From the WSJ Opinion Archives
So
Is Generalissimo Francisco Franco
"Arafat Is in Stable Condition"--headline, SwissInfo.com, Nov. 7
Into
Fallujah
"US forces launched an all-out assault on Fallujah Monday night that US
and Iraqi officials hope will turn the tide against Iraq's ferocious insurgency,"
the Christian Science Monitor reports. Anything we say about this is apt to
be overtaken by events, except (1) Godspeed to the troops, and (2) it's about
time.
Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
"We've got better vision, better ideas, real plans. We've got a better sense of what's happening to America--and we've got better hair."--John Kerry, July 7
"The morning after the Feb. 3 primaries, which vaulted Kerry into a virtually insurmountable lead, the candidate was fuming over his missing hairbrush. He and his aides were riding in a van on the way to a Time magazine cover-photo shoot. [Marvin] Nicholson had left the hairbrush behind. 'Sir, I don't have it,' he said, after rummaging in the bags. 'Marvin, f---!' Kerry said. The press secretary, David Wade, offered his brush. 'I'm not using Wade's brush,' the long-faced senator pouted. 'Marvin, f---, it's my Time photo shoot.' "--Newsweek, Nov. 15 issue
The Itchy and Scratchy Show
"Democrats nationwide are scratching their heads today and trying to regroup after resounding defeats for the White House and in Congress."--Katie Couric, "Today," Nov. 4
"Applying the tried-and-true formula for success, Democrats were scratching their heads yesterday, wondering how Sen. John Kerry lost Ohio to President Bush by 2 percentage points."--Columbus Dispatch, Nov. 4
"Sixty-five percent of the voters in Preble County backed the president this year. . . . The support for Bush leaves the Democrats scratching their heads."--Palladium-Item (Richmond, Ind.), Nov. 4
"The liberal wing of the Democratic Party, which has long dominated its leadership, seems stunned that a clear majority of Americans chose to re-elect a president that exudes courage, confidence and a faith that is so easily identifiable. They are scratching their heads at the polls which reveal that the issue that mattered most to voters in this election was not the economy, or security--but moral values."--Rebecca Hagelin, TownHall.com, Nov. 5
"Other Democratic strategists (the same ones who predicted a huge pro-Kerry youth vote) are scratching their heads over the Bush victory."--Laura Ingraham, TownHall.com, Nov. 5
"Bush was reelected because he told Americans in the clearest possible language who is he and what he stands for. Just enough of them liked what they heard. Kerry left voters, including many people who voted for him, scratching their heads."--Eileen McNamara, Boston Globe, Nov. 7
"When Sausalito resident Marty Krasney was in Ohio this month working on the Kerry campaign, he met a woman with a life-threatening disease who lacked health care insurance and could have benefited from stem cell research. Krasney was surprised when the woman told him she planned to vote for George W. Bush, not John Kerry. 'I can't vote for a baby killer,' she told him. It is just such conundrum's [sic] that have Marin Democrats--like Democrats across the country--scratching their heads and pondering just what they need to do to restore the party's majority status."--Marin (Calif.) Independent Journal, Nov. 7
" 'Our analysis of Gwinnett County shows there are many, many more Democrats than showed up to vote,' said [Mike] Berlon, the chairman of the county party. 'We're all scratching our heads wondering why they didn't go to the polls.' "--Gwinnett (Ga.) Daily Post, Nov. 7
"The sound of head-scratching coming from Democratic circles will likely be as much a part of autumn as the rustle of leaves."--Jabari Asim, WashingtonPost.com, Nov. 8
Bush Voters: Ignorant or Stupid?
A split is developing among the head-scratching elite over exactly what is wrong
with the 51% of Americans who voted to re-elect President Bush. As we noted
Friday, one Jane
Smiley, "the author of many novels and essays," argued in Slate
last week that Bush voters suffer from "unteachable ignorance"--which
is to say, they're stupid. On top of which, they are "full of classic Republican
feelings of superiority"!
