by JAMES TARANTO
Thursday, November 11, 2004 3:50 P.M. EST

Finally!
Yasser Arafat is in stable condition after dying in a Paris hospital. A hospital spokesman "said there would be no details about the cause of death because of French privacy laws," reports the Associated Press--secrecy that is sure to fuel suspicions Arafat died of AIDS.

Most media organizations are enveloping Arafat's long-overdue death in a giant cloud of puffery. Typical is the Washington Post, which begins its obit:

For virtually his entire adult life, Yasser Arafat had one dream, and he pursued it with such energy and zeal--some would say fanaticism--that he came to personify the dream itself.

The dream was of self-determination and statehood for the Palestinian people, and in the end he did not live to see it.

Of course, "the Palestinian people" would have had a state in 1948 had the Arabs not immediately declared war on the nascent state of Israel. Arafat, who founded the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1964, was instrumental in developing a Palestinian political culture centered on rejectionism, anti-Semitism and terrorism. The Boston Globe's Jeff Jacoby highlights one of Arafat's early "accomplishments":

In May 1974, three PLO terrorists slipped from Lebanon into the northern Israeli town of Ma'alot. They murdered two parents and a child whom they found at home, then seized a local school, taking more than 100 boys and girls hostage and threatening to kill them unless a number of imprisoned terrorists were released. When Israeli troops attempted a rescue, the terrorists exploded hand grenades and opened fire on the students. By the time the horror ended, 25 people were dead; 21 of them were children.

Thirty years later, no one speaks of Ma'alot anymore. The dead children have been forgotten. Everyone knows Arafat's name, but who ever recalls the names of his victims?

So let us recall them: Ilana Turgeman. Rachel Aputa. Yocheved Mazoz. Sarah Ben-Shim'on. Yona Sabag. Yafa Cohen. Shoshana Cohen. Michal Sitrok. Malka Amrosy. Aviva Saada. Yocheved Diyi. Yaakov Levi. Yaakov Kabla. Rina Cohen. Ilana Ne'eman. Sarah Madar. Tamar Dahan. Sarah Soper. Lili Morad. David Madar. Yehudit Madar.

France's President Jacques Chirac calls Arafat "a man of courage and conviction," while Nelson Mandela says, "Yasser Arafat was one of the outstanding freedom fighters of this generation."

Mandela won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

Arafat was also implicated in the murder of Americans, as The Wall Street Journal's Robert Pollock reported in 2001:

In early 1973, Black September [a Palestinian terror group] took the American ambassador and his deputy (along with one Belgian diplomat) hostage in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, and, after President Nixon refused to negotiate, murdered them. . . .

Persistent rumors that the U.S. and Israel possess tapes of Mr. Arafat directing the 1973 Khartoum murders (confirmed to me by Ariel Sharon late last year) have gained further credence with the recent allegations of James J. Welsh, a former Navy and National Security Agency intelligence analyst. He says the NSA sent out a warning of a possible PLO attack, based on shortwave intercepts, that was inexplicably downgraded by the State Department. After the murders, it was covered up. His story deserves congressional attention. After all, there is no statute of limitations on murder.

Jimmy Carter describes Arafat as "a powerful human symbol and forceful advocate" who "was instrumental in forging a peace agreement with Israel in 1993." Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations, says: "President Arafat will always be remembered for having . . . led the Palestinians to accept the principle of peaceful coexistence between Israel and a future Palestinian state. By signing the Oslo accords in 1993 he took a giant step towards the realization of this vision."

Carter won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Annan won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2001.

After signing the Oslo accords, Arafat won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1994. And of course the terror continued. "From the signing of the Declaration of Principles between Israel and the PLO on September 13, 1993, until September 2000, 256 civilians and soldiers were killed in terrorist attacks in Israel," notes Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Notwithstanding Bill Clinton's last-ditch efforts at resolution, the pace of violence stepped up drastically in September 2000; since then the Palestinians have murdered 1,032.

Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair says that Arafat "led his people to a historic acceptance and the need for a two-state solution."

