From the WSJ Opinion Archives

by JAMES TARANTO
Tuesday, May 16, 2006 3:34 P.M. EDT

The Nativists Are Restless
Was President Bush's immigration speech last night a success? CNN suggests so:

In a CNN snap poll of 461 people who watched Monday's speech, 42 percent said they had a positive opinion of the president's immigration policies before they heard him speak. Afterward, 67 percent said they had a positive view, a jump of 25 percentage points.

The polled audience was 41 percent Republican, 23 percent Democratic and 36 percent independent. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

"People who watch the speech do tend to be somewhat more Republican than the voters as a whole," CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider said. "But that wasn't the best response he's gotten compared to other speeches, in fact it was lower than any speech we've measured since he took office."

One reason for that is that the nativist right is as implacable as the Angry Left. "If the purpose of the speech was to shore up the president's standing with conservatives, it failed," declares an editorial in National Review. "The speech . . . is likely further to demoralize conservatives and harden opposition among House Republicans to the Senate amnesty proposal."

Michelle Malkin, who has actually written a book defending Franklin D. Roosevelt's internment of Japanese-Americans, remarks: "The only good thing about watching the speech was getting to watch it in the Fox News green room with Colorado GOP Rep. Tom Tancredo, a stalwart immigration enforcement advocate. It was nice to have someone to shake heads along with as empty platitude after platitude was laid on thick."

Steve Sailer on VDare.com writes: "The Bush Administration has seemed never to notice that Mexico is not the 51st state, but a foreign country--one that is engaged in a slow-motion invasion of America. . . . Why is Bush doing this? I have suggested that his motives are dynastic--that he is selfishly sacrificing the GOP to build a family vehicle, much like Brian Mulroney sacrificed the Canadian Progressive Conservative party in a vain effort to build a personal fief in the French-speaking province of Quebec. Brenda Walker speculates he is a 'MexiChurian Candidate.' What he is not is an American patriot."

The political effect of the president's speech will depend on how influential voices like these turn out to be among congressional Republicans.

The Palestinian Mafia
"The Aksa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, on Monday threatened to strike at US and European interests in response to international sanctions on the Palestinian Authority," reports the Jerusalem Post's Khaled Abu Toameh. Fatah, of course, is the "moderate" party the Palestinian Arabs voted out in favor of Hamas:

Another armed group affiliated with Fatah, the Abu Rish Brigades, threatened to launch a new intifada unless the international community agreed to fund the PA. "This will be a merciless intifada that will destroy everything," said Abu Haroon, a spokesman for the group in the Gaza Strip.

Sounds like a protection racket to us. Meanwhile in the Washington Post, Robert Malley and Aaron David Miller, who worked on the Middle East in the Clinton administration and the State Department respectively, weigh in with a fatuous op-ed urging "accommodation" between Israel and Hamas:

Can these strange bedfellows find an acceptable accommodation? That depends on whether they and others are prepared to recognize certain realities, however uncomfortable these might be.

First, Hamas will not accept the three conditions put forward by the international community (recognition of Israel, renunciation of violence, acceptance of past agreements). . . .

Second, U.S. efforts to starve the Palestinian government of funds may be a principled position, but they are certainly not a workable policy. The result would be humanitarian catastrophe, political chaos and domestic mayhem among Palestinians--as well as resumption of full-scale violence. Instead (and parallel to Hamas's meeting the new benchmarks, particularly cessation of violence), the United States, without altering its own practice, should allow donor countries to engage with the Palestinian government and pay its employees through an international trust fund.

These warnings about the consequences of refusing to do business with Hamas are reminiscent of the arguments made in the 1980s by opponents of sanctions against South Africa--yet those sanctions surely hastened the end of apartheid. The moral case for sanctions is even stronger in the Palestinian case. Apartheid entailed the subjugation of South African blacks; Hamas seeks the elimination of Israeli Jews.

Slur, Yes Sir!
Sam Fulwood, a Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist, last week wrote this about Colin Powell, the former secretary of state:

Powell rose higher than almost any black Republican by making the party faithful comfortable with his non-threatening and non-demanding presence on racial issues. Powell flamed out after his ego no longer allowed him to be an unquestioning spearchucker in Mr. Bush's war.

Fulwood obviously meant to say Powell was a spear-carrier, "a person whose actions are of little significance or value in an event or organization." Instead he used a racial slur that likens black men to African savages.

