by JAMES TARANTO
Tuesday, July 31, 2007 4:15 P.M. EDT

United We Fall?
It seems to us that there is something to be said for the idea that when America is at war, citizens, and especially political leaders, have a patriotic duty to put differences aside in the cause of victory. We oppose government censorship but wish for more self-restraint on the part of war opponents.

We realize, of course, that this idea died for at least a generation with Vietnam, and it may not return, at least until the baby boomers have passed from the scene. But one baby-boomer in Congress wants to bring it back--in reverse. The Associated Press reports:

Kansas Rep. Nancy Boyda is defending her decision to step out of a hearing room last week while a retired Army general testified about U.S. progress in Iraq. . . .

Boyda, a freshman Democrat from Topeka, said she left the House Armed Services Committee hearing on Friday for about 10 minutes during the testimony of retired Gen. Jack Keane. . . .

Keane had testified that since the troop surge began, U.S. forces "are on the offensive and we have the momentum." He also said that security has improved in every neighborhood and district in and around Baghdad, and that "cafés, pool halls, coffee houses that I visited are full of people."

When Boyda returned to the hearing, she ridiculed Keane's description of Iraq "as in some way or another that it's a place that I might take the family for a vacation--things are going so well--those kinds of comments will in fact show up in the media and further divide this country instead of saying, 'Here's the reality of the problem.' "

Boyda, it seems, wants to suppress information about success in Iraq, because such information would "divide the country." Better that the country be united in defeatism. Along similar lines is this report from yesterday's Washington Post:

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Monday that a strongly positive report on progress on Iraq by Army Gen. David Petraeus likely would split Democrats in the House and impede his party's efforts to press for a timetable to end the war. . . .

Many Democrats have anticipated that, at best, Petraeus and U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker would present a mixed analysis of the success of the current troop surge strategy, given continued violence in Baghdad. But of late there have been signs that the commander of U.S. forces might be preparing something more generally positive. Clyburn said that would be "a real big problem for us."

What does it say about Clyburn's party that if things go well for America, it would be "a real big problem for us"?

Allies to U.S.: Don't Cut and Run
From Bloomberg:

Major Arab allies of the U.S. cautioned today against a precipitous troop withdrawal from Iraq that could fuel regional instability, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in Egypt.

The concerns were aired in meetings that Gates and Rice had in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and top officials from Jordan and Persian Gulf countries.

Gates said he told the Arab governments that there was an increasing appreciation in Washington across a "spectrum of people," including those who seek a quick withdrawal of troops, that the next U.S. move in Iraq should be measured.

The view is that diminishing the U.S. presence in Iraq should be "done carefully and with a view toward consequences and in a way that does not leave Iraq in chaos," Gates told reporters after the meetings.

One of the major arguments advanced against the Iraq war was that U.S. allies, including Arab regimes, opposed it. Will a single person who made that argument then back away from support for a precipitous withdrawal now because of our allies' views? Don't bet on it.

The Dems Call It 'Redeployment'
"Senate GOP Set for Rebranding Retreat"--headline, Roll Call, July 31

Secure Against Unreasonable Seizures
Chief Justice John Roberts is said to be fine after suffering a seizure and a fall yesterday, as the Associated Press reports:

Roberts strode briskly out of the Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Rockport, Maine, wearing a blue sport coat, open collar shirt and slacks. He waved to onlookers before getting into a waiting sports utility vehicle for a short trip to a dock, where he then took a pontoon boat to his summer home on Hupper Island, near Port Clyde, Maine. . . .

Roberts was hospitalized after he fell on a dock near his home on Monday. He had a prior unexplained seizure in 1993. . . .

The incident occurred around 2 p.m. on a dock near Roberts' summer home in Port Clyde on Maine's Hupper Island. He had just gotten off a boat and was returning home after running errands.

Not everyone wishes the chief justice well. This uncredited post appeared last night on the political gossip site Wonkette:

Chief Justice John Roberts has died in his summer home in Maine. No, not really, but we know you have your fingers crossed.

A Wonkette reader calling himself "Sluggo" writes: "Me, I think that the falling kisser down, slobbering into s drool cup and noggin banging fit was caused by a visit from the ghost of MLK."

Matthew Sheffield notes some other hateful online missives, including this gem from DemocraticUnderground.com (quoting verbatim except the redacted barnyard and anatomical vulgarities):

And this is why Republicans win. We're too nice.

"Oooh lets wish him well. Let's hope for a speedy recovery." BULLS---.

I hope the guy has a serious illness that doesn't kill him, but lays him just low enough to linger until we have a Democratic president take office in 09, THEN he can take his well-deserved dirt nap. These people are evil, corrupt, ruthless tools of corporate america and they will stop at nothing to grant their masters all manner of legal goodies via the Supreme Court at the expense of average working americans like me. I hope they get everything coming to them, and moreso.

You wanna win? You gotta be heartless and ruthless. Roberts is a joke as a supreme court justice, let alone chief justice. Frankly, I'd rather see that fat pr--- Scalia bite the big one, but we're not that lucky. Hey, maybe a bunch of those self-important cretins will die prematurely when the Democratic president takes office in 09.

Just saying what everyone's thinking, or SHOULD be thinking. Remember who the enemy is.

We're sure he's a compassionate misanthrope, though.

