From the WSJ Opinion Archives
He'd
Rather Not Answer
A hilarious story from columnist Jim Walsh in the Courier Post of Cherry Hill,
N.J.:
Here's the scene: Former CBS anchorman Dan Rather is in Cherry Hill, giving a speech about the need for journalists to do better.
"What's gone out of fashion is the tough question and the follow-up," he tells an admiring audience of about 600 people at Cherry Hill's Star Forum.
So how can I, the guy covering Rather's remarks, just sit there?
When he finishes, I hurry to a floor mike to ask Rather about an issue that will be part of my story.
"Mr. Rather," I say. "Great suggestions. But you left the anchor desk last year after your report questioning President Bush's military service was discredited. Key memos could not be authenticated. Do you think the failure to ask questions then affects your credibility now?"
Rather responds with civility--if not clarity. He notes, in part, that an independent review "couldn't determine whether the documents were authentic or not."
Eager to please, I follow up: "The Courier-Post won't run something if we're not sure it's authentic. Are you saying it's OK . . ."
But my microphone goes dead--and the audience stirs to life.
That Rather sure knows how to speak power to truth.
Torturing
the News--II
Yesterday we
noted that the New York Times had published a page 1 story on Abu Ghraib
on the same day that it published a story on page 8 about the murder of a hostage,
who, as the Times reported the next day on page 10, was apparently tortured
before being slain. Today the Times reports its Abu Ghraib story may have been
fake:
The online magazine Salon is challenging the identity of a man profiled by The New York Times in a front-page article on Saturday who says he is the iconic hooded figure in a published photograph who was abused by Americans at Abu Ghraib prison in 2003 and 2004.
Salon bases its challenge on an examination of a set of 280 Abu Ghraib photographs it has been studying for several weeks and an interview with an official of the Army's Criminal Investigation Command, known as the C.I.D., who says the man identified by The Times is not the detainee in the photograph.
On Monday, Chris Grey, chief spokesman for the investigations unit, asked about the challenge, confirmed to The Times in an e-mail message: "We have had several detainees claim they were the person depicted in the photograph in question. Our investigation indicates that the person you have is not the detainee who was depicted in the photograph released in connection with the Abu Ghraib investigation.
The story raising doubts about the page 1 story appeared on page 17.
Still
Crazy After All These Years?
In 2002,
after the Palestinian Authority released a bunch of terrorists from its jails,
we offered a "crazy thought": Why not just turn the Palestinian terrorists
over to the U.S.? America has shown at Guantanamo Bay that it's quite capable
of looking after the safety of prisoners." Shortly thereafter, the Palestinians
agreed to stick six assassins into a jail at Jericho, guarded by Americans and
Brits.
Alas, with Hamas now in control of the Palestinian government, the deal has fallen apart. As Ha'aretz reports, the American and British monitors "were withdrawn in response to a statement last week by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who said that he was prepared to free [Ahmed] Sa'adat," one of the men who murdered Rehavam Ze'evi, Israel's tourism minister, in 2001. Hamas forced the issue, the Jerusalem Post reported last month:
Hamas Leader Khaled Mashaal said on Friday [Feb. 24] that the new Hamas-led Palestinian parliament would release the assassins of former tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi from the Jerico jail where they have been incarcerated for the past four years. . . .
Asked about Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz's warnings against any moves to release the murderers, Mashaal said, "Israel always threatens and makes assurances, but it does not scare us. We will do what our people need whether it angers Israel or not."
But the Israel Defense Forces made good on Mofaz's threat, besieging the prison for nine hours until the terrorists surrendered. They are now in Jerusalem's custody.
The Jerusalem Post reports that terrorists kidnapped an American professor in Jenin, Douglas Johnson:
"This is a response to what Bush did today in Jericho," one of the gunmen, who declined to give his name, told the AP.
"If Sa'adat or any of his colleagues are harmed in this operation, we'll kill this guy," he said, referring to Johnson. "If Sa'adat or one of his colleagues is harmed, we will attack American and British consulates everywhere."
If these guys are blaming Bush, they are as detached from reality as Democrats are.
Iranian
Elites vs. Nutty Prez
Our old pal John R. Bradley, formerly of the Arab News, is reporting from Tehran
for the Washington Times:
Iran's clerical and business establishments, deeply concerned by what they see as reckless spending and needlessly aggressive foreign policies, are increasingly turning against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Within this context, many see the president's long-running confrontation with the United States and Europe over Tehran's nuclear program as an attempt to demonize the West and distract the Iranian public from pressing domestic problems.
A relatively small group of extremists "at the top of the government around the president" are seeking to benefit from a crisis with the West, because "that way they will be able once again to blame the West for all of their problems," said Mousa Ghaninejad, the editor of Iran's best-selling economics daily newspaper, Dunya Al-Eqtisad.
