by JAMES TARANTO
Tuesday, November 15, 2005 4:38 P.M. EST

The 'Poopyhead' Democrats
The New York Observer reports from the cutting edge of political fashion:

Down on the Lower East Side, Stephanie Dolgoff likes to dress her twin 2-year-old daughters in T-shirts bearing flippant slogans like "President Poopyhead" and "Bush Is a Tush." During the family's regular perambulations around their neighborhood, the incongruous sight of the tots in their special shirts often inspires hearty guffaws or approving nods from the few remaining political radicals that live there.

"I don't want to make them out to be like walking posters," said Ms. Dolgoff, 38, the health director at Self magazine, defending the fashion choices she makes on her kids' behalf. "Really, it's just funny. The old folks in the neighborhood think it's funny. They agree Bush is a sh--head . . . and I tell them not to curse in front of my children."

This pretty well captures the intellectual spirit of the Democratic Party circa 2005. Here's party chairman Howard Dean, talking with Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" Sunday:

Russert: What is the Democratic position on Iraq? Should we withdraw troops now? What do the Democrats stand for?

Dean: Tim, first of all, we don't control the House, the Senate or the White House. We have plenty of time to show Americans what our agenda is and we will long before the '06 elections.

Russert: But there's no Democratic plan on Social Security. There's no Democratic plan on the deficit problem. There's no specifics. They say, "Well, we want a strong Social Security. We want to reduce the deficit. We want health care for everyone," but there's no plan how to pay for it.

Dean: Right now it's not our job to give out specifics.

Really, who needs specifics? After all, other than in 2002, 2003 and 2004, Democrats have done very well running on a platform of "Bush is a poopyhead." Why just last week they held onto the governorships of New Jersey and Virginia! You can't argue with that kind of success.

There is one little problem, as blogger Paul Geary points out:

Though it may be true that the Democrats are more cohesive now than they have been in some time, they're cohesive about only one thing: hatred of George Bush. That's less sustainable than the Christian-libertarian coalition, obviously because George Bush will, for better or worse, be removed from the equation soon. And if the Democrats believe their own rhetoric--that Bush is the worst possible president--it stands to reason that the next Republican president (McCain, Giuliani, Hagel, Romney, etc.) will be more palatable to more people.

Of course, Republicans who loathed Bill Clinton had more political success once he had passed from the scene. If the Dems are lucky, their hatred will fade, and rationality will kick in, in time for the 2008 election. Some losses in 2006 would probably be helpful toward that end.

He Exists!
Thanks to President Bush, experts have confirmed the existence of a haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Democrat, who by the way served in Vietnam, the Boston Globe reports from Washington:

President Bush's Veterans Day broadside against Senator John F. Kerry[*], delivered in a major speech on the war in Iraq, was greeted with quiet cheer by those in the senator's camp who are laying the groundwork for his possible run for the presidency in 2008.

By singling out Kerry as the Democrats' leading Iraq war critic, aides to the Massachusetts Democrat said, the president confirmed Kerry's continuing prominence in national politics, something the senator and his aides have fought hard to maintain.

''Kerry is clearly one of the national leaders of the Democratic Party," said Jenny Backus, a Kerry political strategist. ''John Kerry has articulated a clear strategy for Democrats, and there's nothing more dangerous for Republicans than a united Democratic Party."

Of course, when Kerry ran for president, he not only got trounced (by a "poopyhead," no less!), but the Democrats suffered huge losses in congressional races for good measure. Plainly Bush's validating Kerry's existence is the latest in a series of GOP dirty tricks.

* Should we have heard of this guy?

Plus de Mush du Wimp
"Chirac: France Riots Reflect 'Profound Malaise' "--headline, Associated Press, Nov. 14

Why Not Just Stop Burning Their Cars?
"France Takes New Steps to Fight Global Warming"--headline, Reuters, Nov. 15

Brother, Can You Spare a Bomb?
CNN reports Sajida Mubarak al-Rishawi, the female failed Iraqi suicide bomber, "had three brothers killed by U.S. forces, friends of the woman said Tuesday":

Thamir al-Rishawi, regarded as a known member of an al Qaeda in Iraq terror cell operating in Anbar, was killed during the April 2004 U.S. operations in Fallujah when an air-to-ground missile hit his pickup.

Two other brothers, Ammar and Yassir, were killed in two separate attacks against U.S. troops in Ramadi, said the two friends, who declined to be identified further because they feared retribution from insurgent forces.

Al Qaeda in Iraq is known by Democrats as al Qaeda Which Has Nothing to Do With Iraq in Iraq Which Has Nothing to Do With al Qaeda.

A Dart to:
Columbia Journalism Review, for this outrageous item:

This past week, writing in the New Yorker, Hendrik Hertzberg sized up the president's nomination of Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court and, in so doing, passed along a lethal anagram of the judge's name.