But Bob Herbert of the New York Times, though agreeing that Bush voters are ignorant, doesn't think the situation is totally hopeless:
I think a case could be made that ignorance played at least as big a role in the election's outcome as values. . . . This is scary. How do you make a rational political pitch to people who have put that part of their brain on hold? No wonder Bush won. . . . There's a fair amount of cluelessness in the ranks of the values crowd. . . . A more practical approach might be for Democrats to add teach-ins to their outreach efforts. Anything that shrinks the ranks of the clueless would be helpful.
Herbert is on to something here. Just because someone is ignorant enough to vote Republican doesn't mean he can't benefit from a little re-education. By assuming otherwise, Smiley is yielding to the soft bigotry of low expectations.
But are teach-ins enough? Exit polls showed that Bush and Kerry did equally well among voters with a college degree, with Kerry taking a majority only among those who have done postgraduate study--and even among them, 44% went for Bush. Some people just never learn!
Maybe Smiley and Herbert should put their heads together and figure out a way of keeping these incorrigible ignoramuses from voting--a sort of civic literacy test that everyone would have to pass before casting a ballot. To be sure, this would be a tough pill for liberals to swallow, but after last Tuesday it should be clear that, from a liberal standpoint, universal suffrage is an experiment that failed--or another one of Karl Rove's dirty tricks.
'Go
Figure'
Jon Friedman, a commentator for CBS MarketWatch, is still trying to figure out
what happened:
The Bush political team intuitively understood the tone of the U.S. voters much better than the media did. To be honest, I still don't quite understand how certified media junkies like me could have been so wrong.
I read the New York Times and the New Yorker religiously. I watch CNN and the networks' evening news programs as well as the gabfests on Sunday mornings, too.
Go figure.
Editor & Publisher's final tally found that 213 newspapers nationwide endorsed John Kerry, vs. just 205 for President Bush. This actually underestimates Kerry's support among newspaper editorialists. E&P calculated the combined circulation of the papers that endorsed each candidate, and "Kerry won that race handily, 20,882,889 to 15,743,799." What's more, "at least a dozen [newspapers] indicated that their editorial board wanted to endorse one candidate (Kerry) but the publisher or corporate owner insisted they endorse another (Bush)."
It's almost enough to make you suspect that those in the news business are more liberal than Americans as a whole.
Vote
or Die
"Distraught over the re-election of President George W. Bush, a Georgia
man traveled to New York City, went to Ground Zero and killed himself with a
shotgun blast," reports Long Island's Newsday. Relatives of the dead man,
Andrew Veal, "said Veal, a registered Democrat, was despondent over Bush's
defeat of Sen. John Kerry."
Newsday visits Ground Zero and interviews visitors about their reaction:
Frank Franca, an East Village artist and registered Democrat, suggested the suicide was symbolic.
"I'm very moved by it," he said. "Obviously, this person was devastated. I can see why he would come here."
Franca's friend, Jeffim Kuznetsov, a 25-year-old student from Russia who lives in Atlanta, said the suicide is evidence of how deeply many Americans were affected by Kerry's defeat.
"It's a national tragedy," he said. "This election is devastating to all who believe in democracy."
Veal obviously had psychiatric problems, but these guys are just plain sick.
Psychics
Stole the Election!
In an Election Day post on a pagan discussion group at LiveJournal.com, someone
using the handle "DragonTDC" offers this explanation for what turned
out to be Bush's victory:
I started hearing a calm, resonable [sic], and powerful head-voice saying things like "Kerry doesn't have the experience we need in these troubled times." and "Give Bush a chance to make it better."
Anyone who knows me KNOWS these are not my thoughts!
And besides, I voted last week. No, there's no way in Hades these are my thoughts.
Gods-damn it! The f---ing Republicans have got Magical help pumping out a clear, unified, focused broadcast, and you can be sure, every sensitive is picking it up. These are the people most likely to vote Kerry, and I'd like to think they are resolute enough not to be swayed by telepathic subliminal advertising, but it's such a rarely-done thing, and so few people are properly trained these days, that I fear it will be more effective. Just watch and see who says "I was going to vote for Kerry, but for some reason I changed my mind at the last minute."