But Ahmadinejad detractor Nasser Hadian "predicted that senior Iranian clerics," who hold the real power in the regime, "would continue to support Mr. Ahmadinejad--or at least not move against him--for about a year because of that popular support." Which may be for the best, given that Ahmadinejad is such a lunatic, it is hard for would-be appeasers in the West to make excuses for him.
No
Murtha Here, Just Move Along
Yup, it's MediaMatters.org again:
In his March 13 "Best of the Web Today" column, Wall Street Journal OpinionJournal.com editor James Taranto responded to a March 10 Media Matters for America item highlighting Taranto's false characterization of Media Matters' coverage of Rep. John P. Murtha's (D-PA) call for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. Taranto again falsely claimed that Media Matters is "desperate to distance" itself from Murtha.
Once again, Media Matters has neither endorsed nor condemned any of Murtha's positions. We have not articulated any position on Murtha's proposal for Iraq--so there is no way in which we can be said to be "distanc[ing]" ourselves "from Murtha." We have focused on misinformation from those in the media, such as propagated by Taranto, who have falsely claimed--again and again--that Murtha called for the "immediate withdrawal" of U.S. troops from Iraq. Taranto has yet to acknowledge his errors, continues to repeat them, and insists on introducing new ones in the form of falsehoods about Media Matters.
Murtha did in fact call for an immediate withdrawal, as we documented in November. And are those MediaMatters guys ever defensive. Seems we've struck a nerve.
Just
Can't Win? Change the Rules.
The New York Times, which has long urged the abolition
of the Electoral College, today endorses an end run around the Constitution,
which would have to be amended to eliminate the college:
National Popular Vote, which includes several former members of Congress, is offering an ingenious solution that would not require a constitutional amendment. It proposes that states commit to casting their electoral votes for the winner of the national popular vote. These promises would become binding only when states representing a majority of the Electoral College signed on. Then any candidate who won the popular vote would be sure to win the White House.
The coalition is starting out by trying to have laws passed in Illinois and a few other states. Americans are rightly cautious about tinkering with mechanisms established by the Constitution. But throughout the nation's history, there have been a series of reforms affecting how elections are conducted, like the ones that gave blacks and women the vote and provided for the direct election of United States senators. Sidestepping the Electoral College would be in this worthy tradition of making American democracy more democratic.
The trouble is that this would "work"--i.e., give an election to the popular vote "winner" who otherwise would have lost--only if at least one state ended up casting electoral votes for a candidate who did not carry that state. It's hard to imagine why any state would want to join such a scheme.
Was
It Tied to Them Before?
"Marijuana Again Tied to Memory Problems"--headline, Reuters, March 13
Imagine
How Fast He'd Be on the Road
"Motorcyclist Clocked at 155 MPH Jailed"--headline, Associated Press,
March 13
Bottom
Story of the Day
"Man Wins 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' Contest"--headline, Associated Press,
March 11
Chef
Goes North
Isaac Hayes, the voice of Chef, has left "South Park," reports the
Associated Press:
"There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins," the 63-year-old soul singer and outspoken Scientologist said. . . .
Last November, "South Park" targeted the Church of Scientology and its celebrity followers, including actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta, in a top-rated episode called "Trapped in the Closet." In the episode, Stan, one of the show's four mischievous fourth graders, is hailed as a reluctant savior by Scientology leaders, while a cartoon Cruise locks himself in a closet and won't come out.
[Matt] Stone told The AP he and co-creator Trey Parker "never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin."
Well, after all, it's one thing to mock Jews, Muslims, Mormons, Catholics, Evangelicals, blacks, gays, whites, Mexicans, Asians, Canadians, Frenchmen, people with birth defects, women, transsexuals, Democrats, Republicans, lawyers, cops, cows, people with red hair and freckles, goths, the handicapped and fat kids. But satirizing Scientology--that's just intolerant!
(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Daniel Goldstein, Ruth Papazian, John Sanders, Michael Segal, Ethel Fenig, Monty Krieger, Julie Beck, Joel Goldberg, Alan Utter, David Shapero, Andrew Levinson, Rochi Ebner, Bradley Schwartze, Edward Schulze, John Steele Gordon, Kevin Clinch, Lewis Sckolnick, Charlie Gaylord, Peter Nichols, Jim Sharp, David Bakin, Joshua Yost, Arnold Nelson and Thomas Dillon. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)
Today on OpinionJournal:
- Review & Outlook: Newspapers discover creative destruction.
- Joseph Bottum: Catholic Democrats need more than a "Statement of Principles" to escape abortion politics (from First Things).
- Douglas Gantenbein: The twilight of film photography.
