From the WSJ Opinion Archives

by JAMES TARANTO
Monday, October 16, 2006 12:02 P.M. EDT

Journalism at Its Finest--I
From the Washington Post:

By a combination of luck and design, Democrats seem to be fielding an uncommonly high number of uncommonly good-looking candidates.

The beauty gap between the parties, some on Capitol Hill muse, could even be a factor in who controls Congress after Election Day.

Democratic operatives do not publicly say that they went out of their way this year to recruit candidates with a high hotness quotient. Privately, however, they acknowledge that, as they focused on finding the most dynamic politicians to challenge vulnerable Republicans, it did not escape their notice that some of the most attractive prospects were indeed often quite attractive.

There is a certain logic to the trend. Back in 1994, when Republicans seized power in Congress from Democrats, the GOP had a number of fresh-faced challengers who knocked off incumbents who had grown worse for wear after years of committee hearings and fundraising receptions.

This year, it is the Democrats who have several ripe opportunities to unseat Republicans, some of whom have grown gray and portly during their years in power.

Now that's what we call serious political analysis! Amazingly, it appeared on page 1, not the Style section.

Journalism at Its Finest--II
See if you can guess which liberal columnist wrote this:

President Bush keeps revising his explanation for why the U.S. is in Iraq, moving from narrow military objectives at first to history-of-civilization stakes now.

Initially, the rationale was specific: to stop Saddam Hussein from using what Bush claimed were the Iraqi leader's weapons of mass destruction or from selling them to al-Qaida or other terrorist groups.

But 3 1/2 years later, with no weapons found, still no end in sight and the war a liability for nearly all Republicans on the ballot Nov. 7, the justification has become far broader and now includes the expansive "struggle between good and evil."

The answer is none of the above. The author is Tom Raum, a reporter for the Associated Press. This is what passes for straight news?

Links and Studds
"Former U.S. Rep. Gerry Studds, the first openly gay person elected to Congress, died early Saturday at Boston Medical Center, several days after he collapsed while walking his dog, his husband said," the Associated Press reports. We suppose this is something of a journalistic milestone, one of the first ever uses of the phrase "his husband."

Studds fell Oct. 3, four days after Mark Foley resigned from Congress. He was later diagnosed as having suffered a blood clot in his lung. We mention Foley, of course, because Studds had his own page scandal:

In 1983, Studds acknowledged his homosexuality after a former Congressional page revealed he'd had a relationship with Studds a decade earlier.

Studds was censured by the House for having sexual relations with the page. He acknowledged having sex with a 17-year-old male page in 1973 and making sexual advances to two others and admitted an error in judgment, but did not apologize.

The Boston Globe quotes a fellow Massachusetts Democrat paying tribute:

"Gerry's leadership changed Massachusetts forever and we'll never forget him," US Senator Edward M. Kennedy said in a statement. "His work on behalf of our fishing industry and the protection of our waters has guided the fishing industry into the future and ensured that generations to come will have the opportunity to love and learn from the sea."

Ah, Ted Kennedy--always a bridge over troubled waters.

The Senator From High School
Michael Kelly of the Omaha World-Herald has a depressing column on Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican whom Esquire magazine recently named one of "nine pillars of Congress." Here's the worst bit:

Politics, he said, "is a connecting business," and you have to see some things first hand.

"The world is full of nuances, not black and white. It's made up of an awful lot of gray."

The greatest challenge for America in the next 25 years, he said, is to place a new emphasis on how the rest of the world sees us.

The greatest challenge is "how the rest of the world sees us"? That isn't leadership, it's high school.

Looking Ahead to 2004
The Washington Post reports on a Manchester, N.H., campaign speech:

Sen. John F. Kerry[*] (D-Mass.) barely said hello to the New Hampshire Democrats who filled a banquet room here Friday night before unloading on President Bush.

"This war in Iraq is a disgrace," he said in the second sentence of his speech at a party fundraising dinner.

Thirty-two minutes and 14 standing ovations later, the man who lost the 2004 presidential campaign left little doubt that if he runs again in 2008, he intends to be the chief prosecutor of the record of the Bush presidency.

"A lie, a lie, a lie and a lie," he said after recounting Republican claims that Iraq is not in a civil war, that North Korea's nuclear advancement is former president Bill Clinton's fault and that Democrats were behind the release of salacious e-mails that Mark Foley sent to former House pages.

It was as if the Kerry of 2006 was channeling the Howard Dean of 2003. "What we have in Washington is a house of lies, and in November, we need to clean house," he said.

Well, OK, if you're a Democrat running for Congress in 2006, it makes sense to campaign against President Bush. But does Kerry really think he can win in '08 by being "the chief prosecutor of the record of the Bush presidency"? He couldn't win by not being Bush in 2004, when Bush was actually on the ballot. Whatever advantage Kerry's not-Bushness affords him doesn't seem likely to go far when the Republican nominee also is not Bush.