Boob Bait for Bubba's Wife
"Money is the mother's milk of politics," Jesse Unruh once observed. Reuters reports Hillary Clinton is giving that adage new meaning:

Insulted by a fashion article about Hillary Clinton's cleavage, her presidential campaign is trying to use the incident to raise money.

A fund-raising e-mail letter signed by Ann Lewis, a senior Clinton adviser, urges potential donors to "take a stand against this kind of coarseness and pettiness in American culture."

The Washington Post on July 20 published an article by its fashion writer, Robin Givhan, that noted [Mrs.] Clinton wore a black top with a low neckline during an appearance on the Senate floor to talk about the high cost of college education. . . .

"Frankly, focusing on women's bodies instead of their ideas is insulting. It's insulting to every woman who has ever tried to be taken seriously in a business meeting. It's insulting to our daughters--and our sons--who are constantly pressured by the media to grow up too fast," Lewis said.

Seems to us Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey and Juanita Broaddrick may have a thing or two to say about "coarseness and pettiness in American culture" and about how it can be hard "to be taken seriously in a business meeting."

Come, Lettuce Reason Together
A few months ago, some were asking if Barack Obama was "black enough." But it looks as though his real problem is that he is "too green." The New York Times Web site reported the other day on an appearance by the freshman senator in Adel, Iowa:

One line that landed a little flat, though, was when Mr. Obama sympathetically noted that farmers have not seen an increase in prices for their crops, despite a rise in prices at the supermarket.

"Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?" the senator said. "I mean, they're charging a lot of money for this stuff."

As the Times notes, the entire state of Iowa has not a single Whole Foods market. Blogress Kirsten Powers points out the similarity between Obama's misstep and Michael Dukakis's advice to Iowa farmers in 1987 that they start growing Belgian endive.

Oh well, unlike John Edwards, at least Obama doesn't have to worry that people will think he isn't mesclun.

The Defense Calls John Kerry
"A former schoolteacher who presided over a torture center was charged Tuesday with crimes against humanity, becoming the first top figure of Cambodia's notorious Khmer Rouge to be indicted for atrocities that led to an estimated 1.7 million deaths."--Associated Press, July 31

Metaphor Alert
"In a new scenario driven by Mr. Murdoch, the Bancrofts suddenly woke up and were cast in the role of parents seeking to adopt a child that they had neglected in the first place. The Hail Marys that Christopher Bancroft and others heaved late in the fourth quarter were no substitute for the lack of basic blocking and tackling back when they were still in the game."--New York Times, July 31

We Blame Global Warming
"Sun Has Profit for Third Straight Quarter"--headline, New York Times, July 31

Everything Is Cheney's Fault!
"Former Eastern Michigan University President Blames VP for Student Rape Cover-Up"--headline, FoxNews.com, July 31

What's He Hiding?
"Rathgeber Takes Fifth at Pan Am Competition"--headline, Harvard Crimson, July 30

His Dogs Have Lost Their Last Two Fights
"Sheriff Offers $10,000 for Dog Fighting Tips"--headline, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 30

At Least He Got to Keep His Bone
"Merger Costs Dog Alcatel-Lucent"--headline, IDG News Service, July 31

Someone Alert the ASPCA
"Man Leads Cops on High-Speed Chase Over Sick Cat"--headline, FoxNews.com, July 30

Bad News for the District's Trees
"Beavers in House District 101"--headline, Hattiesburg (Miss.) American, July 28

Church Will Never Be the Same
"Doc Accused of Hastening Death for Organs"--headline, Associated Press, July 31

News You Can Use

• "Report: Skipping Doses Can Be Deadly"--headline, Associated Press, July 30
  
  
• "Use Common Sense to Avoid Encounters With Lightning"--headline, Ledger (Lakeland, Fla.), July 31

Bottom Stories of the Day

• "Berlin Residents Oppose New McDonald's"--headline, FoxNews.com, July 29
  
  
• "No Horrid Pinks, Blues or Greens in Westchase"--headline, Tampa Tribune, July 29
  
  
• "If her mother, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, manages to become the first female president of the United States, Chelsea Clinton could be in a historic, head-spinning position of her own: the first first child twice over."--New York Times, July 31

Call the Kerfuffle Police
From USA Today:

Jeff Bezos loves to "kerfuffle" Wall Street.

That's the word Amazon.com's wry founder and CEO uses to describe what he does to critics who can't fathom how he built a multibillion-dollar company without turning a profit for eight years. Or how he justifies shipping everything from toothpaste to lawnmowers for free. . . .

Now, Prime is starting to look like a linchpin to Amazon's remarkable run of increases in quarterly sales--and investors no longer appear kerfuffled. After the online retailing giant last week reported a singularly sharp rise in sales for its second quarter, its shares shot up 25%, topping $86--a seven-year high. . . .

It's in the fourth quarter and beyond that Amazon likely will face a kerfuffle of a different color: how to bring Wall Street's expectations back to Earth.

OK, that's three uses of the word kerfuffle in one article, all with a different meaning. First, it is a verb, apparently meaning "to confuse" or "to confound." Then the participial form is an adjective, apparently meaning "skeptical" or "bearish." Finally, it is a noun, meaning "problem or challenge."

In fact, kerfuffle is a noun only, meaning "disturbance" or "fuss." Some editor over at USA Today ought to start one over the paper's abuse of the word.

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