by JAMES TARANTO
Friday, November 4, 2005 4:10 P.M. EST

Silver Anniversary
The assassination of John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, marked the end of an American political era: the age of confident liberalism. Lyndon B. Johnson carried forward JFK's legislative legacy, cutting taxes and pushing through landmark civil rights laws. But LBJ's overambitious wars in Vietnam and on poverty were damaging to America and shattering for liberalism. The late 1960s and the 1970s saw skyrocketing crime and illegitimacy, American humiliation in Vietnam, and the tragedy of Watergate.

Finally, with the presidency of Jimmy Carter, the country hit rock bottom: malaise, gas lines, the Soviets in Afghanistan, the invasion of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Blessedly, 25 years ago today, it came to an end with the election of Ronald Reagan and the dawn of the age of confident conservatism. The ensuing two decades saw unprecedented economic growth, victory in the Cold War, and a gradual diminution of the timidity about employing U.S. military force overseas that is known as the "Vietnam syndrome." By the mid-1990s, a Democratic president was even undoing the worst excesses of LBJ's Great Society.

We're inclined to view the presidency of George W. Bush, and especially his muscular foreign policy, as a continuation of the Reagan era. There is an argument to be made on the other side: that conservatism is now in its LBJ phase, having produced swollen government at home and overextended America's capabilities abroad. The left, meanwhile, is as weak, angry and paranoid as the right was in the heyday of the John Birch Society--but perhaps one day it will reconnect with reality and resurge politically.

History will reveal itself in due course, but for today let us remember how, on Nov. 4, 1980, America began to reverse its decline by electing a man who shared the country's faith in itself.

Biden Questions Dems' Patriotism
The Manchester Union Leader reports on a visit by Sen. Joe Biden to New Hampshire:

He told the heavily Democratic crowd that Democrats have become elitist. He noted that some Democrats have questioned why he wears an American flag on his lapel.

"We've become disconnected from where we grew up," Biden said. "The Republicans, because of our distance, they have convinced a lot of people we ain't one of them."

The Democrats have a patriotism problem? Say it ain't so, Joe!

What Do You Mean, 'We,' White Man?
The Hill's Tipsheet has an amusing report on "prominent female members of the House Democratic Caucus," who--surprise, surprise--oppose Judge Sam Alito's Supreme Court nomination:

Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) said she was disappointed that President Bush nominated a white male to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

"The president has failed to nominate a woman or a Latino," Solis said, a decision that constituted "a betrayal of the legacy of the trailblazing Justice Sandra Day O'Connor."

Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) said Alito would not represent all Americans.

"Who will Judge Alito represent? He will represent white males who can afford to keep their wives at home while they work," Woolsey charged.

You've just got to love this silly tribalism. First of all, we had no idea Sandra Day O'Connor--or is that Sandra de Oconór?--was Latino. And does Woolsey think she represents only divorced white women who were born yesterday?

Jim Crow Nostalgia
"More 'Rosa Parks Moments' Needed" is the headline on an MSNBC.com piece about the civil rights heroine's funeral, which ascribes the desire for more such moments to speakers at the funeral. But what is this supposed to mean? Should we resegregate public facilities so that latter-day Rosa Parkses can stand up in defiance? To say the least, that would be an odd thing to do.

The piece, by MSNBC's Dawn Fratangelo, doesn't get very specific:

Interestingly, a lot of the speakers have been talking about how we collectively, as a society, need to have our own Rosa Parks moments.

In an interview that Parks gave when she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom [in 1996], she was asked if she was happy.

She reply [sic] was, "I did the very best I can to look upon life with optimism and hope and looking forward to a better day. But, I don't think that there is any such thing as complete happiness because it pains me that there is still a lot of Klan activity and racism. I just haven't reached that stage yet of complete happiness."

The speakers have been talking about that. How Rosa Parks is just one person and that while she may have been the match to light the civil rights movement--there is still much more to be done.

Every speaker who has come to the podium so far, has talked about how we, collectively as a society, need to have our Rosa Parks moments.

There haven't been overt messages or comments about what happened during Hurricane Katrina, but they have alluded to the fact that there are still people who are not included and are not treated with respect or dignity.

So, it's not lost on anyone who is speaking, or listening, that if there is anything we can do to honor Rosa Parks memory, it really is to not be naïve to think that there isn't a heck of a lot more to do.

It looks to us as though the left is falling into the same trap that it claims the right does vis-à-vis foreign policy: that of contriving a new enemy in order to keep alive a struggle that in fact is over. Thus we hear such nonsense as blaming a natural disaster on Republicans' putative antipathy toward black people.

Antiblack racism does still exist, of course, but its most open and vicious expression comes from the left itself, as we noted Wednesday with respect to the attacks on Maryland's Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, a Republican who is black. Blogger Devone Tucker argues that Steele "may very well be the Rosa Parks of our era" (ellipsis in original):

Like Parks fifty years ago, Steele is a target of those desperate to maintain the racial and political status quo. However, like Parks, Steele will not be moved, and he will see things through to victory. Who knows . . . a few decades from now, we might be showering Steele with the same richly-deserved accolades that Parks received this week. True leaders deserve that.

We noted on Tuesday the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial board's invidious statement that Justice Clarence Thomas "deserves an asterisk because he arguably does not represent the views of mainstream black America." At least one Journal Sentinel editorialist has the courage to disagree publicly: On Journal Sentinel's Quick Hits blog, perspectives editor Mabel Wong declares: "The assumption that people of color are a homogeneous lot with a single set of beliefs is as offensive and racist as any other stereotype assigned to them."