Not all world leaders are singing in tune with this arafatuous chorus. John Howard, Australia's newly re-elected prime minister, said, "I think history will judge him very harshly for not having seized the opportunity in the year 2000 to embrace the offer that was very courageously made by the then Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barack, which involved the Israelis agreeing to 90% of what the Palestinians had wanted."

George W. Bush, America's newly re-elected president, essentially ignored Arafat and looked toward the future:

The death of Yasser Arafat is a significant moment in Palestinian history. We express our condolences to the Palestinian people. For the Palestinian people, we hope that the future will bring peace and the fulfillment of their aspirations for an independent, democratic Palestine that is at peace with its neighbors.

During the period of transition that is ahead, we urge all in the region and throughout the world to join in helping make progress toward these goals and toward the ultimate goal of peace.

In the short run, Arafat's legacy is likely to be more of the same. The Islamist group Hamas says it plans to continue murdering Jews (though thanks to Israel's security fence, this is a lot harder than it used to be). Quintuple murderer Marwan Barghouti, who led the West Bank chapter of Arafat's Fatah organization, urged Palestinians to retain "our commitment to the intifada." And the Fatah-linked al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade announced that it's changing its name to the Martyr Yasser Arafat Brigades.

But as America's own Democrats have learned, hate alone is insufficient to sustain a political movement. With the Arafat cult of personality broken, we may hope that the Palestinian terror movement exhausts itself in infighting and recriminations. With freedom on the march elsewhere in the Arab world, that may eventually provide an opening for the president's vision of an independent, democratic, peaceful Palestine. George W. Bush may turn out to be the best friend the Palestinians ever had.

Get Your Own Damn Buses
Here's a lovely little irony: Jewish towns in the disputed territories have been forced to purchase bulletproof buses to protect passengers against Arab gunplay. Now, the Jerusalem Post reports, the Israeli Foreign Ministry has asked local authorities to let Palestinians use the buses to ride to Yasser Arafat's funeral in Cairo.

No dice, says the Council of Jewish Communities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip: "We are not ready to honor an abominable murder [sic] who spilled the blood of many Jews."

The Journalists Did Him In!
"Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat and Tayeb Abdel Rahim, a top Arafat aide, confirmed that Arafat died in a conversation with reporters."--Associated Press, Nov. 11

Those Tolerant, Open-Minded, Inclusive Liberals
"I find it easier to explain the psychology of a suicide bomber than how it is that most Americans like Bush, think he's taking the right course."--Melinda Ruley, Independent Weekly (Durham, N.C.), Nov. 10

The Selfish Party
Democrats like to present themselves as the party of the downtrodden while characterizing the GOP as the party of the selfish rich. But a study by the Catalogue of Philanthropy suggests the opposite may be true. The Catalogue ranked all 50 states based on the percentage of adjusted gross income their residents donated to charity. The top five states were Mississippi, Arkansas, South Dakota, Oklahoma and Alabama, all of which President Bush carried. Indeed, all of the top 24 finishers are "red" states; New York, at No. 25, is the highest-ranking "blue" one. Only four red states appear in the bottom 12: Virginia, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada.

A post on DemocraticUnderground.com, by someone called "mgdecombe" offers one explanation:

Got a call from the March of Dimes today. I listened to the woman's prepared text, and said, "I'm sorry, we will no longer be donating, please take us off your list." She asked why, and I said, "Due to the election results, we have decided not to enable the Bush Administration by supporting charitable organizations who are filling the vaccuum [sic] caused by his mishandling of the country. It's all up to President Bush now."

She sounded surprised.

We will say this to all of the organizations we donated to last year, when they come a' callin' this month and next.

For the next four years, we help our own, and that is it. We contribute to political causes, and that is it.

Liberals, it seems, are quite generous--but only with other people's money.

Reformist Right Beats Reactionary Left
A recurring theme in this column has been that the left in America--including both the Democratic Party and the radical fringe--have become a reactionary force. In foreign policy, the moderate left champions Cold War-era international institutions, while the radical left stands up for fascist dictators like Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro. And in domestic policy the left insists that New Deal and Great Society programs like Social Security and Medicare must not be changed.

