John Funds Letter - WSJ.com
Why Does Arnold Need a Translator in Germany Anyway?
Reporters thought that Arnold Schwarzenegger made news in the event-starved days before Christmas when he supposedly told a German newspaper he wanted Republicans to "move a little further left and place more weight on the center," as the Associated Press version of his interview had him saying. Pundits immediately jumped on the remarks. Conservative columnist Cal Thomas suggested the Terminator might really "be the Democratic Party's 'plant' inside the GOP." Alan Colmes, the liberal half of the Hannity & Colmes debate show on Fox News, hailed it as evidence that a new "Rockefeller Republican" wing was emerging to counter President Bush.
The Governator certainly does part company on issues such as abortion and promoting hybrid fuel technology. But he was misquoted by German reporter Marc Hujer. What he actually said was: "I think that right now the Republican Party is all the way from the right to the center. And the Democratic Party is all the way from the left to the center. And I like the Republican Party to cross that centerline. Keep it to the right where it is, but I mean cross over that centerline a little bit, because that would take immediately away 5% from the Democrats and be home free for good. That's the trick."
Mr. Hujer says the governor never recommended explicitly that Republicans should edge toward the left. "He did not use the word 'left,"' Mr. Hujer admitted. "This is really unfortunate. I was trying to translate into German political terms." There's another German translation Mr. Hujer might want to familiarize himself with: dummkopf.
--John Fund
Ex-Pat Ukrainians Are Fans of the Orange
Many of his former countrymen living in the United States are celebrating the victory of Western reformer Viktor Yushchenko in Sunday's Ukrainian election. Some went to extraordinary lengths to ensure their homeland turned to democracy and the rule of law.
In Cleveland, nearly 400 boarded overnight buses to go and vote at the Ukrainian embassy in Washington, D.C. Ukraine allowed anyone who still holds its passport to vote in person at its diplomatic offices in Washington, New York, San Francisco and Chicago. The results were clear. Of the 3,851 ballots cast at the Chicago consulate, Moscow-backed candidate Viktor Yanukovych won only 24 -- fewer than 1% of votes cast. Several backers of Mr. Yushchenko spoke of their pride that his wife, Kateryna, was born and raised in Chicago and is now helping steer the country back to freedom.
Sport-minded members of the Ukrainian diaspora traveled to Las Vegas early this month to cheer for Vitali Klitschko, a 6-foot-7 Ukrainian heavyweight, who successfully defended his World Boxing Council title against British slugger Danny Williams. Mr. Klitschko urged them to support Mr. Yushchenko, saying he had almost canceled his fight to join the pro-democracy demonstrations in Kiev. His entire entourage dressed in the orange T-shirts, the color of Mr. Yushchenko's party.
Hundreds of young Ukrainian-Americans even traveled back to the old country to serve as election observers. Many retain ties to their homeland because their parents raised them in a tight network of summer camps and language schools. Yurko Pylyp, a 24-year-old Ukrainian-American from New York, called the mission a "cultural draft for us because we have to go back."
The election observing duty was more vigorous than many expected. I received an e-mail from one Ukrainian-American who reported that his team was offered lunch by several election committees at polling stations they visited. "Given the poisoning of Yushchenko, we were under strict orders by the organizers of our trip not to accept," he reported. "Thank goodness for trail mix."
--John Fund
In Style with Joe
Joe Lieberman was a non-factor in the Democratic primaries early this year, politely tolerated for his service as Al Gore's understudy in 2000 but not much more. In a year in which Democrats were seized with anti-Bush and anti-war fervor, he was clearly the crazy aunt.
There's nothing like a lost election to trigger a turning of the fashion worm. Democratic eyes are falling increasingly on Simon Rosenberg as a potential new leader of the Democratic National Committee. He's currently head of the New Democrat Network, which Mr. Lieberman founded and co-chaired along with retiring Sen. John Breaux. Mr. Rosenberg's elevation would be a clear and welcome vindication of Liebermanism.
