danger. Here's the Washington Post's Richard Cohen, who's just seen Moore's new "documentary":
The stunning box-office success of "Fahrenheit 9/11" is not, as proclaimed, a sure sign that Bush is on his way out but is instead a warning to the Democrats to keep the loony left at a safe distance. Speaking just for myself, not only was I dismayed by how prosaic and boring the movie was--nothing new and utterly predictable--but I recoiled from Moore's methodology, if it can be called that. For a time, I hated his approach more than I opposed the cartoonishly portrayed Bush.
The problem is that it's increasingly hard to distinguish between the "loony left" and "mainstream" Democratic politicians. The Baltimore Sun quotes Mayor Martin O'Malley, who had this to say when he introduced John Kerry at a Charm City campaign appearance the other day: "I remember after the attacks of September 11, as mayor of the city, I was very, very worried about al-Qaida and still am. But I'm even more worried about the actions and inactions of the Bush administration." We're willing to bet that a substantial number of Americans who voted for Gore in 2000 are put off by what is increasingly becoming the Democratic party line: that Republicans are worse than America's enemies.
Bush wouldn't have to pick off that many Gore voters to win decisively. Gore had 48.38% of the popular vote in 2000, vs. 47.87% for Bush and 2.74% for Ralph Nader. Assuming half the Nader voters return to the Democratic fold and just 10% of the Gore voters switch to Bush (and holding all else equal) yields the following outcome in 2004: Bush 52.71%, Kerry 44.91%.
This is not a prediction, merely a back-of-the-envelope calculation. But it does illustrate that a Dukakis-size defeat for Kerry is a real possibility.
Democrats
Against National Security
A Democratic "lawmaker" is having second thoughts about reinstating
the draft, the Hill reports:
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) has withdrawn her support of legislation that would reinstate the military draft, because she believes it would bolster the Bush administration's ability to wage several wars simultaneously.
Norton initially backed Rep. Charles Rangel's (D-N.Y.) bill on the draft in January 2003. But a Norton spokeswoman said the legislator now believes the bill, if enacted, would force draftees to fight wars they might not support. The spokeswoman added that a draft would help President Bush's "preemptive" war on terrorism.
If you're among the readers who objected when we said the Dems were backing the draft because it would be inimical to national security, read that last sentence very carefully, and it will be clear that you owe us an apology.
Al
Qaeda's Plan
Agence France-Presse reports on a February al Qaeda strategy document, "authenticated
by western experts of the Islamic radical terror network of Saudi-born fugitive
Osama bin Laden," that outlines al Qaeda's efforts on behalf of Spain's
Socialist Party:
"We consider that the Spanish government cannot suffer more than two to three strikes before pulling out (of Iraq) under pressure from its own people," said the document obtained Wednesday by AFP from Raido [sic] France Internationale's regional office in Beirut.
"If these (Spanish) forces remain after the strikes, the victory of the socialist party would be near-guaranteed and the pullout of Spanish forces from Iraq would be on its agenda," said the document, distributed ahead of the March 11 attacks in Madrid.
The document also demonstrates a better understanding of the U.S. strategy than many of our own opposition pols seem to have:
It said the US plan was "to build an Iraqi state as conceived by the United States . . . and enslave Saudi Arabia politically, fight against Islamic proselytism as a salafist and jihadic movement."
"This would be (for the US) the first step toward the eradication of hardline Islam in the entire world," it said.
No "distraction" here.
What
Would the New York City Economy Do Without Studies?
"Study Confirms 9/11 Impact on New York City Economy"--headline, New
York Times, June 30
Kerry's
Wife: I'd Give All for My Other Hubby
Here's a somewhat creepy Associated Press dispatch from Des Moines, Iowa:
Teresa Heinz Kerry, who inherited a vast family fortune and heads a billion-dollar foundation, said Tuesday she would give up the money to have her first husband back.
"It was a very sad day when that happened," Heinz Kerry said, speaking of Sen. John Heinz, heir to the Heinz food fortune, who was killed in a 1991 plane crash. "I'd rather have my husband alive than that money."
One can't fault Mrs. Heinz Kerry for feeling this way, but for her to say so in public is awfully inconsiderate of her current husband. And if John Kerry is willing to put up with abuse like this from his wife, how can we expect him as president to stand up to al Qaeda, much less the French?
Live
and Learn
"A Nigerian businesswoman lost her claim for $900,000 from Miss World organizers
after a judge ruled that the company with which she made a deal to back the
2002 pageant was not an agent for the contest," the Associated Press reports
from London:
Angela Onyeador had claimed that she had made a deal with a Miss World agent to put up $360,000 as a guarantee for the pageant's World gala fund-raising dinner at London's Grosvenor House Hotel in return for 60 percent of the profits.
We knew we shouldn't have responded to that e-mail soliciting money for her legal defense fund!
Knit and Dye--II
Yesterday we
noted a letter to the editor of Air Canada's in-flight magazine from a woman
who complained that she wasn't allowed to bring her knitting needles on board
an airplane. It turns out, though, that here in the U.S., knitting needles are
perfectly acceptable in carry-on luggage under Transportation
Security Administration regs (link in PDF, see page 2).
This strikes us as awfully dangerous. Maybe knitting needles aren't the most effective weapon in the world, but what if some al Qaeda type gets aboard a plane and knits an afghan?
(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Ethel Fenig, Samuel Walker, Barak Moore, Mark Wallace, Jason Hupe, Jim Orheim, Steve Roberts, J.A. McRae, Daniel Foty, Fred Medero, Doug Payton, Richard Belzer, Peter Strnad, Yehuda Hilewitz, Matt Chadwick, Andy Hefty, Naftali Friedman, C.E. Dobkin, David Schlosser, Greg Askins, Jared Silverman, Betty Bliss, Alexander Mitchell, Henry Hanks, John Williamson, Bryan Tyson, Rosanne Klass, Clyde Middleton, Charlie Gaylord, Jason Maxwell, Kerry O'Connell, Dan O'Shea, Scott Scholten, K. Dinolfo, David Skurnick, Dave Stott, Peter Schumann, Frank Carter, Joe Harvey, Beth Boyer, Paul Burns and Dave Wickholm. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)
Today on OpinionJournal:
- Review & Outlook: Kerry's divorce records are his own business. His wife's tax returns aren't.
- Peggy Noonan: Will John Kerry tempt Americans with promises of "normalcy"?
- Mark Yost: A coast-to-coast auto race rewards precision rather than speed.