Columnist Robert Novak argues that, on domestic policy, last week's election results were a victory for the reformist right over the reactionary left:

The untold story from last week's Republican victory was the ineffectiveness of the left's attacks on right-wing reform. Democrats surprisingly did not launch a national campaign against partial privatization of Social Security. They did unlimber heavy artillery against radical changes in federal taxation but ended up shooting duds.

This failure was dramatized by Senate elections in the very red states of Oklahoma and South Carolina. Right up to Election Day, serious Democratic strategists saw an excellent chance to win in both states because the Republican candidates were uncompromising reformers and, therefore, stigmatized as loony rightists. Instead, former Rep. Tom Coburn in Oklahoma and Rep. Jim DeMint in South Carolina won easily.

Novak doesn't discuss foreign policy, and he has been skeptical of President Bush's approach to the Middle East. But the president's victory over global-testing John Kerry is also a triumph of progress over reaction.

'I Made an Ass of Myself'
Here's a delightful little story from the Sacramento Bee:

A lawyer for the state Franchise Tax Board was jailed last weekend after harassing Sacramento City Councilman Robbie Waters and dozens of other people over the election of President Bush. "I was going to Bel Air to mail a letter and pick up some steaks for dinner, and this guy just went off," Robbie said. "He said, 'Hey, Robbie Waters. Why don't you punch me in the face? Your man Bush won, and you're real proud. Come on, kick me, you (expletive).' "

Robbie, a former cop and Sacramento County sheriff, decided not to tangle with the man, Craig Swieso, even when he followed Robbie into the supermarket on Rush River Drive. The councilman called police and waited in the market manager's office. "For the first time in my life, I just walked away," Waters said. "I wanted to get my steaks home."

Police arrested Swieso, 46, when he refused to calm down. "I made an ass of myself," Craig said. "I was confronting affluent white males about voting for Bush. They swagger like they they are tough. I was asking them how tough they really are." Swieso, who is white, spent eight hours in jail. "The inmates were incredibly polite," he said. Swieso thinks medication contributed to his outburst. "That's no excuse," he said, adding his new goal is unseating Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Well, good luck. We hear Schwarzenegger isn't exactly a girlie-man.

Steer Clear of the Spam
Way back on Feb. 12, we noted that the Drudge Report had published a rumor involving a purported relationship between John Kerry and a young intern. We expressed skepticism about the claim, which reportedly originated in Wesley Clark's campaign, and which in the event did not pan out. As we wrote on Feb. 17, "It now appears there wasn't anything to the claim that John Kerry had an affair with a 20-something woman."

Two days later, we received an e-mail signed by one Nell Corkin, with the subject line "Steer Clear of the Smear":

In a year in which we have already seen several media smear campaigns, you owe it to your audience to thoroughly vet all rumors, photographs and "gotcha" news stories that emerge from politically biased Internet sources.

The speed with which mainstream media ran coverage of Matt Drudge's recent allegations of an affair between John Kerry and an "intern" indicates a news system that hasn't put in place proper fact-checking. Instead, many rushed a story to press based only on attribution to an unscrupulous source.

By allowing rumormongers and political attack dogs to set the election-year news agenda mainstream media often fail in their duty to provide fair, accurate and accountable news to American voters.

We thought about writing Corkin back and acknowledging that she had a point, but then we got another identical e-mail from Kathleen McKinney. And one from Mark Lundholm. And five more, for a total of eight, within an hour of the first one. By midnight on the 20th, we had received a total of 80 such e-mails, almost all of them word-for-word identical to the rest.

It turns out we were the target of a mass e-mail effort by an outfit called MediaChannel.org, which has set up a page that automatically sends the same message when a reader enters his information. Long after the intern rumor had died out, the messages kept coming--425 in all so far, including five since the election and three today alone. (So as not to encourage further e-mails, we're not providing a link to the page.)

As we said, these guys had a point: The intern rumor did not amount to anything, and if we had it to do over, we'd ignore it. We'd already reached that conclusion before the first "Steer Clear" message arrived in our inbox.

