Best of the Web Today - February 14, 2005
By JAMES TARANTO
Hair of the Blog
On the merits of the Eason Jordan kerfuffle, we defer to our colleague Bret Stephens, who was there, and who was the first journalist to write about it, in the Jan. 28 issue of OpinionJournal's Political Diary (subscribe here). Still, there's no gainsaying the victory that Jordan's critics in and out of blogdom, who pursued the story relentlessly in the two ensuing weeks, won when Jordan announced on Friday night that he was leaving CNN.
"After 23 years at CNN, I have decided to resign in an effort to prevent CNN from being unfairly tarnished by the controversy over conflicting accounts of my recent remarks regarding the alarming number of journalists killed in Iraq," Jordan said in a letter to colleagues that CNN itself quotes (in a story that oddly runs under the heading of ENTERTAINMENT).
Bloggers of a different stripe consummated a victory over the weekend as the Democratic National Committee elected Screaming Blue Messiah Howard Dean as its new chairman. (We've included the photo nearby, sent in by reader and blogger Kevin Schmidt, as a bit of 2004 campaign nostalgia.)
The New Republic's Ryan Lizza has a fascinating account of how "a guerrilla squad of Democratic bloggers" knocked down every other contender for the post. An example is ex-Rep. Tim Roemer of Indiana, who had the backing of Harry Pelosi and Nancy Reid:
The entire field of candidates, in concert with the insular liberal blogosphere, rose up and destroyed Roemer.
The hit was silent and deadly. One day I received by messenger a dirty and smudged envelope with no return address. Inside were five pages of anti-Roemer opposition research about his positions on everything from Israel and abortion to labor and Social Security. The same information was fed to numerous blogs, which quickly declared Roemer anathema. "Unless Roemer publicly, loudly, and completely repudiates his recent [pro-privatization] position on Social Security, he is utterly unacceptable as DNC chair," said a post on the pro-Dean site MyDD.com, which served as a key clearinghouse of information about the race. (Roemer did repudiate that position, but it wasn't enough.)
By the time Roemer showed up on "This Week" for a Sunday morning announcement of his candidacy, which, in the old days, might have helped solidify him as the establishment choice, he was badly damaged. He spent most of his interview with George Stephanopoulos defensively responding to bloggers he had clearly never heard of, like MyDD and The Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum. . . .
Roemer never recovered. In St. Louis days later, at one of five candidate forums held around the country for DNC members to interview the aspiring chairs, Roemer rose and, glaring at Dean and candidate Simon Rosenberg, lashed out at the "secret e-mails" that were circulating about him. He angrily defended his pro-life record and testily challenged the DNC members to show some tolerance on the issue. It was a brave speech, but it was also the end of his candidacy. Applause was scattered and perfunctory. In New York the next week, he told DNC members, "We shouldn't let a special interest group decide our view on choice." This time, the audience hissed.
What's interesting here isn't the medium--the rise of bloggers is old news--but the message. In a column presumably filed before Jordan quit, U.S. News & World Report's Michael Barone contrasts the Howard Dean ascendancy with the Dan Rather scandal:
What hath the blogosphere wrought? The left blogosphere has moved the Democrats off to the left, and the right blogosphere has undermined the credibility of the Republicans' adversaries in Old Media. Both changes help Bush and the Republicans.
In our view it's premature to conclude that Dean's chairmanship will be a disaster for the Democrats; another scenario is that his presence will calm the party base and make it easier for a moderate to win the presidential nomination three years hence. But Barone's examples illustrate well the general state of the battle over America's cultural institutions. Today the right is enjoying considerable success in its longstanding effort to influence left-leaning institutions to move toward the center. The left, on the other hand, is trying to pull them even further to the left.
