David Frum at NRO
JAN. 20, 2004: VOTING DAY
The Loonies Lose
Have the Democrats gone sane? Yesterday Iowa Democrats administered a brutal drubbing to Howard Dean and the far left of the Democratic party generally, opting instead for the two most sensible candidates on the ballot. If the Democrats go on to drub General Wesley Clark in New Hampshire, we may have to revisit all those articles about the “angry electorate” and “divided America” – and open our minds to the hopeful reality that the patriotic consensus of 9/11 still holds.
Neither John Kerry nor John Edwards would make as good a president as George Bush. They lack his courage, his toughness, and his principles. That said, the Iowa results are deeply reassuring: There are some 600,000 Democrats in Iowa, and they may be some of the most liberal Democrats in the country. And yet when the time came to cast a ballot, not even they could stomach the destructive opportunism of the Dean campaign.
From a purely selfish partisan point of view, I’m sorry that Dean did not do better: He was and remains the most beatable of all the major candidates. But partisanship isn’t everything. The Democratic voters of Iowa spotted the worst candidate and the worst man in the race, and soundly thrashed him.
Punditoids
One thing I’ve never understood about election night: the punditocracy’s fascination with odd facts. “Do you know, Judy, that no left-handed non-incumbent in a year ending with a zero has ever won in Iowa and then gone on to win the nomination?” “In years when the caucus fell on an even-numbered date, the candidate with the longest last name has always won.” “Do you realize that Iowa was the first state to ban pinball machines?” Hordes of young researchers churn up these random pieces of information and shoot them into the news anchors’ ears. Almost all of them are either pure coincidences or else entirely meaningless.
Meanwhile, think of all the things that go unsaid in the hundreds of hours of cable television coverage. Wouldn’t it be a service if one of the cable networks would broadcast unedited all the television commercials the candidates are putting on the air? Or interview all 99 of the county party chairmen? Or take a video camera aboard a campaign bus and let it run? The cable nets have hours and hours of time. It’s a magnificent resource – they should use it.
WMD - The Other Side
Meanwhile, I wonder if you saw this: a truly creepy disturbing story (from the Guardian of all places!) about how surprisingly sophisticated and advanced the Libyan nuclear program may have been.
"'What was found in Libya marks a new stage in proliferation,' said one knowledgeable source. 'Libya was buying what was available. And what is available, the centrifuges, are close to turnkey facilities. That's a new challenge. Libya was buying something that's ready to wear.'"
Iraq war opponent seem to wish to lull people into a state of complacency about the problem of WMD-seeking Middle Eastern dictators. But these weapons are available and are spreading - and decisive action has to be taken against them, not only in Iraq, but everywhere. |
