Best of the Web Today - March 19, 2004
By JAMES TARANTO
Zapatero to Kerry: Drop Dead
Spain's newly elected prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, is on record as endorsing John Kerry for president of the United States. The other day Kerry urged Zapatero not to appease al Qaeda by withdrawing Spanish troops from Iraq. Yesterday, the Scotsman reports, Zapatero responded by telling Kerry to buzz off: "Maybe John Kerry does not know--but I am happy to explain it to him--that my commitment to withdraw the troops goes back before the tragic, dramatic terrorist attack."
If there is any reason at all for patriotic Americans to consider voting for a man on the basis of his foreign endorsements, it is that he may be better able to persuade those leaders to act in accord with American interest. Zapatero's contemptuous attitude toward Kerry gives the lie to that argument. The new Spanish leader is unwilling to consider keeping his country's commitment to Iraq even though it would probably help Kerry politically.
The Associated Press reports Kerry picked up another foreign endorsement yesterday: from former Paul Krugman advisee Mahathir Mohamad, erstwhile prime minister of Malaysia:
"I think Kerry would be much more willing to listen to the voices of people and of the rest of the world," Mahathir, who retired in October after 22 years in power, told The Associated Press in an interview.
"But in the U.S., the Jewish lobby is very strong, and any American who wants to become president cannot change the policy toward Palestine radically," he said.
Mahathir's comments about the "Jewish lobby" are hardly surprising; as the Anti-Defamation League notes, he has a long history of anti-Semitsm. As we noted in October, former Enron adviser Paul Krugman thinks Mahathir's anti-Semitism is President Bush's fault.
Maybe Krugman should sign on as an adviser to the Kerry campaign. He could urge the candidate to explain to the American people how President Bush caused Mahathir to make anti-Semitic remarks in the very next breath after endorsing Kerry. Instead, the Kerry camp is very much on the defensive; Kerry adviser Rand Beers issued the following statement yesterday:
John Kerry rejects any association with former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, an avowed anti-Semite whose views are totally deplorable. The world needs leaders who seek to bring people together, not drive them apart with hateful and divisive rhetoric.
This election will be decided by the American people, and the American people alone. It is simply not appropriate for any foreign leader to endorse a candidate in America's presidential election. John Kerry does not seek, and will not accept, any such endorsements.
Yet not two weeks ago Kerry was boasting about all the endorsements he had supposedly received from foreign leaders. If this guy weren't so damn electable, we'd say he has no chance of winning.
Ayman, Are You in There?
Pakistani troops are engaged in "fierce fighting" with "between 300 and 400 al Qaeda fighters and sypathetic [sic] tribesmen" in the no man's land called Waziristan, CNN reports. The exciting part is that the Pakistanis think the enemy is guarding a "high-value target," probably al Qaeda's No. 2 man, Ayman al-Zawahiri. But the Australian reports Zawahiri may have escaped in "a bulletproof LandCruiser at high speed bursting out of a tribal compound."
We hope they take him alive, though we'd rejoice at his death too. Meanwhile, after initial rumors that Zawahiri's boss might be the target in question, an Angry Left poster over at DemocraticUnderground.com put everything in perspective: "Capturing Osama does not create jobs."
A Frenchman's View
Our passing mention in an item Wednesday of John Kerry's popularity among Frenchmen led one of them, reader Bernard Marchois, to write us this letter, which we share with you in the interest of furthering trans-Atlantic understanding:
Of course, Mr. Kerry isn't popular among the uneducated people and "white trash" supporting Mr. Bush. Neither among Mr. Bush's usual buddies: oil and finance sharks, hysterical South Protestants and other KKK members.
Alas, poor James, everything is going wrong. You've lost your Spanish toy poodle. Welcome back in Europe, dear Spain! And this is just the beginning: Mr. Blair, a good guy falling into Mr. Bush's trap, has big political problems, Mr. Berlusconi becomes more and more cautious, the Poles are resolute to return in their European family. The solution? A Bush-American one: Europe's bombing "for a safer world."