A lesser-noticed resignation last week illustrates the former point. On Friday Hamilton College, site of a canceled speech by Ward "Little Eichmanns" Churchill, issued a press release announcing that Nancy Rabinowitz (no relation to Dorothy!) was stepping down as director of the Kirkland Project. Her comments echoed Jordan's:
Hamilton College finds itself in the midst of a crisis that is deeply rooted in the institution's history and set against a backdrop of increasing political and cultural tension. Much of the resulting media attack has been directed personally at me as Director of the Kirkland Project. This, in turn, has been destructive to the Project and to the educational mission of the College, in particular to its desire to create a more diverse and welcoming environment for all students. In the interests of the College and its community, therefore, I am stepping down as Director, effective immediately.
I am resigning under duress, for I would have preferred to stay on until I took my long awaited sabbatical; however, my strengths have been in the intrinsic work of the Project itself, and what the Project needs now is someone more adept at the kind of political and media fight that the current climate requires. Therefore, it is in the interests of the mission of the Project itself and of the College and for no other reason that I am yielding to requests that I resign.
Hat tip: Roger Kimball. This is a clear victory for those who are right-wing enough to object to Churchill's anti-American hate speech, which we'd estimate at roughly 90% of the population.
Compare this with the experience of Larry Summers. Harvard's president is a partisan Democrat--he was Bill Clinton's Treasury secretary--and he would be considered a liberal anywhere outside the fever swamps of academentia. He remains under attack for comments last month in which he suggested that genetic differences may be among the reasons fewer women than men pursue careers in math and science. Last month the left-wing National Organization of Women demanded Summers's resignation.
On Saturday three fellow university presidents--from Stanford, MIT and Princeton--published a Boston Globe op-ed in which they argued that this topic should be off limits:
The question we must ask as a society is not "can women excel in math, science, and engineering?"--Marie Curie exploded that myth a century ago--but "how can we encourage more women with exceptional abilities to pursue careers in these fields?" Extensive research on the abilities and representation of males and females in science and mathematics has identified the need to address important cultural and societal factors. Speculation that "innate differences" may be a significant cause for the under-representation of women in science and engineering may rejuvenate old myths and reinforce negative stereotypes and biases.
The academic left claims to favor free inquiry and oppose hate speech, but in practice it opposes free inquiry and favors hate speech, at least when doing so promotes its orthodoxy on campus.
In any case, the broader theme is clear: Those on the right are helping improve institutions like the media and academia by casting light on their most irresponsibly leftist elements, while those on the left are trying to excommunicate responsible center-left figures like Tim Roemer and Larry Summers. Or to put it another way, the right is increasingly influencing the mainstream, while the left is increasingly alienated from it.
Communist News Network?
A reader calls our attention to the beginning of a speech Eason Jordan delivered at Harvard five years ago:
I thank you very much for being here tonight. Let me also thank Fidel Castro. In the earliest days of CNN, when CNN was meant to be seen only in the United States, the enterprising Fidel Castro was pirating and watching CNN in Cuba. Fidel was intrigued by CNN. He wanted to meet the person responsible. So Ted Turner, who at that point had never traveled to a Communist country or knowingly met a Communist, [went to Havana]. It was big deal for Ted and during the discussions Castro suggested that CNN be made available to the entire world. In fact it was that seed, that idea that grew into CNN International, which is now seen in every country and territory on the planet.
This casts an interesting light on a passage from a CNN.com story last Friday: "Researchers for the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs have been investigating unconfirmed reports of Americans who were held prisoner in the so-called gulags." So-called?
Ain't It Sweet?
From a Reuters dispatch about Howard Dean's election as DNC chairman:
Voters in Iowa and New Hampshire soured on Dean's blunt style and turned to what they viewed as a more electable alternative in Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, who lost a bitter campaign to Bush in November.
We guess this means Dean is a pickle and Kerry is a lemon.
In With the Inn Crowd
From an Associated Press dispatch about Howard Dean:
During a meeting Friday with the Democratic black caucus, Dean praised black Democrats for their work for the party, then questioned Republicans' ability to rally support from minorities.
"You think the Republican National Committee could get this many people of color in a single room?," Dean asked to laughter. "Only if they had the hotel staff in here."