Who would be doing this for them? Gee, who are the Mages driving around in those black Mercedes and Lincolns with the tinted windows? The ones who live in the mansions with the hell-hounds in the yard and the 7-foot tall hairless black doormen? Every town has some, the bigger the town, the more of these "High Magi" you will find.
I have no idea what their agenda may be, but you can be damn sure the welfare of the common human on the street is not a part of it.
Sound far-fetched? Well, consider this: USA Today reports that "the Air Force has paid to study psychic teleportation." The paper says that "in the report, author Eric Davis says psychic teleportation, moving yourself from location to location through mind powers, is 'quite real and can be controlled.' " Could this explain the high GOP voter turnout?
Always
Look on the Bright Side of Life
"My only consolation is that someday this planet will be a dead cinder in the
universe and all the stupidity, greed, and intolerance and their sad, sad consequences
will be lost to all memory."--Kerry supporter Penny Greenberg, quoted in the
San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 7
Bush's
Policy Is So Gay!
"I am very anti-Bush, I am against his policies. The war is wrong, and his gay
policy is wrong."--"Ozzy," an anti-Bush demonstrator in Seattle, quoted
by KOMO-TV, Nov. 6
Oh No, What Are We Supposed to Do?
"Mourn"--headline, Katha Pollitt column, The Nation, Nov. 5
"Don't Mourn, Organize"--headline, Molly Ivins column, Daily Camera (Boulder, Colo.), Nov. 5
"Mourn and Organize"--headline, Roni Krouzman column, CommonDreams.org, Nov. 5
Weasel
Watch
"France, Spain and Germany launched a 'triple axis' [Friday] aimed at taking
charge of EU foreign policy and limiting Tony Blair's influence in Europe,"
London's Daily Telegraph reports:
Jacques Chirac, the French president and a harsh critic of the war in Iraq, brushed aside appeals for better transatlantic ties after George W Bush's re-election triumph and instead called for a stronger EU to confront Washington.
Warning of a "more multi-polar world than ever", he said America's assertive policies made it crucial for Europe to pull closer together as a single power bloc. . . .
The "Old Europe" trio of France, Germany and Spain appeared deeply stung by Mr Blair's comments that some European leaders were "in denial" about this week's events in America.
Mr Blair told them to face up to the reality of Mr Bush's re-election and "move on." He said: "He is there now for four years. I'm not going to point fingers at people but we have got to move on. There is a new reality."
In today's Wall Street Journal, France's Foreign Minister Michel Barnier weighs in with a conciliatory op-ed piece:
America needs a capable, responsible Europe. And Europe needs a strong America, engaged in world affairs. Transatlantic cooperation has always been an essential condition for peace. Today, in a world that has become more unstable and more dangerous, our alliance is more necessary than ever. Let us make sure that it is able to meet the challenges that await us.
Is Jacques Chirac listening?
A Sorry Bunch
We can't tell if this is parody or self-parody, though we suspect the latter--and
in either case, it's hilarious. Late last week a new Web site, SorryEverybody.com,
appeared on the scene. Here's its manifesto:
Some of us--hopefully most of us--are trying to understand and appreciate the effect our recent election will have on you, the citizens of the rest of the world. As our so-called leaders redouble their efforts to screw you over, please remember that some of us--hopefully most of us--are truly, truly sorry. And we'll say we're sorry, even on the behalf of the ones who aren't.
The site features a photo gallery of sad sacks holding up signs saying things like "49% of us still hate Bush" and "Everybody, half of Ohio is really, really sorry. Don't hate us."
Already there's a metaparody, a site called WereNotSorry.com: "A majority of us went out and voted on Nov. 2nd for President Bush. There is no reason for us to apologize to the rest of the world because of our belief in Freedom and Democracy." Its photo gallery features such slogans as "Sorry we won! In your face!"
Frontiers
of Futility
"Nader Requests N.H. Vote Recount"--headline, Nashua Telegraph, Nov. 6
Has
Chelsea Put On Weight?
"Kerry Aides Blame Puffy, Bill Clinton, Daughter"--headline, NewsMax.com,
Nov. 5
Dutch
Courage
Authorities in the Netherlands are responding to a terrorist murder of a filmmaker
by cracking down on free speech, reports the blog Live From Brussels:
In the Netherlands, artist Chris Ripke reacted to the murder on Theo Van Gogh by an islamic fundamentalist by painting a mural with the text "Gij zult niet doden" ("Thou Shalt Not Kill"), one of the ten commandments of the Christian religion.