Rule of Thumb
Recently there's been a debate among members of the Supreme Court about the extent to which it's appropriate to rely on foreign law in interpreting the U.S. Constitution. The Associated Press reports on one politician who favors following ancient French precedents--or perhaps contemporary Wahhabi ones:

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has suggested that those who deface freeways with graffiti should have their thumbs cut off on television.

Goodman, appearing Wednesday on the "Nevada Newsmakers" television show, said, "In the old days in France, they had beheading of people who commit heinous crimes.

"You know, we have a beautiful highway landscaping redevelopment in our downtown. We have desert tortoises and beautiful paintings of flora and fauna. These punks come along and deface it.

"I'm saying maybe you put them on TV and cut off a thumb," the mayor added. "That may be the right thing to do."

Fortunately, if Goodman's city does this, no one else will be obliged to follow. After all, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Legal scholars call this the principle of stare Vegas.

Homer Nods
Two corrections from yesterday, both since corrected. First, "Samuel Alito" is an anagram for "I am a sellout," not "I'm a sellout." Second, we should have said that President Bush's approval ratings fell two points, not 0.5 points, every four months between September 2003 and this month. We forgot to multiply, which is one thing we have in common with Maureen Dowd.

Is That Even a Quorum?
"Senators Defeat Lightning, 4-2"--headline, Associated Press, Nov. 3

Yeah, as Long as They're Falling, They Probably Won't Go Higher
"Falling Gas Prices Likely to Go Lower"--headline, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Nov. 4

You Don't Say
"Voters to Decide Election Races"--headline, Bernardsville (N.J.) News, Nov. 2

What Would We Do Without Experts?
"Expert: Flu Outbreak Could Be Deadly or Mild"--headline, Rapid City (S.D.) Journal, Nov. 4

That's a Funny Name
"NASA Names New Shuttle a Priority"--headline, Associated Press, Nov. 4

Turkey Will Be Otherwise Occupied
"Crow to Play Thanksgiving at Halftime of NFL Game"--headline, Associated Press, Nov. 3

Who Knew the White House Had Ducks?
"White House Ducks Prewar Intel Questions"--headline, Associated Press, Nov. 2

Sounds Like a Job for the White House Ducks
"Republicans Challenge Drake's Political Tilt"--headline, Des Moines Register, Nov. 3

Yukking It Up
We've had our disagreements with Andrew Sullivan of late, but yesterday we saw a point of agreement in this item from his blog:

QUOTE FOR THE DAY II: "If you'll look at my lovely FEMA attire, you'll really vomit. I am a fashion god,"--Michael Brown, yucking it up in an email the day of Katrina. Jon Stewart couldn't make this stuff up.

He's right! It was totally inappropriate for Brown to engage in frivolity like this at such a grave time. In fact, we thought it would be good to provide a counterexample of the kind of serious and sober things one should say at a time of crisis. So we went back and looked at the AndrewSullivan.com archives for the week of Katrina. What we found shocked us to the core. Here's a sampling:

"MORE ON PENGUINS: An emailer with another tale of gay parenting: 'A good friend of mine worked on "Rock Island" at the Baltimore Zoo for several years after college. Rock Island is the home of the zoo's colony of African (Black-footed) penguins. If memory serves, African penguins mate for life rather than seasonally--which included the for-life pair of Bob and Dave. Apparently some of the (heterosexual) mating pairs weren't terribly adept at caring for their eggs or young, so when these particular pairs would produce an egg the zoo staff would snatch if from their nest, replace it with a fake, and put the real egg in Bob and Dave's nest because they were very good at caring for an egg. My friend used to say that when Bob and Dave would come back to their nest and find an egg there they'd look at each other in a puzzled way as if to say, "Hmmm . . . one of us must've had an egg." Then they'd go about the normal business of caring for it as though it were theirs.' "--Aug. 29, the day Katrina made landfall

"GAY ANIMALS: The animated version."--Aug. 30

"HOW TO SELL A CAR SOUND SYSTEM: Inter-species sex, of course!"--Sept. 1

So while tens of thousands (OK, hundreds) of people were dying in Louisiana, Andrew Sullivan was yukking it up about gay penguins and "inter-species sex." Jon Stewart wouldn't want to make this stuff up. And these are only his public postings; unlike Michael Brown, Sullivan has yet to make public his e-mails from that week. Yet while Brown has lost his job, Sullivan is still blogging. Whatever happened to accountability?

(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Richard Hobbs, Joe Perez, Bimal Chaudhari, Charles Green, John Kurowski, Ami Avivi, Monty Krieger, Marc Whinston, Michael Foster, Michael Segal, C.E. Dobkin, M. Gilberston, Evan Slatis, Dan McNulty, John Hall, Philip Sallyab, Scott Bell, Thomas Downing, Bob Sigsworth and Geoff Hazel. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)

Today on OpinionJournal:

• Review & Outlook: Let's unseal the reason Fitzgerald put "Miss Run Amok" in jail.
• Daniel Henninger: Truman Capote's dark visitation to a red state.
• Dorrance Smith: What is the relationship between al-Jazeera, al Qaeda and America's TV networks?
• The Journal Editorial Report: Tune in this weekend for a discussion of tax reform and next week's elections.

And on the Taste page:

• Review & Outlook: Carl Levin tries to keep a critic of al-Jazeera out of the Pentagon.
• Tony & Tacky: A cell phone double standard; a judge boots Bobby Hill from his Texas hometown.
• Brendan Miniter: In Montana, the buffalo roam. They'd better start running.
• Richard Schickel: In the new '50s movies, as usual, Hollywood oversimplifies history.
• Joseph Loconte: Christian pacifists ignore the true ambitions of terrorists.