BY JAMES TARANTO
Tuesday, December 30, 2003 2:56 p.m. EST
Disloyal Dean
Howard Dean, the man who supposedly is going to "stand up" to President Bush, has lately been begging Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic National Committee chairman, to get the other Democratic candidates to quit picking on him. If he wins the nomination, one wonders if he'll beg the Republican chairman to get Bush to lay off.
Blogger Josh Marshall notes another interesting aspect of Dean's crybaby approach. From a New York Times story:
Though Dr. Dean has repeatedly said he would back whichever Democrat wins the nomination, he said Sunday that support was "not transferable anymore" and that endorsements, including his own, "don't guarantee anything."
"Right now those guys think we're the front-runner, so they're saying all this stuff, 'He can't win,' " Dr. Dean said. "How are they going to win?
Marshall, a partisan Democrat, is outraged by Dean's disloyalty:
He's playing the defection card. And that crosses the line.
I don't doubt that it would be hard to reconcile some Dean supporters to another Democratic nominee. But that's not the point. By saying it, he's leveraging it, and encouraging it.
The price of admission to the Democratic primary race is a pledge of committed support to whomever wins the nomination, period. . . . If Dean can't sign on that dotted-line, he has no business asking for the party's nomination.
Dean's lack of party loyalty should not come as a surprise. This, after all, is a man who left his church in a dispute over a bike path; plainly his own petty obsessions are far more important to him than any sense of fidelity to an institution.
Furthermore, Dean has nothing to lose. Most of the other candidates (Wesley Clark and Al Sharpton are the exceptions) have made political careers in the Democratic Party and have an interest in the party's continuing viability in Washington. It's possible that some of them could run for president again. For Dean, by contrast, it is now or never; he has become the front-runner by tapping into his party's Bush-hating psychosis, which is bound to diminish after next year's election. Like Ross Perot a dozen years ago, Dean is a product of a temporary discontent on the part of a segment of the electorate; the makings of an enduring political movement are absent.
Marshall blasts Dean for refusing to be a good Democrat, but if the Dems are unable to enforce discipline, the real problem is the party's weakness, not Dean's arrogance. And indeed, Dean has a point when he asks "How are they going to win?" Barring some major screw-up by the Republicans, the Democrats don't have a chance running as the party of hate and high taxes--and none of them show any sign of developing an alternative. If they're going to lose in November anyway, primary voters may as well indulge their foul mood and vote for the biggest hater of them all.
Dean Loses Jesus
A few readers disputed our item yesterday in which we questioned the sincerity of Howard Dean's assertion that he is a "committed believer in Jesus Christ." Well, here, in full, is a message from Dean posted to his campaign blog last Thursday, Dec. 25:
Today, for just a single day out of the year, much of the world recognizes a day of peace. It is a day when we set aside our differences and come together to celebrate an ideal of a world free from hate, free from want and free from war.
Over the 3,500 years of recorded human history, we have seen thirteen years of war for every year of peace. Today, as we gather with families and friends, we must remember the hundreds of thousands of U.S. soldiers separated from their families, serving overseas. We must remember the people of Africa who have seen too much war, destruction and want this year, and we must remember all of the other humanitarian crises that escape our notice on other days of the year.
On this day more than most, we must resolve to continue our work and to redouble our efforts to ensure that someday soon world peace can be something we celebrate more than just once a year.
The United States was founded on an ideal that we would serve as a peaceful and moral beacon for the rest of the world. Thomas Jefferson once wrote, "Peace with all nations, and the right which that gives us with respect to all nations, are our object." The biggest roadblock to achieving that is our own doubt that it can be accomplished. Franklin D. Roosevelt told us that "The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith." May today bring peace on Earth and goodwill toward everyone.
Dean manages to mention Thomas Jefferson and FDR--admirable men, to be sure--but he says not a word about the man whose birth we celebrated last Thursday. He can't even bring himself to use the word Christmas.
Several readers also wrote to point out that the correct biblical phrase, per John 14:6, is "the way, the truth and the life," not "light." We stand corrected--but then we've never claimed to be a committed believer in anything.
'Eldercool'
Yesterday we wondered why Democrats have been using so much foul language of late. First it was John Kerry, the haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Democrat who by the way served in Vietnam, using the F-word, then Wesley Clark got scatological when a supporter questioned his patriotism. Well, we may have found the answer in a January article in AARP: The Magazine called "How to Up Your Eldercool":
Swear Like a Sailor. Nothing makes Generation Next snap to attention like a few bawdy stories. As long as you don't unwittingly reveal your hopelessly retrograde political leanings in the process, a judicious sprinkling of vintage salty language will seem charming and put young adults at ease.
