Best of the Web Today - June 29, 2004
By JAMES TARANTO
A Boy's Grave Is Carter's Soapbox
Mattie J.T. Stepanek, a 13-year-old Rockville, Md., boy who "wrote books of inspirational poems that climbed the bestseller charts," died last week of muscular dystrophy. Among those attending his funeral, the Washington Post reports, was Jimmy Carter:
Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, spoke of . . . Mattie's devotion to peace. "He was deeply aware of global affairs," Carter said, recalling that Mattie was in Children's Hospital's intensive care unit when the war in Iraq began last year.
"Mattie burst into uncontrollable sobs and grief," Carter said, and soon after, the former president received a letter from his then-12-year-old friend: "I feel like President Bush made a decision long ago about the war," Mattie wrote. "Imagine if he had spent as much time and energy . . . planning peace."
The letter continued, "Even though I want to talk to Osama bin Laden about peace in the future, I wouldn't want to be alone with him in his cave." The congregation dissolved into laughter.
"In the same letter," Carter added, "he asked if I would join him."
There is a longstanding tradition that ex-presidents do not publicly criticize their successors, a tradition for which Carter has shown such contempt that when the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded him the Peace Prize in 2002, its members made clear they meant it as a poke in the eye of President Bush and America.
But using a child's funeral as a forum for this kind of attack is a new low. Just when you thought Bill Clinton was the tackiest ex-president, along comes Jimmy Carter to outcrass even him.
Good News Watch
Perhaps the best indication that yesterday's handover of Iraqi sovereignty is a success is that the left-wing partisan press is in such a lather over it. Former Enron adviser Paul Krugman has a column today headlined "Who Lost Iraq?" The answer, of course, is Saddam Hussein, and Krugman finds this most regrettable:
As he prepared to leave Iraq, [Paul] Bremer listed reduced tax rates, reduced tariffs and the liberalization of foreign-investment laws as among his major accomplishments. Insurgents are blowing up pipelines and police stations, geysers of sewage are erupting from the streets, and the electricity is off most of the time--but we've given Iraq the gift of supply-side economics.
So that's why Krugman wanted to leave Saddam in power--to keep taxes high!
A New York Times editorial, meanwhile, offers this observation:
Few Iraqis took to the streets yesterday to celebrate the new order, in part because they were as surprised as everyone else by the decision to hold the transfer ceremony two days early. But they are also understandably skeptical about whether anything important in their lives will now change. They will especially be looking to see whether the Allawi government can bring electricity to their homes and order to their streets without reverting to the dictatorial tactics reminiscent of 35 years of Baathist rule.
How do Gail Collins & Co. know that the Iraqis who didn't take to the streets yesterday are "skeptical" and what "they will especially be looking for"? Have they done some Jayson Blair-style "reporting" from Iraq?
A Newsday editorial, meanwhile, offers this: "Though they were caught wrong-footed, insurgents are certain to mount another series of strikes to show how little control the new government truly has." Again, how does Newsday know what the "insurgents" are "certain" to do? Or is this just wishful thinking?
People who have real money on the line take a different view: "Oil prices dropped to their lowest in more than two months on Tuesday as the handover of power to Iraq's interim government raised hopes for less sabotage and steadier exports," Reuters reports from London.
'Every Bit as Dangerous'
Get a load of this editorial from the Albany (N.Y.) Times Union:
First came the Sept. 11 attacks, of course. But then came something every bit as dangerous. For almost three years, the U.S. government has maintained a policy of response that leaves the Constitution as a casualty. The Bush administration has detained suspected and potential terrorists in a way the law doesn't allow.
Do these people actually think detaining terrorists who aim to murder thousands is "every bit as dangerous" as actually murdering thousands? What planet is Albany on?
'The Man Is a Devil'
A column about "Fahrenheit 9/11" by the Washington Post's normally mild-mannered William Raspberry makes clear just how pathological Bush-hatred has become:
Why did the mostly liberal crowd at last week's Washington premiere--people who like to think of themselves as thoughtful and fair-minded--applaud so unrestrainedly?
They applauded, I suspect, for much the same reason so many members of the black Christian middle-class applaud the harangues of Black Muslim minister Louis Farrakhan. Some of his facts may be wrong and some of his connections strained, but his attitude is right. What's more, he'll say in plain language what nice, educated people cannot bring themselves to say: The man is a devil.
It's enough to make you long for the gentility of the Clinton era.
'9/11' Is No. 2
It's been widely reported that the first-weekend box-office receipts of "Fahrenheit 9/11" set a new record for documentaries. Blogger Frank J. notes that this isn't true. "Jackass: The Movie," released in 2002, grossed $22.8 in its first weekend, a million dollars more than Michael Moore's gross-out flick.
The Critics Rave
Blogger Jeff Percifield collects blurbs from the same reviewers on Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" and Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," and the results are often hilarious, as the critics laud Moore for the same reasons they damned Gibson.
A.O. Scott, New York Times:
"Fahrenheit": "Mr. Moore's populist instincts have never been sharper. . . . He is a credit to the republic."