* "I have the hat to this day."

Waiting for Godot
"We are waiting for a profile-in-courage moment, a sign that she is something more than a very competent politician. Meanwhile, we endorse Hillary Clinton for another six years in the Senate."--editorial, New York Times, Oct. 15

Great Orators of the Democratic Party

  • "One man with courage makes a majority."--Andrew Jackson

  • "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."--Franklin D. Roosevelt

  • "The buck stops here."--Harry S. Truman

  • "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."--John F. Kennedy

  • "Let me remove all doubt in anyone's mind that there is no acceptance of any protection of a political future over the protection of children in the Congress of the United States."--Nancy Pelosi

A Discriminatory Lecture?
"Two African American teachers have filed a racial complaint against Lakeside School"--a prep academy in Seattle--"claiming that the elite private institution created a hostile work environment and discriminated against them," the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports:

Chance Sims, a part-time Lakeside history teacher who filed the claim along with former Lakeside teacher Novella Coleman, listed a series of incidents over the past three years that he said ran counter to the school's stated diversity goals. . . .

Among the plaintiffs' complaints was Lakeside's invitation to conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza to speak as part of a distinguished lecture series.

After Sims and other faculty members and parents complained, the school in January rescinded the invitation to D'Souza, who has argued that the underachievement of African Americans has more to do with cultural attitudes and behaviors than with white racism.

Seattle Weekly described the D'Souza episode in February:

Though not invited to discuss race per se--Iraq and empire were the topics--his views opposing affirmative action and questioning distinctly racial views of slavery and segregation were apparently beyond the pale. One Lakesider likened him to a Holocaust denier.

Under pressure, the school's head, Bernie Noe, rescinded the invitation. In a formal statement, Lakeside explained that "we realized Mr. D'Souza's presence could cause emotional pain to many at our school, including our increasingly diverse student body."

The clear implication was that students, faculty, and staff at one of the country's premier college prep academies couldn't handle the ideas of a mainstream conservative. That's an odd signal coming from an institution known for academic rigor.

We doubt the plaintiffs will get very far with that part of their complaint, which seems way over the First Amendment line. But think about what they are saying here. Merely inviting someone who holds politically incorrect ideas about race to come and speak is "discrimination." It doesn't even matter that D'Souza was to have discussed a topic other than race, or that the invitation was rescinded.

In the plaintiffs' view, equality requires that dissenters from the racial orthodoxy be treated as nonpersons. This attitude is totalitarian in its essence.

What Would We Do Without Pilots?
"Pilots Say Rules Prevent Accidents"--headline, News Journal (Wilmington, Del.), Oct. 14

So That's Where Saddam Put Them
"Eastern Almost Upsets Brethren in WMD Basketball"--headline, Ludington (Mich.) Daily News, Oct. 13

Who Knew Lab Cultures Had Ideas About an Afterlife?
"This 'worldview defense,' says psychology researcher Sheldon Solomon of Skidmore College, 'reduces the terror that reminders of your own death bring.' These results have been replicated in some 300 lab experiments, including in cultures with very different ideas about an afterlife."--The Wall Street Journal (link for subscribers), Oct. 13

That's One Sharp Kid
"Man Stabs Self in Stomach With Toddler in Apartment"--headline, King County (Wash.) Journal (last item), Oct. 13

'Hey, Let Me Down!'
"School Suspends Woman Over Veil"--headline, BBC Web site, Oct. 13

We've Really Got to Clean Our Apartment
"Environment: Sequestrated in Taranto 130,000 Tons of Mud"--headline, Agenzia Giornalistica Italia, Oct. 13

Bottom Stories of the Day

  • "Council Member Says He'll Pay Taxes"--headline, News-Gazette (Champaign-Urbana, Ill.), Oct. 14

  • "U.S. Wasted Chance to Improve the World: Gorbachev"--headline, Reuters, Oct. 13

  • "Sen. Leahy Lashes Out at Bush Administration"--headline, Rutland (Vt.) Herald, Oct. 15

Humbug!
From London's Daily Telegraph:

It has taken more than 12 months and cost about £10,000 but a council is finally on the verge of discovering the identity of a man who kept saying "baa" during a planning meeting.

After a wide-ranging investigation, Havering council, based in Romford, Essex, has prepared a 300-page report, according to the Romford Recorder newspaper.

Unfortunately, the downside is that the prime suspect is no longer a councillor and is, therefore, beyond the scope of any punishment that it might want to mete out.

The incident has it roots in a planning meeting in September last year when an application was being heard to put a mobile home on a farm housing rare breeds of horses and sheep.

The solemnity of the debate was, apparently, interrupted by a male councillor making unhelpful "baa-ing" noises.

Wow, this is almost as trivial as the Valerie Plame kerfuffle!

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