It doesn't hurt that his group was relatively low-profile in the recent Kerry loss. NDN had originally expected to play a bigger role thanks to the McCain-Feingold reform that shut off the Democrats' soft money spigot. But it was rapidly outshone by the sudden arrival of MoveOn.org and the Media Fund, which raised millions for "independent" advertising in support of the Kerry campaign. Those efforts (especially MoveOn.org's) are now being second-guessed by Democrats as having done more harm than good with their Bush-bashing and conspicuous overtone of Hollywood arrogance.
A campaign aide to Bill Clinton, Mr. Rosenberg created his PAC in 2000 to battle paleolibs in raising money for "New Democrats" who adhered to modern positions on economics and national security. He's increasingly seen as a palatable alternative to Howard Dean (too liberal because of his antiwar stance) and former Rep. Tim Roemer (too conservative because of his anti-abortion beliefs). Speaking at a cattle call in Orlando earlier this month, Mr. Rosenberg talked intelligently about the need to groom new Democratic candidates and operatives who are more in touch with mainstream America. "Republicans are winning with growing regions and groups," he pointed out. "They won in 97 of the fastest growing 100 counties; most of the so called red states are gaining population, the blues ones losing."
Unfortunately, Mr. Rosenberg's biggest obstacle may be memories of NDN's first big battle, in which the group raised millions in corporate dollars to support and defend Democrats who voted in favor of liberalized trade with China. That's exactly the kind of responsible position-taking the NDN was created to encourage and reward -- and which the party's protectionists and union bosses are not likely to forgive or forget.
--Holman W. Jenkins Jr.
Maybe 'Vladmir' Is Russian for 'Uday'
Is Vladmir Putin turning into another Saddam? His renationalization of the oil industry might seem just a little backing and filling, but Mr. Putin is setting himself on a path that might prove hard to reverse. If history is any guide, attempts to control Russian with a dictatorial hand will likely breed only more insecurity, followed by even greater exertions aimed at control. This iron-fist approach might have been a temporarily stable solution in Czarist times, when 90% of the population were peasants yoked to the land. But has Mr. Putin learned nothing from Chechnya? In the age of Al Qaeda, cell phones and the Internet, he will likely find himself resorting to ever greater repression and eventually Saddam-like terror to keep dissident communities in line.
He could have followed a different road, letting the private sector and independent society flourish while Moscow raced to fashion responsive institutions that could mediate the conflicts that would inevitably arise between regions, etc. It would have been a gamble, but a taste of prosperity and freedom (as in China) are the only glue that might keep the place from blowing apart.
--Holman W. Jenkins Jr.
Quote of the Day
"It's not just that the Kremlin would undoubtedly like to see the profits from Russian natural resources flow more directly into state coffers. High energy prices have provided Russia an alternative to achieving true economic growth, eliminating the need for reform. The implications stretch far beyond Russia's borders. De facto direct Kremlin control of Russian oil and gas will allow Putin to wield energy supplies as a powerful foreign-policy club against Russia's fuel-hungry Eurasian neighbors. No wonder German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was all smiles (and declined comment on Yukos) during Putin's recent visit to Germany. Berlin knows it needs a steady supply of Russian energy, especially natural gas" -- Heritage Foundation's Peter Brookes, writing in the New York Post.
Second Lady of the Land But First Lady of Blogdom
Who would have thought Lynne Cheney would become a Consumer Reports for the blogging community? That's exactly what the wife of the vice president did last week on MSNBC's "Hardball." While being interviewed about her new children's book, "When Washington Crossed the Delaware," Ms. Cheney made a strong endorsement of the Internet as a learning tool for children: "It's a wonderful resource. I do research on it all the time, and I love reading the bloggers."
When the intrigued host asked her what she thought about blogs, Ms. Cheney gushed: "It is a real democratization of information so that people don't have to rely on one or two sources, they've got multiple sources. And I can tell in about two minutes on a blog whether this is someone whose opinion I value or not."
She then proceeded to issue some product endorsements: "I love Hugh Hewitt. I love Power Line. I read Instapundit," she said, rattling off the names of three right-leaning blogs. She finished with a plug for RealClearPolitics.com, which she said she "certainly looked at a lot during the campaign."
If the notoriously individualistic blogging community ever has a convention, they should invite Ms. Cheney to be their keynote speaker.
--John Fund |
