From the WSJ Opinion Archives

by JAMES TARANTO
Friday, April 28, 2006 3:00 P.M. EDT

A Post-Watergate Milestone
The last of the independent counsels is closing up shop next week, the Associated Press reports:

A two-paragraph order signed by a federal appeals court clerk on March 31 marks the demise of the last of the court-appointed prosecutors.

Independent counsel David Barrett, who spent a decade and $20 million investigating former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros, must complete his duties "on or before May 3," the order states.

The story of American politics and journalism over the past quarter century has been in large part a story of recovery from Vietnam and Watergate. The Republican Party and the country as a whole have done better in this regard than the Democrats or the press.

It took the impeachment of Bill Clinton to rid us of the unconstitutional independent counsel statute. (Ironically, then, Clinton's misbehavior in office actually helped strengthen the presidency.) But the humiliation of John Kerry* has not prompted any sort of Democratic rethinking of Vietnam, nor has the jailing of Judy Miller caused a serious reconsideration of the adversarial press culture that helped bring it about. Next week's milestone notwithstanding, there's still a long way to go.

* The haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Democrat, who actually, believe it or not, served in Vietnam.

Ellen's Epiphany
It has just dawned on Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman that John Kerry** is "a lousy presidential candidate":

Let's go to the 2004 videotape. In the primaries, Kerry was Everydemocrat's second choice. After Super Tuesday, the common wisdom was that Kerry won because he could win. An Ohio voter even told a reporter, ''This guy just looks presidential. And in this country I think it's all about the image." It wasn't a presidential primary, it was a presidential casting call.

Democrats are cute when they get pragmatic, but not necessarily successful. This time, the stalwarts were convinced they'd found a moderate who couldn't be polarized. But he was. They thought they found a decorated veteran--three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, and a Silver Star--who couldn't be trashed. But he was.

Kerry is not the only one who still imagines a thousand belated rejoinders for the swift boat attackers. He's not the only one who cannot believe he actually said of Iraq war funding, ''I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it."

OK, we understand that newspapers have earlier deadlines and all, but we were pointing out what a bad candidate Kerry was 1,239 days ago!

Which raises a disturbing possibility: If even Ellen Goodman has now figured it out, can Kerry himself be far behind? The 2008 Iowa caucus is still some 21 months away, plenty of time for Kerry to face reality. And if he does, what are we going to do for material?

** "My favorite Kerry Iraq position is #17. What's yours?"

Worse Than Useless?
"Iran's president said on Friday his country would pay no attention to international calls to halt its nuclear work, hours before the U.N. atomic watchdog reports on whether Tehran has met U.N. Security Council demands," Reuters reports from Tehran:

"Those who want to prevent Iranians from obtaining their right, should know that we do not give a damn about such resolutions," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a rally in northwest Iran, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Mohamed ElBaradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is expected to tell the council and the agency's board on Friday that Iran has not stopped enriching uranium or fully answered IAEA queries as the U.N. body asked a month ago.

On a related subject, here's an April 10 U.N. press release:

The recent record of the Disarmament Commission was far from satisfactory, but now, more than ever, it should use the opportunity of an agreed agenda to strengthen the disarmament machinery to effectively deal with new emerging threats and challenges, the new Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, Nobuaki Tanaka, said today upon the opening of the Commission's substantive session. . . .

In other business, the following delegations were elected as Vice-chairpersons, by acclamation: Chile, Uruguay and Iran.

Chairing the U.N.'s disarmament commission is a country whose head of state doesn't "give a damn" about his obligations to the U.N. In light of all this, of what use is the U.N.? Indeed, isn't it worse than useless?

Showing Their Colors
Stephen Walt, the Harvard dean and co-author with the University of Chicago's John Mearsheimer of a notorious anti-Israel screed, has finally deigned to grant an interview--to Robert Fisk of London's Independent (it's reprinted on the far-left Counterpunch.org site).

Not surprisingly, Fisk asks no tough questions, and he doesn't even mention the authors' analysis of Middle Eastern history, which, as we have demonstrated, is anti-Semitic in that it admits only evidence unfavorable to the Jewish side of the argument. (In The New Republic, historian Benny Morris makes the case with far more scholarly detail.)

Blogger David T. notes that the Independent's cover art--shown nearby--depicts an American flag with the stars replaced by Stars of David. The same image, he notes, appeared on a flyer, also shown nearby, from International Third Position, "a neo-nazi group founded by Nick Griffin." (Wikipedia.org has a somewhat more complicated description of ITP's ideology: "As a variation of national socialism, critics on the left tend to see International Third Position ideology as a form of neofascism, while others see it as displaying characteristics of a left-wing ideology.")

Given that Fisk is quite insistent that it is invidious to raise the issue of anti-Semitism in criticizing Walt and Mearsheimer's work, you'd think his editors would have been more careful about the image they chose to illustrate Fisk's work.

Isn't Use of the White House Included With the Job?
"Landlord: Bush's Parents Didn't Pay Rent"--headline, Associated Press, April 28

Anew What?
"Katrina Report Rips the White House Anew"--headline, Associated Press, April 27

But Does He Say Anything Interesting?
"Musharraf Says He's No US 'Poodle' "--headline, Reuters, April 27

How Do They Hold the Cards?
"U.S. Seals Deal on Military Bases in Bulgaria"--headline, Reuters, April 28

Hey Workers, Keep Your Voices Down
"Justices Hear Undocumented Workers Debate"--headline, Associated Press, April 26

Bad News for Squeaky Weavers
"Quick Fixes Won't Solve Looming Oil Crisis, Scientists Say"--headline, LiveScience.com, April 28

Dept. of Redundancy Dept.
"At-Risk Drinking Risky for Older Men"--headline, Reuters, April 27

What Would We Do Without Popes?
"Pope: Lack of Love Behind Failed Marriages"--headline, Associated Press, April 28

What Would We Do Without Many Criminologists?
"No one is certain what explains the recent decreases in the overall number of homicides, but many criminologists believe social factors may help explain why, and where, most murders continue to occur."--New York Times, April 28

Bottom Stories of the Day

  • "Police Dogs Find No Drugs in Millington"--headline, Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tenn.), April 27

  • "Submarine Not Coming to Newport"--headline, Cincinnati Post, April 27

  • "White House Scribe Asks for Remote"--headline, CNN.com, April 28

Burning Rubber
"Chinese funeral practices have taken on a distinctly modern, if not capitalist, tinge," reports London's Times from Beijing:

For centuries, mourners have burned paper money to ensure that the dead have plenty of cash on hand to spend eternity. But with rising wealth, families want to ensure that their loved ones take into the next life all the pleasures that they can expect in this one.

Over the past two years, officials have discovered people burning paper offerings of the potency drug Viagra, their mistresses and even "Supergirls"--dolls modelled on winning contestants of the hugely popular Pop Idol spin-off on Chinese television, Supergirl.

But it has all become a bit too vulgar for the country's communist rulers, and the Government moved this week to end the revival of customs deemed to be feudal superstition.

At the top of the list of new regulations is a ban on the burning of paper models of such items as condoms and karaoke hostesses.

Condoms for dead men? Isn't that whistling past the graveyard?

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