Alas again Mr. Bush's problems aren't only European: in Afghanistan (it was right to oust the Taliban), the same unsolved problems. In Iraq, the only happy news (Saddam's topple) is nullified by a worse situation than before, with the import of al Qaeda's large-scale terrorism. Where is the "safer world"? Nowhere.
Third "alas": in the U.S., no unemployment lowering, unfathomable deficit ("no matter"? really?), huge impoverishment (except for the upper-upper class), McCarthysm-like offenses against the civil liberties.
So it's not necessary to be a Frenchman or an intellectual to prefer to see Mr. Kerry at the White House, because it would be better for the world and the U.S. to have a night pot in the Oval Office than Mr. Bush. Mr. Bush's war on terrorism increases the terrorism (see Spain, etc.). It's obvious that this war will be much more effective in a real, in confidence international cooperation. Europe needs the U.S. and you need us. Allies yes, poodles no.
But I lose my time writing you. You will, Mr. Taranto, imperturbably continue your dubious job, of course not a journalist job. After all, your job is not so far from al Qaeda's one. Maybe worse: al Qaeda hates the non-Muslim world, you hate the whole world, except a little part of Americans. Who is the biggest terrorist?
The Associated Press quotes France's fatuous Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin as saying, "Terrorism didn't exist in Iraq before"--by which he means when Saddam Hussein was in power. "Today, it is one of the world's principal sources of world terrorism."
Oh well, at least no one can say the French are totally unserious about terrorism. EUBusiness.com reports that de Villepin has endorsed the European Union "idea of appointing a 'Mr Terrorism' for the bloc."
Did Kerry Get Dowdified?
Salon's Eric Boehlert thinks John Kerry has been the victim of a Dowdification, and he accuses us of being an accessory to the crime. (In a shameful lapse of civility, he also resorts to name-calling, disparaging us as one of "Bush's tools in the conservative media.") At issue is the following comment from President Bush, which we cited last week:
Just days ago my opponent indicated he's not comfortable using the word, "war," to describe the struggle we're in. He said, "I don't want to use that terminology."
Boehlert argues that Bush took the Kerry quote out of context and thereby distorted its meaning. Well, you be the judge. Here's what Kerry said, in an interview with the New York Times:
The final victory in the war on terror depends on a victory in the war of ideas, much more than the war on the battlefield. And the war--not the war, I don't want to use that terminology. The engagement of economies, the economic transformation, the transformation to modernity of a whole bunch of countries that have been avoiding the future.
So when Kerry said "I don't want to use that terminology," what he meant was that he didn't want to call the "war of ideas," which is "much more" important in the war on terror than the "war on the battlefield," a "war." The war on terrorism is a war, but it's a war that's mostly a not-war. We'll give Boehlert this: Bush's comment made Kerry's statement seem a lot clearer--sorry, less nuanced--than it actually was.
You have to give Bush credit, too, for being extremely fair to his opponent. Recently the incumbent began airing an ad criticizing the challenger for his vote to defund the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Kerry cried foul, and now, the Associated Press reports, the Bush campaign is airing a new version of the ad that actually includes Kerry's defense: ''I actually did vote for his $87 billion, before I voted against it."
The Proud Liberal Legacy Liberals Aren't Proud Of
In response to yesterday's item about Katrina "Who's My Congressman?" vanden Heuvel's list of liberal accomplishments, reader Edward Friedman makes a point we wish we'd made:
Nowhere does vanden Heuvel mention the crucial work that the old-time liberals did to save and spread freedom in the world. The Republican votes against the resolution honoring FDR would be unconscionable if they weren't so childishly stupid, but why won't the liberals at least acknowledge that FDR helped to save the world, and that Harry Truman and JFK valiantly continued the fight?
The worst feature about modern liberals is that they don't believe that America is worth defending.
Man of the People
From the New York Times' account of John Kerry's snowboarding trip to Idaho:
The image-conscious candidate and his aides prevailed upon reporters and photographers to let him have a first run down the mountain solo, except for two agents and Marvin Nicholson, his omnipresent right-hand man.
His next trip down, a reporter and a camera crew were allowed to follow along on skis--just in time to see Mr. Kerry taken out by one of the Secret Service men, who had inadvertently moved into his path, sending him into the snow.