Unfortunately for 60-year-old Kerry and 59-year-old Clark, both men have proved incapable of suppressing their hopelessly retrograde political leanings.
The Road to Damascus
Syria, a member of the U.N. Security Council, turns out to have been more active than anyone realized in helping Iraq violate U.N. sanctions, the Los Angeles Times reports:
A Syrian trading company with close ties to the ruling regime smuggled weapons and military hardware to Saddam Hussein between 2000 and 2003, helping Syria become the main channel for illicit arms transfers to Iraq despite a stringent U.N. embargo, documents recovered in Iraq show.
The private company, called SES International Corp., is headed by a cousin of Syria's autocratic leader, Bashar Assad, and is controlled by other members of Assad's Baath Party and Alawite clan. Syria's government assisted SES in importing at least one shipment destined for Iraq's military, the Iraqi documents indicate, and Western intelligence reports allege that senior Syrian officials were involved in other illicit transfers.
Iraqi records show that SES signed more than 50 contracts to supply tens of millions of dollars' worth of arms and equipment to Iraq's military shortly before the U.S.-led invasion in March.
Sounds as though Assad ought to be sharing a cell with fellow Baathist Saddam Hussein.
Adolf Castro
"The Cuban authorities have launched an inquiry into how the official newspaper of the Communist party ran a front page photograph of Fidel Castro which appeared to have been doctored to make him look like Adolf Hitler," reports London's Guardian:
Underneath banners proclaiming Cuba's opposition to war and terrorism, President Castro is seen in full military uniform, but the world's most famous beard has been replaced by history's most striking moustache, while his grey hair now has the faint hint of a black comb-over.
Although details of what happened remain unclear, what is known is that someone or some group at the newspaper appears to have risked all in the name of political satire.
Communist authorities scrambled to confiscate copies of the newspaper depicting the dictator as the other dictator.
Meanwhile, the folks at the Angry Left site Indymedia.org have Photoshopped Time magazine's "Person of the Year" cover, changing "The American Soldier" to "The American Myrmidon" and putting SS logos and swastikas on the soldiers' uniforms. Charming, huh?
Are You Ready for Some Football?
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge offers the following advice to Americans anxious about terrorism: "Root for your favorite football team and rest assured that the full force of Homeland Security all across this nation is at work to keep you safe."
That's easy for him to say. He's from Pennsylvania, and the 12-4 Philadelphia Eagles are the top seed in the NFC. George W. Bush can root for the Cowboys, John Ashcroft for the Rams or the Chiefs, Andy Card for the Patriots, and even poor Al Gore for the Titans. But what are those of us who live in New York, California or Florida supposed to do? Between them those states have nine stinky NFL teams, none of which made the playoffs.
What Would We Do Without Government?
"Government Tells Americans to Enjoy the Holidays Despite Terror Alert"--headline, Associated Press, Dec. 30
Throw the Book At 'Em!
"FBI Issues Alert Against Almanac Carriers"--headline, Associated Press, Dec. 30
Not Too Brite--CXXX
"A large saltwater crocodile dragged a young Australian man to his death in an outback river and then stalked his two companions as they clung to a tree in the middle of the river for 22 hours," Reuters reports from Sydney.
Oddly Enough!
(For an explanation of the "Not Too Brite" series, click here.)
The One That Got Away Weighed Just Under 0.49703 Ton
"Indonesian villagers claim to have captured a python that is almost 49.21 feet long and weighs nearly 992.07 pounds, a local official said Monday."--Associated Press, Dec. 29
The Big Story
"Plus-Sized Find a Wider Selection"--headline, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Dec. 30
Terror Advocates Make Life Richer
The other day the Seattle Post-Intelligencer had a column called "Passages," honoring people who died during 2003, "leaving our lives a little richer for having known them." Among them:
Rachel Corrie, 23, an activist from Olympia who was crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer while protesting the destruction of Palestinian homes in the Rafah refugee camp. After its internal investigation, the Israeli military said the driver of the bulldozer could not see Corrie. Corrie's parents were not satisfied with the Israeli explanations, and in September they called for an independent U.S. investigation of her death. Corrie died March 16.
As readers of this column are well aware, Corrie was a terror advocate who was trying to disrupt an Israeli effort to destroy tunnels that Palestinian terrorists were using to smuggle weapons from Egypt to use in attacks against Israeli civilians. In addition to abetting the murder of Jews, a few weeks before her death Corrie burned the American flag in front of a crowd of Arab schoolchildren.
One can argue that Corrie's death was a tragedy; after all, she was immature, and had she lived, she might have eventually outgrown and repented her hatreds. But the Seattle Post-Intelligencer staff is a pretty twisted bunch to credit her with "leaving our lives a little richer."
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