"Passion": "Gibson has exploited the popular appetite for terror and gore for what he and his allies see as a higher end."
Ty Burr, Boston Globe:
"Fahrenheit": "Should be seen because it takes off the gloves and wades into the fray, because it synthesizes the anti-Bush argument like no other work before it, and because it forces you to decide for yourself exactly where passion starts to warp point of view."
"Passion": "If you come seeking theological subtlety, let alone such modern inventions as psychological depth, you'll walk away battered and empty-handed."
David Edelstein, Slate:
"Fahrenheit": After the screening, a friend railed that Moore was exploiting a mother's grief. I suggested that the scene made moral sense in the context of the director's universe, that the exploitation is justified if it saves the lives of other mothers' sons.
"Passion": "A two-hour-and-six-minute snuff movie--The Jesus Chainsaw Massacre--that thinks it's an act of faith."
Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle:
"Fahrenheit": "[Moore] is an indispensable treasure, and his imperfections are part of the reason, because they mark him as real."
"Passion": "It's awful because everything he knows about storytelling has been swept aside by proselytizing zeal."
Geoff Pevre, Toronto Star:
"Fahrenheit": "A plea for America's deliverance. . . . It may not be an argument one agrees with, and it may be unbalanced and propagandistic, but it is both convincingly argued and sincerely motivated."
"Passion": "A work of fundamentalist pornography."
David Sterrit, Christian Science Monitor:
"Fahrenheit": "Is the label 'documentary' appropriate for this openly activist movie? Of course it is, unless you cling to some idealized notion of 'objective' film."
"Passion": "The highly selective screenplay includes only a few of Jesus' words, spoken in occasional flashback scenes."
James Verniere, Boston Herald:
"Fahrenheit": "At a time when the film industry is turning out sugarcoated, content-free junk, Moore has given American viewers a renewed taste for raw meat."
"Passion": "An exercise in sadomasochistic bullying."
That Was Quick
"Jacques Chirac bluntly told George Bush to mind his own business yesterday when the US president urged European leaders to give Turkey a firm date for starting EU membership talks later this year."--Guardian (London), June 29
"President Bush said on Tuesday that Turkey belongs in the European Union and that Europe is "not the exclusive club of a single religion" in what amounted to a rejection of French President Jacques Chirac. In remarks prepared for delivery at a Istanbul university, Bush refused to back down in the face of Chirac's criticism on Monday that Bush had no business urging the EU to set a date for Turkey to start entry talks into the union."--Reuters, June 29
"Germany and France will work together to help Turkey secure membership talks with the European Union if an October report by the European Commission recommends they should start, said German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder."--Bloomberg News, June 29
Back to School
Remember John Kerry's special new "misery index," the one tailor-made to show the economy getting worse during the Bush administration, since the traditional misery index (inflation plus unemployment) isn't bad at all? One of the components of the Kerry index was college tuition, which the haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Democrat, who by the way served in Vietnam, claimed has increased 13%--"the largest increase on record."
Well, it turns out KERRY LIED!!!!, or at least didn't do his homework. USA Today reports that "what students pay on average for tuition at public universities has fallen by nearly one-third since 1998, thanks to new federal tax breaks and a massive increase in state and federal grants to most students and their families." Oh well, back to the drawing board.
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 Roosevelt
"The buck stops here."--Harry Truman
"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."--John Kennedy
"Many of you are well enough off that . . . the tax cuts may have helped you. We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."--Hillary Clinton
With Them, He'd Win for Sure
"Without Greens, Nader Faces Uphill Battle"--headline, Reuters, June 28
You Don't Say
"Darkness Is a Good Reason to Use Headlights"--headline, Orange County Register, June 28
Fortunately, He Decided to Win the Civil War Instead
"Grant Intended to Help Clean Hinkson Creek"--headline, Columbia (Mo.) Daily Tribune, June 28
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Not Too Brite--CXLIX
"A German woman has jumped to her death from the balcony of her twelfth-floor apartment, two days after her boyfriend died in a botched abseiling attempt from the same flat as he tried to escape from the police," Reuters reports from Berlin.
Oddly Enough!
(For an explanation of the "Not Too Brite" series, click here.)
Homelessness Rediscovery Watch
"If George W. Bush becomes president, the armies of the homeless, hundreds of thousands strong, will once again be used to illustrate the opposition's arguments about welfare, the economy, and taxation."--Mark Helprin, Oct. 31, 2000
"Boxing legend Mike Tyson has been sleeping in homeless shelters and living like a 'street bum' since declaring himself bankrupt."--London Evening Standard, June 28, 2004
The Grass Is Always Greener
Here's a nominee for the bottom story of the year: "JCP&L Mows Grassy Field in Edison," according to the headline in the Home News Tribune of East Brunswick, N.J. It seems that the grass on a stretch of land owned by Jersey Central Power & Light went too long without being cut, but after residents' complaints, the utility "began the mowing process" on Friday. One neighbor says: "It's a shame that it gets to a point where this thing has to be out on paper." Well, it must've been a slow news day.
Next up: The Home News Tribune's drama critic with a review of watching the grass grow. |