The AP doesn't say if the laughter continued after Dean's crack about "the hotel staff."
Wright Is Wrong
Check out the opening paragraphs of a story in today's Washington Post by reporter Robin Wright:
When the Bush administration decided to invade Iraq two years ago, it envisioned a quick handover to handpicked allies in a secular government that would be the antithesis of Iran's theocracy--potentially even a foil to Tehran's regional ambitions.
But, in one of the greatest ironies of the U.S. intervention, Iraqis instead went to the polls and elected a government with a strong religious base--and very close ties to the Islamic republic next door. It is the last thing the administration expected from its costly Iraq policy--$300 billion and counting, U.S. and regional analysts say.
Wright's assertion that the Bush administration never wanted democracy in Iraq is untrue. Here is what President Bush had to say on the subject way back on Sept. 12, 2002, in a speech before the U.N. General Assembly:
The people of Iraq can shake off their captivity. They can one day join a democratic Afghanistan and a democratic Palestine, inspiring reforms throughout the Muslim world. These nations can show by their example that honest government, and respect for women, and the great Islamic tradition of learning can triumph in the Middle East and beyond.
Notes blogger Arthur Chrenkoff:
Remember all the controversy and hand-wringing over the past three years about the radical neo-conservative cabal running the US foreign policy and pushing their mad schemes to export liberal democracy to all the unfree parts of the world? Well, strangely, now that the election in Iraq has taken place, we discover that the US has after all been run by cold-blooded realists who didn't care about such trifles like democracy because all they ever wanted was to lord over Iraq and steal its oil.
What Would We Do Without Experts?
"Fearless Iraqis No Cure for U.S. Voter Apathy, Experts Say"--headline, Express-Times (Easton, Pa.), Feb. 14
Egging On the Arabs
A hilarious piece in the Tehran Times warns Arab governments not to establish diplomatic relations with Israel:
At present, Egypt, Jordan, and Mauritania are the only three Arab countries which have officially established diplomatic ties with the Zionist regime.
Qatar, Oman, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, and occupied Palestine are to send ambassadors to Tel Aviv by the end of 2005, according to reports. . . .
The establishment of diplomatic ties between Arab states and Israel is one of the treacherous plans within the evil Greater Middle East Initiative, which is meant to make Israel the regional gendarme.
If the current trend of Arab-Israeli relations continues, the prediction of the Arab political analyst, who said that by 2010 no Arab would be able to spend a day without eating an egg imported from Israel, will come true.
Let's hope the Arabs tell the mad mullahs who run Iran to go suck eggs.
It's Called 'Hebrew'
"The new Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, said in an interview this weekend that the war with the Israelis is effectively over and that the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, is speaking 'a different language' to the Palestinians."--New York Times, Feb. 14
With Time Off for Good Behavior?
"Prosecutor Seeks 222,000 Years for Qaeda Suspects"--headline, Reuters, Feb. 14
Metaphor Alert--I
Eric Alterman in The Nation:
The United States government is currently run by a group of people for whom verifiable truth holds no particular privilege over ideologically inspired nonsense. For members of the mainstream media, trying to maintain a sense of self-importance and solemnity and to keep the wing nuts from crowing for more scalps, this requires a series of stratagems to keep up the scripted charade, no matter how foolish it makes them look or feel while doing so.
The easiest of these stratagems is simply to stack the coverage with political partisans and give them free rein to spout GOP propaganda.
Metaphor Alert--II
Robert Cambria, former managing editor of The Korean Review, in a letter to the editor of the New York Times:
It is obvious that President Bush has bungled badly. The six-party talks were more a shadow play than a conference of substance.
Without positive signals from Washington, Pyongyang, taking the bull by the horns, simply owned up to having nuclear bombs, thereby pouring ice-cold water on Washington's feints and punting.
The unresolved questions from the 1954 Geneva conference on Korea still require redress after more than half a century, and now the waters are further muddied by fear of a nuclear confrontation.
