From the WSJ Opinion Archives

by JAMES TARANTO
Monday, June 19, 2006 4:41 P.M. EDT

Run, Forrest, Run!--I
The most memorable part of "Forrest Gump" is a scene set in or around 1968, in which Forrest, who by the way served in Vietnam, has encountered his love interest, Jenny, at an antiwar rally in Washington. Jenny gets into an argument with her hippie boyfriend, who slaps her in the face. Forrest decks the hippie, who later tries to smooth things over with Jenny: "Things got a little out of hand," he tells her. "It's just this war and that lying son of a bitch, Johnson! I would never hurt you. You know that."

This wonderfully encapsulated the worst aspects of baby-boomer liberalism: the narcissism thinly disguised as idealism, the self-pity and flight from accountability, the tendency to lash out at those to whom one owes loyalty.

We were reminded of this by last week's congressional debate on Iraq. Sen. John Kerry*, who voted for the war before turning against it, said last week that he planned to introduce a resolution calling for a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. But as the Associated Press reports, when Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky introduced Kerry's resolution pre-emptively, "Kerry called the vote 'fictitious.' "

The resolution failed on a 93-6 procedural vote, though at least Kerry, unlike Rep. John Murtha, had the courage of his convictions, such as they are: Kerry was among the six voting not to "table" the resolution. (The other five were California's Barbara Boxer, Iowa's Tom Harkin, Massachusetts' Ted Kennedy, West Virginia's Robert Byrd and Wisconsin's Russ Feingold. Harkin, like Kerry, was originally a war supporter.)

In a speech last Tuesday, Kerry explained his metamorphosis from warmonger to cut-and-runner: "It is essential to acknowledge that the war itself was a mistake--to say the simple words . . . that contain more truth than pride. We were misled. We were given evidence that was not true." That lying SOB, Johnson!

The House, meanwhile, voted 256-153 in favor of a resolution that, in the AP's description, "praises U.S. troops, labels the Iraq war part of the larger global fight against terrorism and says an 'arbitrary date for the withdrawal or redeployment' of troops is not in the national interest." Forty-two Democrats supported the resolution; only three Republicans opposed it. Murtha, this time, voted "no."

Democrats criticized Senate Republicans for "gamesmanship" (the AP's word) in putting the Kerry proposal up for a vote, while in the House, Democrats "complained that Republicans refused to allow them to present an alternative resolution--though Democrats weren't able to agree on just what to offer."

Murtha, who has emerged as the House leader of the cut-and-run caucus, showed up on "Meet the Press" yesterday and claimed there is a historical precedent for what he proposes to do:

When we went to Beirut, I, I said to President Reagan, "Get out." Now, the other day we were doing a debate, and they said, "Well, Beirut was a different situation. We cut and run." We didn't cut and run. President Reagan made the decision to change direction because he knew he couldn't win it. Even in Somalia, President Clinton made the decision, "We have to, we have to change direction. . . ."

Is Murtha really holding up Beirut and Somalia as examples of great leadership? One can argue that these interventions were ill advised in the first place, and that at least from a tactical standpoint it made sense to get out. But strategically, the withdrawals were disastrous, because they reinforced the impression that the U.S. lacks staying power and will withdraw its military in the face of adversity--which is just what Murtha now proposes to do.

Murtha also argued for abandoning Iraq on the ground that Karl Rove could stand to lose a few pounds:

He's, he's in New Hampshire. He's making a political speech. He's sitting in his air conditioned office with his big, fat backside, saying, "Stay the course." That's not a plan. I mean, this guy--I don't know what his military experience is, but that's a political statement. This is a policy difference between me and the White House. I disagree completely with what he's saying.

OK, first of all, criticizing someone's looks is just unkind. Not everyone can be as handsome and fit as John Murtha. But also, was Rove any thinner in 2002, when Murtha voted for the war?

Democratic pols who have their fingers to the wind (as distinct from consistent Iraq opponents like Byrd and Feingold) seem to think that talking about withdrawal from Iraq is a political winner. But as shown by last week's votes, fewer of them are convinced that actually moving toward withdrawal is a political winner.

Most Americans, we'd venture, would like to see an end to the fighting in Iraq; but most, we'd also venture, understand that leaving without winning is a very bad idea. Democrats want Republicans to pay a political price for committing the country to a war that some people now regret supporting--but many of them want to avoid responsibility for both their own past backing of the war and their future plans.

As Kerry said last week, "we cannot have it both ways in the war in Iraq." If only he would follow his own advice.

* "They gave me a hat. I have the hat to this day. I have the hat."

Having Already Achieved the Decline
"Democrats Outline a Platform for the Fall"--headline, New York Times, June 17

Al Qaeda Markdown
"The U.S. military presented the new face of al-Qaeda in Iraq[**] on Thursday, displaying a photograph of a bearded man in a traditional white Arab headdress and saying he was taking over after the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi," reports the Associated Press:

The new leader is Abu Ayyub al-Masri, an Afghanistan-trained explosives expert with links to Osama bin Laden's top deputy, said Maj. Gen. William Caldwell. . . .

Even before terror leader's death, the Bush administration posted a $200,000 bounty on al-Masri because of his level of leadership within al-Qaeda, Caldwell said.

Ouch! The reward for Zarqawi was $25 million, so this is a decrease of 99.2%. Al-Masri has to be pretty humiliated.

