The Angry Left can't even get Schadenfreude right.
BY JAMES TARANTO
Best of the Web Today
Monday, March 13, 2006 2:56 p.m. EST
The Sad Case of Claude Allen
The police department of Montgomery County, Md., on Friday announced the arrest of a Gaithersburg man "for a continuing retail store theft scheme":
<<< Claude Alexander Allen, age 45, . . . was charged with theft scheme over $500 and theft over $500. . . . On January 2, 2006, a Target store Loss Prevention Manger [sic] observed an unknown man enter the store located at 25 Grand Corner Avenue in Gaithersburg. He was observed in the store with an empty Target bag in a shopping cart. The man was then seen selecting merchandise throughout the store and placing items in the Target bag. He put additional items in his cart. The man then went to guest services where he produced a receipt and received a refund for the items he had just selected from the store shelves. After receiving the refund he left the store without paying for the additional merchandise in the shopping cart. He was apprehended by the store employee. >>>
Police allege that "Allen had been receiving refunds in an amount exceeding $5,000 during last year":
<<< He would buy items, take them out to his car, and return to the store with the receipt. He would select the same items he had just purchased, and then return them for a refund. . . . Throughout 2005 he obtained refunds for items ranging from clothing, a Bose theater system, stereo equipment, and [a] photo printer to items valued only at $2.50. >>>
What makes this interesting is who Claude Allen is. Last month, as the New York Times reports, he resigned as the White House's top domestic policy adviser, ostensibly to spend more time with his family. Earlier President Bush had nominated him for a seat on the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but he withdrew his name after Democrats filibustered the nomination.
Assuming that the charges are true, this is one of those crimes that just make you scratch your head. Why would someone in a prominent position, who earned (according to the Times) $161,000 a year, risk it all to steal the equivalent of just over a week and a half's pay? Allen's alleged crime is neither petty enough to be excused nor big enough to be explained. It's just pitiful.
Allen is said to be something of a moralist, and left-wing bloggers are, predictably enough, exultant. Typical is this comment from Daily Kos diarist "DarkSyde":
<<< Allen was a big abstinence only crusader and led several assaults on AIDS service organizations as well. This paragon of moral values was recruited by Karl Rove. >>>
It's a familiar theme: Left-wing antimoralists attack right-wing moralists when the latter are found engaging in some crime or sin or vice. But a moralist's own propensity for immoral behavior does not discredit his moralism. After all, the temptation to do wrong is a universal human trait. Perhaps those in whom that temptation is strongest also have a more acute awareness of the need for social restraints to prevent bad acts.
Still, as John Podhoretz notes, the left-wing glee at Allen's apparently self-inflicted plight is understandable:
<<< Lot of leftist Schadenfreude at the arrest of top White House aide Claude Allen, and who could blame them? If the situation were reversed--if, say, a John Conyers staffer had been appointed to a federal judgeship by Bill Clinton, was blocked by Republicans, was then given a job with a fancy title at the Clinton White House and then abruptly resigned because, it turned out, he had shoplifted--the glee on the Right would have been irrepressible.
Having said that, I'm getting genuinely insane e-mail following a few Atrios postings about my "Who the heck is Claude Allen" posts in the past few days--e-mails accusing me of "lying" to "cover up" for the White House and then cursing me out in the language of eleven year-olds. This suggests to me that the next few weeks are going to feature some wild theorizing according to which Karl Rove and the President assigned Claude Allen to steal from Target. The Bush haters can't even allow themselves to enjoy their Schadenfreude. >>>
Schadenfreude, it would seem, can be a sign of psychological health. Now there's an interesting insight.
opinionjournal.com
montgomerycountymd.gov
sfgate.com
dailykos.com
corner.nationalreview.com |