It's a bit reminiscent of the incident we noted in March, in which a radio host was talking about Condoleezza Rice and said "coon" when he meant "coup." But whereas the host apologized immediately and nonetheless was fired on the spot, Fulwood is unrepentant and appears to have drawn only mild criticism from the Plain Dealer ombudsman.

Hard Cell
The Associated Press reports on a problem with public-opinion surveys--the rapid growth in the number of Americans who have no landline phone, only a cell:

Survey research depends on contacting random samples of households with landline phones. [Pollsters] worry that if the trend continues they could miss a significant number of people and that could undermine their ability to accurately measure public opinion. There could be implications for politics, government policy, academia, business and journalism.

So far, the differences aren't so great and the cell-only group isn't large enough to affect survey accuracy, according to an AP-AOL-Pew study, one of the most extensive news surveys of cell phone users yet. . . .

Those who only have cell phones are significantly different in many ways--typically younger, less affluent, more likely to be single, and more liberal on many political issues--from those who can be reached by landline, an AP-AOL-Pew survey finds.

For example, 51 percent of the cell-phone-only group believes gay marriage should be allowed, while 37 percent of a standard polling sample felt that way. And 53 percent of the cell phone only sample said they would vote for the Democratic Party's candidate, while 47 percent of a standard sample said they would vote Democratic, the poll found. Those differences virtually disappeared once the cell-phone-only sample was blended into the total. . . .

The AP-AOL-Pew poll of 1,503 adults included 1,286 cell phone users and was conducted March 8-28. Half the interviews, 752, were conducted by landlines and 751 by dialing cell phones--including 200 adults who had only cell phones.

We noted this issue in April 2004, but this latest report has us scratching our head. If pollsters aren't allowed to call cell phones, how did Pew conduct this survey?

Homer Nods
The punch line of our item yesterday on Michael Jackson should have read, "Parthenogenesis or miraculous conception?" not "immaculate conception." The Immaculate Conception is the Catholic doctrine that Mary, Jesus' mother, was born without original sin.

Where Can We Get Some Seeds?
"Poker Chips, Chain Saw Among Gifts Bush"--headline, Associated Press, May 15

A Place for the World's Smallest Deer to Browse
"Scientists Create World's Smallest Brush"--headline, Associated Press, May 15

But It Isn't Easy Being Green
"For Some, It's Easy Being Clean"--headline, Daily Herald (Provo, Utah), May 16

Don't Shake Your Baby Unless You're an Expert
"Shaken-Baby Syndrome Preventable, Experts Say"--headline, Daily Times-Call, May 15

From Waterbury to Watertown
"Portions of New England Submerged in Water"--headline, Associated Press, May 16

It Isn't Always Wasted on the Young
"Oldest Youth Tournament Under Way"--headline, News-Press (Fort Myers, Fla.), May 13

Thanks for the Tip!--LXXIII
"Health Tip: Prevent Osteoporosis"--headline, HealthDayNews, May 16

Bottom Stories of the Day

The Times Issues a Penultimatum
The New York Times editorialized in favor of extending the deadline for old people to sign up for the new Medicare prescription drug benefit without paying a penalty for tardiness. It's a wonderful peek into the liberal mind:

Little more than a month ago, this page argued that it was premature to consider extending the deadline then because it was serving as a useful prod to force fence sitters to make a decision. But that prod has expired, and some prospective enrollees may now view the penalty as a disincentive to join late this year. It would seem useful to establish another deadline to serve as another prod.

And you'd better comply with this deadline, or we're going to issue another one!

(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Michael Segal, Rochi Ebner, Stuart Creque, Aharon Spetner, Tun-Jen Chiang, Leslie Croce, Mark Emery, David Mazel, Norb Karczewski, Scott Benger, Taylor Harris, Kevin Kimery, Bob Walsh, Jenny Pehl, Jim Richards, Greg Corcoran, Gregory Richardson, David Guaspari, David Stewart, Joe Parana, Stanley Richardson, Dale Richardson, Jose Carbonell, John Walsh, Bernie Shearon, Scott Romesburg, Thomas Cox, James Kautz, David Straface, Paul LaPierre, Rob Schaul, David Firlik, Nathan James, Alan Utter, Andrew Robinson, Harrison Colter, Chuck Opramolla, Joseph Tully, Richard Gelb, Ruth Papazian, Jay Balasbas, John Norton, Bill Hoyt, Robert Firriolo, Craig Belford, David Williamson, Bob Evans and Herbert Harjes. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)

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