** Or, as Democrats call it, al Qaeda Which Has Nothing to Do With Iraq in Iraq Which Has Nothing to Do With al Qaeda.

Evacuees Gone Wild
"About $1bn (£542m) in relief meant for victims of Hurricane Katrina was lost to fraud, with bogus claimants spending the money on Hawaiian holidays, football tickets, diamond jewellery and Girls Gone Wild porn videos, the US Congress was told yesterday," reports London's Guardian:

Fema debit cards . . . turned out to be an easy mark for those bent on fraud. Among some of the charges the GAO found unnecessary to satisfy legitimate disaster needs were $3,700 on a diamond watch, earrings and ring, a one-week all inclusive holiday in the Dominican Republic, $200 of Dom Perignon champagne, fireworks, $1,000 for a Houston divorce lawyer, and a considerable amount for adult erotica.

Fema recovered some of the mis-spent funds. However, the agency remains unable to account for 381 debit cards worth about $760,000.

A Los Angeles Times editorial offers some perspective--but only some--noting that "wasted money is an inevitable byproduct of providing rapid emergency assistance":

Some misuse of the FEMA-issued debit cards . . . is hardly shocking. The aim of the $2,000 cards was to give individuals immediate aid to be spent according to his or her judgment, rather than earmarking items that the government guessed would be of greatest assistance. . . .

The 16% of improper expenditures is indeed high for a federal aid program--food stamps and unemployment insurance, by comparison, had respective rates of 5.9% and 10.1% last fiscal year. But these are established programs, not on-the-fly responses that had to process a sudden rush of 2.6 million claims. Unlike a permanent safety net, disaster relief's top priority is to help as many people as fast as possible, which comes at the price of reduced efficiency. . . .

It's easy, and necessary, to criticize FEMA's across-the-board incompetence in responding to the largest displacement of Americans since the Civil War. But obsessing about the spending habits of refugees comes perilously close to blaming the victim.

Bill Clinton might have ended "welfare as we know it," but the entitlement mentality that underlay it is alive and well, at least at the L.A. Times. No one, of course, blames the victims of Katrina for having been displaced by the storm. But that misfortune is not a license to victimize the taxpayer.

Run, Forrest, Run!--II
Remember Brian Doyle? He was the deputy press secretary at the Department of Homeland Security who resigned after being charged in an Internet pedophilia sting. As blogger Kevin Alyward noted in April, Angry Left bloggers savaged the Bush administration--but, as Alyward noted, Doyle turned out to be a registered Democrat.

It now turns out that Doyle is in fact one of the Angry Left. The Orlando Sentinel quotes one of his emails to "Ashlynne," ostensibly an underage girl but actually a cop:

Doyle told Ashlynne he had met President Bush once, stating in an instant message, "he is not a good president. nice guy but not a good president . . . he is not very bright and it is evident . . . bush is a liar . . . there were NO weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. total lie to go to war."

That lying SOB, Johnson!

C'mon, You Can Do It!
Hey, isn't anyone going to take a crack at our latest presidential trivia quiz? So far only two readers have attempted to answer any of the questions, one going 0 for 1 and the other 3 for 7. We guess we weren't kidding when we said it was rather difficult.

Well, we'll give you some more time. If no one has gotten all the answers by Friday, we'll post the answers then, and we'll award the "Kerfuffle" shirt to whoever has the most correct answers. Also, please note we made an error in Question 2 (omitting Maine from the 2000 list of states), which has been corrected.

We Blame the Neocons
"Geese Blamed for Lake Tahoe Pollution"--headline, Associated Press, June 14

It's the Eponymy, Stupid
"NRA Endorses Cannon in Re-Election"--headline, Daily Herald (Provo, Utah), June 13

What Would We Do Without Kirby?
"Kirby: Machine Gun, Cell Phone, Car a Bad Mix"--headline, Salt Lake Tribune, June 14

They Can Start With Wider Doors
"New Urban Designs Sought in Obesity Fight"--headline, Associated Press, June 16

'Pinky, Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?'
"Erotic Images Elicit Strong Response From Brain"--headline, ScienceDaily.com, June 13

News From 30 Years Ago
"Gary Glitter Loses Appeal"--headline, United Press International, June 15

Bottom Stories of the Day

  • "Feingold Gets Rousing Reception From Liberal Group"--headline, Associated Press, June 14

  • "Billy Ray Cyrus Misses His Mullet"--headline, Chicago Tribune, June 14

  • "Dan Rather, CBS Not Talking About Future"--headline, Associated Press, June 15

Hooked
So we took our annual fishing trip on the Chesapeake Friday, thanks to our friend Frank Nelowet and an organizer who requests anonymity. Unlike last year, when our group caught the limit of two striped bass per fisherman, this year they just weren't biting: 14 of us caught a mere four striped bass (plus some small bluefish).

All this notwithstanding the efforts of our boat's captain, who kept "chumming"--depositing ground-up fish in the water so as to attract the fish we hoped to catch. The captain kept chumming and chumming, and still there was nary a bite. We learned an important lesson about education reform: Throwing resources at failing schools is no answer.

(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to John Williamson, Ed Lasky, Thomas Brueckner, Chris Scibelli, Michael Segal, Christian Peck, E.B.S. Hirsch, Peter Strnad, Samuel Walker, Ethel Fenig, Nancy Shaffer, Darren Gold, Lewis Sckolnick, Timothy Knowlton, W. Garner Robinson, Jeff Dobbs, Dave Narby, John Sanders, Don Stewart, Jim Milak and Dori Monson. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)

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