Making the U.S. safe from idiots
Hugh Hewitt
Two media outrages, one rejection of bipartisanship that the
media doesn't seem to mind and an entry in the "obvious things
to be done quickly" department make up today's offering.
Last week, the Los Angeles Times cornered the market for absurd
editorials with its "New, Nuanced Patriotism" howler. Stung,
perhaps, by the ridicule, the Times comes back this week with a
rant by novelist Barbara Kingsolver ? titled by the Times "No
Glory in Unjust War on the Weak" ? that argues America "has
answered one terrorist act with another. ?" The editors of the
Times must have worked with Kingsolver because she managed to
work into her piece the line that "the last time we got to
elect somebody, the majority of us, by a straight popular vote
count, did not ask for the guy who is currently telling us we
will win this war. ..."
Kingsolver is entitled to her wooly-headed nonsense, but what
possesses the Times to run this as the lead ? and only above-
the-fold ? article in the Opinion section? Long-time readers of
the paper are used to economic advice direct from Sesame Street
(see Sunday's editorial "No Stimulus in Tax Cuts"), but the
paper's bizarre opinions, combined with choices and placements
like Kingsolver, are taking the entire organization into a
strange corner of American journalism reserved for The
Spotlight and "political" weeklies supported by phone-sex ads.
As a public service, I again suggest a call or e-mail to the
big guy at The Tribune Company that owns the Times, John
Madigan. His phone number is (312) 222-9100, x-3123, and his e-
mail is master-webmaster@tribune.com. Of course, his paper has
the right to run Kingsolver in the middle of a war that has
already claimed more than 5,000 American lives. But is he proud
to elevate such voices under his banner? What, you have to
wonder, would they have done with a "Hitler's Not So Bad" piece
by a Kingsolver type in December 1941?
The second collapse of judgment belonged to Chris Matthews. On
the morning after the president's press conference, Matthews
appeared on the Imus radio program. Though everyone else in
elite media hailed the president's demeanor and the substance
of his remarks, Matthews reverted to the pre-Sept. 11 partisan
hack that has always lurked behind the smiling, spittle-
generating egomaniac-in-residence at CNBC: "Bush was
interesting last night because he was very good in the
beginning and then you realized he ran out of vocabulary words
at about 8:20. And the 'evil ones' ? I was waiting for the
'evil eye' at some point last night. I mean everything was the
'evil-doers.' It's cartoon talk, it's for 8-year-old kids
reading books. ? Imagine telling our grandkids 30 years from
now, 'Oh, the evil-doers did it.' They'd think we were
nitwits."
Matthews would never say such things directly into the camera
while hosting Hardball ? that would require courage and could
endanger his income. But the fact that he went on this rant
just hours before a fellow employee at NBC was revealed to have
contracted anthrax from a terror attack aimed at NBC host Tom
Brokaw spoke volumes about the substance of Matthews' analysis,
which was thin as always. Do you suppose Brokaw's assistant
thinks "evildoers" is inappropriate? Do you think Brokaw shares
Matthews' opinion that this is "cartoon talk" and the clear
implication that the president is a nitwit? Or is Matthews
simply tolerated as the clown who's good for a laugh? Matthews
can be e-mailed at hardball@msnbc.com, and you can share your
view of the "cartoon talk" with the president of NBC, Andrew
Lack, at NBC News, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112.
The mail is moving very slowly at NBC because of the
"evildoers," however, so you may want to call Lack at (212)
664-4444.
Next up on the "can you believe this" list, is Tom Daschle.
Senator Daschle pulled the energy bill from the Senate
Committee last week where bipartisan support guaranteed that
the proposal to drill the Artic National Wildlife Refuge would
pass. So much for the successor to Vandenberg stuff. Daschle
made it worse when he allowed his colleague, Democrat Jeff
Bingaman who chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee,
to explain that Daschle acted "to avoid divisive votes in
committee." Evidently Daschle believes that it is better to lie
to the public in the middle of a national emergency than to
upset the special interest groups that fund your candidates.
The media has barely stopped to take note of this assault on
bipartisanship and the deceit which clothes it.
There is really only one response ? write a check to John
Thune. Thune is the South Dakota congressman who is running
against Tom Daschle's best friend and seat-mate in the Senate,
Tim Johnson. Johnson is a colorless extension of Daschle best
known for hiding out in South Dakota when Democrats worked to
exclude the military absentee ballots in Florida last year.
Johnson's son is an officer in the Army, so the irony was a
little much for him and he put out a press release saying all
votes should be counted. This did not exactly meet the
objections of his constituents, so he was already in trouble
when the popular Thune entered the race. So, send a check made
out to John Thune for Senate, P.O. Box 516, Sioux Falls, SD,
57101. Individuals cannot give more than $1,000 but even $25
gets the point across. Be sure to send a copy to Daschle if you
can, with a note explaining your motives. Send a copy to
Johnson as well.
Finally, I have been waiting for the obvious suggestion about
airport travel ? and I haven't seen it ? so I'll make it here.
Millions of Americans have the sort of credentials that should
allow them to pass through screening and check bags quickly.
Others would be willing to submit to the background checks
necessary to get those credentials ? say a local law-
enforcement review of residence/voting record/lack of arrest
record/years as an altar boy etc. There is a lot of resistance
to a national identity card, but a voluntary application for
fast-travel credentials should not raise any civil-liberty
concerns, and the more of us that apply for and receive such
credentials, the shorter the lines all around.
This "fast-track" concept is used on toll rolls and at the
border. Although some will criticize it as "elitist," I'll put
up with the usual suspects screaming about privileges in order
to see the frequent-flying and highly reliable American
business community checking their bags at the curb and sailing
past the checkpoints. The Kansas grown family of six on a trip
to see grandma in Florida should not have to be subjected to
the same sort of restrictions as the foreign-born traveling on
a student visa. I suppose it is possible for some bad guy to
stuff some dangerous commodity in Joey from DesMoines'
backpack, but if we are going to return to a semblance of
normalcy, we are going to have to embrace some common sense on
threat identification and analysis. I boldly submit that it is
safe to re-open the parking structures at Los Angeles
International to drivers showing a California drivers license,
a U.S. Passport, and a certified birth certificate. If it's
safe enough to open the papers to Kingsolver, the airwaves to
Matthews and the Senate to Daschle, then it's safe enough to
allow homegrown and pre-cleared taxpayers to park within a mile
of the terminal.
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