"He is not a Bush crony, and--notwithstanding the curious happenstance that 'Samuel Alito' is an anagram of 'I am a sellout'--his integrity is not in question," wrote Hertzberg.

The next day, writing for the Wall Street Journal, James Taranto countered with an alternative Alito anagram.

"Irritated by litmus tests?" wrote Taranto. "We have just the balm: Samuel Alito, whose name is an anagram for 'a litmus aloe.' "

Actually, we had the "sellout" anagram on Nov. 3, four days before Hertzberg. CJR blogger Felix Gillette concludes his item by taking a shot at both Hertzberg and your humble columnist: "Too bad the letters of Alito's name can't be rearranged to spell, 'Get a life, guys!' " Hey Felix, who's more of a loser, someone who comes up with anagrams or someone who writes about someone who comes up with anagrams?

Not Too Brite--CC
This Reuters report from Belle Chasse, La., may be the worst ever in this genre:

In Plaquemines Parish, south of New Orleans, the living mostly escaped Hurricane Katrina. Those already dead and buried were not so lucky.

Only three deaths were recorded here when the eye of the storm tore up the slip of land that follows the last bend of the Mississippi River as it spills into the Gulf of Mexico.

But more than two months later, local officials are still trying to identify dozens of concrete crypts, coffins, and bodies displaced by Katrina's high winds and water.

Oddly Enough!

(For an explanation of the "Not Too Brite" series, click here.)

'Incongruous Accord'
Last week Texas became the latest state to pass a prophylactic measure against same-sex marriage. The ultraliberal Houston Chronicle is unhappy, which is hardly surprising, but we got a chuckle out of the editorial's condescending comments about black voters:

Inner city black voters in Harris County, many of whom have long experience with the denial of civil rights, favored the marriage amendment by an even higher majority than the general Harris County voting population. Black discomfort with homosexual marriage is rooted less in conscious discrimination than in religious belief, but support for the amendment brought blacks into incongruous accord with members of the Ku Klux Klan, whose members rallied in Austin in support of Proposition 2.

So let's see if we have this straight. If you're a person of pallor and you oppose same-sex marriage, you're guilty of "conscious discrimination," whereas if you're black, you're following "religious belief" and presumably discriminating unconsciously. Oh, and does this mean people who favor same-sex marriage are religious unbelievers? Seems to us the Houston Chronicle has just managed to insult pretty much everybody.

More Liberal Charm

"IS BUSH WORSE THAN POL POT?: More liberal charm from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune."--Andrew Sullivan, Aug. 6, 2001

"THE WALL STREET JOURNAL AND POL POT: What do they have in common? . . . Here's a picture of the Khmer Rouge doing something now authorized and endorsed by Dick Cheney."--Andrew Sullivan, Nov. 13, 2005

Even Australian Reporters Don't Deserve to Be Tortured
"U.S. Attorney General Condemns Torture at Sydney Press Conference"--headline, Associated Press, Nov. 14

Make Sure Your Shelter Is Stocked With Band-Aids
"Floyd Warns of Fallout From Cuts"--Columbia (Mo.) Daily Tribune, Nov. 14

What About Inside of Stores?
"Retail Sales Outside of Autos Post Gains"--headline, Associated Press, Nov. 15

Good News for Wisconsinites
"Sauerkraut Could Fight Bird Flu, Say Scientists"--headline, Sunday Telegraph (London), Nov. 13

Thanks for the Tip!--XI
"Health Tip: Don't Overuse Laxatives"--headline, HealthDayNews, Nov. 15

Aren't You Glad We Asked?
In an item yesterday, we asked what the heck a "hope weiner" is. It turns out it is a "battered old war horse" that teaches yoga.

Great Moments in Higher Education
A couple of years ago the University of Michigan went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to defend its policy of racial preferences aimed at achieving "diversity." It partly succeeded, and the Michigan Daily reports that this diversity has borne fruit:

Calling all women of color.

"The Vagina Monologues" wants you.

That's the message students have heard in the past weeks, as the annual show has opted to bring women of color center stage, while planning to leave many white women behind the curtains.

Late last month, producers and directors of the show announced their intention to push for an all-minority cast. Some students have deemed the new casting policy reverse discrimination, but supporters of the show say they view the change as a way to rectify biases of the show and reignite interest among the student body.

Meanwhile, a prestigious private school in California is dealing with the scandal of "gender specific" toilets. From an editorial in the Student Life:

Pomona College is in dire need of a gender-neutral restroom in the Smith Campus Center. As the situation currently stands, the campus center only has gender-specific facilities, creating an uncomfortable, exclusive and unsafe environment for students at the Claremont Colleges who do not choose to conform to heteronormative identities.

Doesn't anyone care about students who do not choose to conform to heteronormative identities of color? Never mind, we don't want to give these people any more ideas.

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