When asked about the mishap a moment later, he said sharply, "I don't fall down," then used an expletive to describe the agent who "knocked me over."
The German magazine Der Spiegel, meanwhile, has this promo for an article on Kerry's better half:
President John Forbes Kerry would bring an unusual wife to the White House. Teresa Heinz Kerry is wealthier and older than her husband, and some people say she is cleverer, more aggressive and stronger than him too. Can America cope with this lady? Teresa Heinz Kerry knows her way around, she has got around a lot: born in Mozambique, she went to school in South Africa and to university in Geneva, she speaks five languages, has translated for the United Nations, and she knows the world. Which is why she knows, and says out loud, that the United States can at times be quite immature.
So that Secret Service agents is a %$!# and Americans are immature. One almost starts to think these people are haughty.
Does That Include Kerry?
"[Illinois Democratic nominee Barack] Obama is seeking to become only the third black U.S. senator since Reconstruction."--Associated Press, March 17
Reuterville Goes Ape
"Dallas police on Thursday shot dead a 350-pound (160-kg) gorilla that had escaped from its enclosure and injured three people at the Dallas Zoo." Reuters reports:
"We were forced to put it down. We had no option," Danny Garcia, a police spokesman, told a press conference. Garcia said when the gorilla charged two police officers who had cornered the animal, they fired at the gorilla.
True to form, Reuters refuses to use the word terrorist and insists on calling the culprit a "gorilla."
Fair and Balanced--but Does It Add Up?
"Importing drugs would save Americans 30 to 300 percent of the cost, but industry sources say that with this discount come fewer safety controls and a risk to the development of new life-saving medicines," Fox News reports.
Perhaps Fox could explain how it's even possible to save more than 100%.
Should He Have Supplied Rope?
"Youth Shelter Counselor Convicted of Neglect for Not Helping Boy as He Hanged Himself"--headline, Associated Press, March 18
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OK, They Can Be Annoying, but This Goes Too Far
"Help Wanted: Morticians to Take Care of Baby Boomers"--headline, Advocate Messenger (Danville, Ky.), March 18
At Cross-Purposes
Those who worried that Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" would incite violence turn out to have been right, the Associated Press reports from Statesboro, Ga.:
A couple was arrested after their argument over a theological point turned physical following a night at the movies to see "The Passion of the Christ."
The two left the theater debating whether God the Father in the Holy Trinity was human or symbolic, and the argument turned violent when they got home, Melissa Davidson said. . . .
According to a police report, Melissa Davidson suffered injuries on her left arm and face and Sean Davidson had a scissor stab on his hand and his shirt was ripped off. Sean Davidson also had punched a hole in the wall, according to the report.
Presumably the Davidsons will be punished rather leniently, seeing as how this wasn't a premeditated act but a crime of "Passion."
False Su@#&@ions
Blogger Mike Needham noticed the odd first sentence in this posting by John Kearns, who writes about the Boston Red Sox for the network's fantasy baseball Web section:
I have su@#&@ions about this man's fantasy value. The reigning batting champion faded a bit down the stretch and in the postseason, looking downright average. While I won't question his grit and his fielding ability, I'll go out on a limb and say that he won't repeat as the AVG. leader, and I expect his HR's to decrease as well.
Apparently ESPN has a filter that automatically keeps racial slurs and other de@#&@able words from appearing on its site.
At Least It Wasn't 'We Three Kings'
"An elementary school in Wilmington, N.C., has put in its library a book about two princes who fall in love and 'marry,' prompting outrage from the parents of a first-grade girl who brought the book home," reports the Washington Times:
Michael and Tonya Hartsell want to know how the publishers of "King & King," by Dutch authors Linda De Haan and Stern Nijland, determined it is appropriate for readers age 6 and up, as the publishers claim. . . .
The 32-page book tells the story of Prince Bertie, who rejects the chance to marry a bevy of eligible princesses and, instead, chooses Prince Lee, the brother of one of the royal candidates, as his mate. At the end of the book, the two princes seal their love with a kiss, and they "marry."
Now that's what we call a fairy-tale ending. |