The ball is now in Mr. Bush's court. Will he snatch victory from the jaws of a major diplomatic slap in the face by going to Pyongyang à la Richard M. Nixon going to Beijing?
Zero-Tolerance Watch
Michaela Boyd, a 6-year-old first-grader at Matthews Elementary in Sikeston, Mo., is in trouble over a bag of dirt, reports Cape Girardeau's KFVS-TV:
After finding the [empty] bag much like the one disposable utensils come in, Michaela says she decided to make her friend a bag of goodies, "They said what did you make this out of, and what did you tell them. I said out of dirt. And what else. I made it with rocks, clover and dirt."
Her mom, Michele, says after Michaela put the mixture into the bag, she tied the top with a purple ponytail holder and gave it to her friend saying,"here's a bag of dirt."
After recess was over the student gave the bag of dirt to their teacher.
Michele says after meeting with the teacher and principal, she was told that the bag of dirt, "looked like a bag of weed."
Michaela says, "They said it was kind of a drug. I don't know what they are I only see cigarettes. That's all I say."
Michaela's punishment: two days' detention.
My Fetus Killing Me
Thanks to the Associated Press, we think we've finally figured out the difference between a fetus and a baby. An article on the latest attack on a pregnant woman (in this case the would-be women fought off and killed her assailant) ends as follows:
In December, a Missouri woman was strangled and her baby was cut from her womb. The baby was later found alive, and a Kansas woman was charged with kidnapping resulting in death.
In 2003, a woman was shot to death in Oklahoma, allegedly by another woman who then pretended the 6-month-old fetus was her child. That fetus died.
See the difference? A baby is alive, a fetus is dead. That would make D. Allan Bromley, who died last week at 79, a 321st-trimester fetus.
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
"Birders Eye Winter Hummingbirds, Vagrants"--headline, Associated Press, Feb. 12, 2005
This Just In
"Sprinklers Shown Effective in Slowing Dorm Fires"--headline, NIST Tech Beat (National Institute of Standards and Technology), Feb. 10
Quite Possibly the Best Headline Ever
"Truffle Kerfuffle: Chinese 'pig-snout' fungi are flooding gourmet-food markets, and the French are not amused"--headline and subheadline, Time Asia, Feb. 14
What Would We Do Without Love Docs?
"Love Doc: Kissing Is Best Valentine's Gift"--headline, Associated Press, Feb. 14
Lia Gets a Life
From a New York Times article on outlandish marriage proposals:
Many New Yorkers still prefer the traditional approach. Some time this evening in a restaurant on the Upper East Side, Lia Macko will receive a yellow diamond ring and some sparklers on top of her dessert. (Her fiancé, Dana Matthow, is counting on you, dear reader, to keep the secret.) Mr. Matthow, publisher of City Guide Magazine, contemplated crazy ideas involving dancing clowns and trained seals, but in the end, opted for the couple's usual restaurant, a pianist playing their favorite song and a photographer hiding in the wings.
"She's been bugging me for so long to get married," he said, "at this point, she'll be happy just to see me down on my knees."
As it turns out, Lia Macko is co-author, with Kerry Rubin, of "Midlife Crisis at 30: How the Stakes Have Changed for a New Generation--and What to Do About It" (2004). According to the book, Lia and Kerry "met while working together at CNN." They realized that they had a common problem:
Our professional lives were beginning to eclipse our personal lives in powerful ways, and we were starting to recognize the very real consequences. Kerry had not made it home for dinner with her husband in over a month; he was so alarmed that he asked her if she was having an affair, and he was only half-joking. Lia had only had time to go on three dates in six months. The one time she scheduled an after-work dinner with a good friend, she was late because of a work crisis and then bombarded with phone calls and pages throughout the meal. The waiter gave her friend free Merlot and told Lia to get a life.
Let us be the first to congratulate Lia for getting a life. But if her hubby-to-be can safely assume she doesn't read the newspaper, perhaps she's gone overboard with her newfound domesticity. |