We mention this now only to note that these mass e-mailings are a singularly ineffective way of making a point. When readers send us e-mails with thoughtful criticism of what we write, we always read it, sometimes respond and occasionally even change our mind. But it requires no thought and very little effort to enter your name and address on an Internet form and have someone else's canned thoughts e-mailed out. We suspect just about anyone who is on the receiving end of such a campaign will be inclined, as we are, to discount it.

Dum and Dumer
From an online chat with Phil Bennett, the Washington Post's assistant managing editor for foreign news:

Arlington, Va.: Please do not "dumb down" The Post as part of your efforts to increase circulation. There are very few media outlets that provide the in-depth and intelligent reporting that we require in this complicated world. Please keep The Post in this small group. Thanks.

Phil Bennett: I don't think there's a danger of duming down The Post.

Does This Mean There Are Fewer People in Jail?
"St. Louis Says Population Decline Arrested"--headline, Associated Press, Nov. 10

You Don't Say
"Alimony Pays Off for Wives"--headline, San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 11

Whither the Social Fabric?
"Supreme Court Battles Loom"--headline, Denver Post, Nov. 10

A Man in Search of Change
Here's a peculiar story from the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette:

More female caretakers said Wednesday that a Charleston financial adviser pretended to be a 3-year-old, made them change his diaper and tried to grope them.

Charleston police Detective S.A. Dempsey said that several more home health-care workers alleged that William Warren Mucklow victimized them.

"They all have similar stories," Dempsey said. "I feel like I've been listening to a broken record today."

Some alleged victims--all women--told police they responded to classified ads that sought a caretaker for a mentally ill man who acts like a toddler, Dempsey said. . . .

Janis Chapman, 61, said she cared for Mucklow for more than 12 hours just before Halloween. A woman named Brenda responded to her ad offering caregiver services. Brenda asked Chapman to sit for William from 8 p.m. to after 8 a.m. one night and gave care instructions.

When she arrived at the home, nobody was there but a grown man who acted like a child, Chapman said. During the night, Chapman changed Mucklow's diaper four times and he tried to grab her breast as she sat next to him while they watched television, she said.

The Gazette reports that Mucklow has been charged with "two counts of battery, three counts of writing worthless checks and one count of obtaining by false pretenses." So let's see if we have this straight: The prosecution theory is that he's actually perfectly sane?

(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Michael Segal, Sam Wakim, Steven Platzer, Charlie Wolf, David Brown, Ira Salwen, Abe Beyda, Bob Batts, Erik Moy, Chuck Meyer, Arnold Nelson, Brent Silver, Diane Ravitch, Howard Weiser, Jennifer Ray, Royal Dellinger, Ed Lasky, Ari Shapiro, Thomas Dillon, Ned Schoenfeld, Tom Linehan, Hershel Ginsburg, Barak Moore, Geoffrey Macleay, Monty Krieger, Joel Goldberg, Bridget von Weisenstein, Jerome Marcus, Cal Smith, Jeffrey Weinstein, Dan Friedman, Jared Silverman, David Gerstman, Doug Payton, Mark Girshovich, Mordecai Bobrowsky, Ethel Fenig, Joseph Slife, Samuel Walker, Pat Sullivan, Joseph Braunfeld, Mark Van Der Molen, Michael VandeKerhof, Christopher Anderson, Skip King, Naftali Friedman, Howard Lucy, David Shapero, Dennis Smith, David Simantob, Jamie Extract, William Katz, Rick Marsh, Michael Hopkovitz, Anthony Jewell, Scott Siegel, Bill Dickerman, Charlie Gaylord, Frank Lustig, Don Surber, Max Lebediuk, Philip Averbuck, Thomas Smith, Chana Lajcher, Jim Poje, Michael Stein, Jon Sanders, Thomas Wessel, Peter Gallagher, Cliff Thier, Jim Ogletree, David Haberman, Kevin Tharp, Frances McDonald, Kathy Lovin, Bob Krumm, Drew Anderson, Marshall Sella, Dan Mandell and Brian Crook. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)

Today on OpinionJournal:

• Review & Outlook: Ashcroft left a better Justice Department than he inherited.
• Peggy Noonan: Why I can't stop being happy about the election result.
• Geoffrey Norman: Americans are oddly uncurious about the military history of the Revolutionary War.