But because the head of the nearby mosque complained to the police that this was 'offensive' and 'racist', the cops came and sent in city workers to sandblast the mural. A local journalist, Wim Nottroth, who wanted to protest against this by standing in front of the mural was arrested. His story, in Dutch, here. Video of the event, here.
Still
Clueless After All These Years
You can almost set your clock by it: Today's New York Times features a story
by the great Fox Butterfield, with the headline "Despite Drop in Crime,
an Increase in Inmates":
The number of inmates in state and federal prisons rose 2.1 percent last year, even as violent crime and property crime fell, according to a study by the Justice Department released yesterday.
The continuing increase in the prison population, despite a drop or leveling off in the crime rate in the past few years, is a result of laws passed in the 1990's that led to more prison sentences and longer terms, said Allen J. Beck, chief of corrections statistics for the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics and an author of the report.
Someone more industrious than we should count up the number of times Butterfield has written the same story. This time he even refers to "the paradox of a falling crime rate but a rising prison population." What paradox? The more criminals are behind bars, the fewer crimes they commit. And Butterfield's colleague Bob Herbert says Bush voters are clueless?
Mack
the Knife
"Inmates at the Pickaway Correctional Institution in Orient [Ohio] will
help slaughter cows and pigs to provide more than three million pounds of beef
and pork for 44,000 prisoners statewide," reports Cleveland's WKYC-TV:
About 120 minimum- and medium-security inmates will be trained in meat-cutting under strict supervision and constant video surveillance.
State prisons director Reginald Wilkinson says meat-cutting is a trade inmates can use when they get out of prison.
Of course, meat cutting isn't for everyone. Maybe they can train the prisoners in target shooting and locksmithing too.
At
Least He Didn't Have a Colon Condition
"When Jerry saw his son in the hospital this morning, he says he was in
a comma."--KELO-TV Web site (Sioux Falls, S.D.), Nov. 6
Getting
Tough on Failing Schools
"A National Guard F-16 fighter jet on a nighttime training mission strafed
an elementary school with 25 rounds of ammunition," reports the Associated
Press from Little Egg Harbor, N.J.:
No one was injured. The military is investigating the incident that damaged Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School shortly after 11 p.m.
If they'd done it during school hours, they might have ended up leaving no child behind.
(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Uzi Amit-Kohn, Mordecai Bobrowsky, Steve Roberts, William Dabney, Barak Moore, Darin Nugent, Samuel Walker, Kathleen Myalls, Leonora LaMantia, John Harlan, Tom Linehan, Jeff Meling, Dan Friedman, Brian Bozeman, Christopher Higby, Ethel Fenig, Menachem Lipkin, Rob Baas, Michael Williamson, Alisa Duncanson, Naftali Friedman, Douglas Noren, Jim Fehrle, Jack Burke, Raymond Hendel, Lewis Sckolnick, Jeff Hatch, Brent Silver, Kenyon Wilson, Martin Shimp, Justin Taylor, John Williamson, Sam Wakim, David Merrill, Arnold Nelson, Eric Winter, Rosanne Klass, Sasha Spector, Greg Lindenberg, Mark Fagin, Drew Anderson, Scott Offen, Irina Fayerberg, Jacob Sasson, Herman Jacobs, Ira Siegel, Marc Young, Edward Schulze, J. Shepard, Bill Schweber, Greg Askins, Bill Vis, Daniel Goldstein, Chris Kilroy, Harrison Colter, Michael Hertzberg, Tom George, Russell DePalma, Paul Wood, Paul Varnell, Cheryl Sigsworth, John O'Donnell, James Silverglad and Peter Huntsman. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)
Today on OpinionJournal:
- Mike Gonzalez: Hispanics wander off the Democratic plantation.
- John Fund: Not everything came up roses for Republicans on Election Day.
- Arthur Chrenkoff: A roundup of the past two weeks' good news from Iraq.
