Best of the Web Today - August 15, 2007
By JAMES TARANTO
Today's Video on WSJ.com: James Taranto on the media's changing Iraq narrative.
Suing Imus
"A member of the Rutgers women's basketball team sued Don Imus and CBS on Tuesday, claiming the radio personality's sexist and racist comments about the team damaged her reputation," the Associated Press reports from new York:
Kia Vaughn filed the slander and defamation of character lawsuit in state Supreme Court in the Bronx the same day Imus, who was fired after his comments, settled with CBS Radio in a deal that pre-empts his threatened $120 million breach-of-contract lawsuit against CBS. . . .
Vaughn's attorney, Richard Ancowitz, said, "The full effect of the damage remains to be seen."
"This is about Kia Vaughn's good name," Ancowitz said. "She would do anything to return to her life as a student and respected basketball player--a more simple life before Imus opened his mouth."
Imus referred to the basketball players as "nappy-headed hos" on his nationally syndicated radio program April 4. . . . The Vaughn suit claims that the comments were made in the context of a news or sports report and therefore Imus had certain standards to abide by but ignored them. . . .
"The . . . false, defamatory, sexually denigrating and slanderous statements and comments against the women athletes of said basketball team were heard, believed and understood by millions of listeners . . . as factual pronouncements concerning the character, chastity and reputation of the plaintiff," the lawsuit says.
As a matter of taste and morals, what Imus said is indefensible. As a matter of law, however, Vaughn is very unlikely to prevail in court.
In order for a statement to be legally slanderous, it is not sufficient that it be insulting; it must also make a factual claim that is false. If you call someone a jerk, that isn't an actionable slander, even if he can call 20 witnesses to attest that he's a really nice guy. It's just a statement of opinion. On the other hand, if you give a specific example of the behavior that makes him a jerk, and the story you tell isn't true, he may have a case. That's why the lawsuit alleges that Imus's remarks were "understood by millions . . . as factual pronouncements."
It is true that calling someone a "ho" (whore) does not fall as clearly into the category of opinion as calling someone a jerk. The former, if taken literally, does imply something specific about a woman's behavior and character--something that surely is not true of Kia Vaughn. But it is highly implausible that millions took the comment literally. In order to win her case, Vaughn would at least have to convince a jury that one could reasonably construe the comment as a factual claim.
This depends on context, and Imus has a strong defense inasmuch as he is a jerk. That is, his shock-jock idiom is heavy with insults, which, although obnoxious, have little if any factual content. The damage that Imus's own reputation suffered as a result of the Rutgers episode--damage that, we hasten to add, he fully deserved--further diminishes the likelihood that anyone mistook his statement for a fact.
There is no doubt that Imus wronged Vaughn and her teammates by disparaging them the way he did. But this is the sort of wrong that is best rectified in the court of public opinion, not a court of law.
Giuliani's Appeal
Some observers have been skeptical of Rudy Giuliani's nationwide appeal, on the ground that Americans in the heartland and the South don't like New York and New Yorkers. And it's true that New Yorkers have not had a good record in presidential politics of late: The last New York politician to be nominated for president was Thomas Dewey in 1948; the last to win was FDR, four years earlier. No New York City mayor has ever become president.
But a 14,000-word profile of Giuliani by Peter Boyer in The New Yorker explains why hostility to New York may actually help Giuiliani in the 2008 race:
Giuliani has led the Republican field in the national polls from the start, partly because of his September 11th celebrity but also because of his September 10th celebrity. . . . To many in the heartland Giuliani was heroic for what he did in New York before September 11th: his policy prescriptions and, mostly, his taming of the city's liberal political culture--his famous crackdown on squeegee-men panhandlers, his workfare program, his attacks on controversial museum exhibits ("The idea of . . . so-called works of art in which people are throwing elephant dung at a picture of the Virgin Mary is sick!"), and the like. . . .
To conservatives, pre-Giuliani New York was a study in failed liberalism, a city that had surrendered to moral and physical decay, crime, racial hucksterism, and ruinous economic pathologies. Perhaps the most common words that Giuliani heard when he travelled around the country this spring were epithets aimed at his city ("a crime-infested cesspool," one Southern politician declared), offered without fear of giving offense. Giuliani cheerfully agreed.
Boyer quotes Stephen DiBrienza, a liberal Democratic former city councilman who tangled with Mayor Giuliani, as saying: "All the things that a lot of New Yorkers, myself included, hate about this guy are the things that are actually fueling his campaign."
It reminded us of "The Two New Yorks," an article Frank Macchiarola wrote for City Journal (where we then worked) back in 1993, a few months before Giuliani's election:
The most critical distinction is one that is seldom discussed and that cuts across lines of both race and class, separating New Yorkers on the basis of their political and social culture. The distinction is between what are in fact two "boroughs," Manhattan and outer borough New York. Both include people of all ethnic groups and various economic conditions.
Of course, my distinction does not precisely follow the physical boundaries of the five boroughs. Outer borough New Yorkers can be found in Manhattan and dominate some neighborhoods, such as the Lower East Side, Harlem, and Washington Heights. There are Manhattan types in the other boroughs as well, including large concentrations in such communities as Park Slope, Brooklyn; Jackson Heights, Queens; St. George, Staten Island; and Riverdale, the Bronx.
What sets the two New Yorks apart? Many things. Most Manhattanites live in buildings owned by someone else, while the single-family home is the norm for outer borough New Yorkers Manhattanites usually have professional jobs; men wear white shirts and ties and carry briefcases. Outer borough New Yorkers are likely to work with their hands and dress more casually. Some outer borough New Yorkers do work in those fancy midtown office buildings, but at night they can hardly wait to get home to Queens or Brooklyn.
Most New Yorkers have an intuitive grasp of the distinction I am describing, yet it somehow doesn't make it into the authoritative literature. That is largely because Manhattanites, who write most of the books and articles on the subject, enjoy an elite status and prefer not to call explicit attention to it.
Giuliani did much better in the outer boroughs than he did in Manhattan. In 1993 he outpolled incumbent David Dinkins in only two boroughs, Queens and Staten Island; Dinkins had large majorities in Manhattan and the Bronx. This was also true in 1989, when Giuliani lost to Dinkins. In 1993, Giuliani's margin over Dinkins in Staten Island was greater than his citywide margin of victory. (Giuliani did carry Manhattan in his 1997 re-election landslide, but by less than 4% of the borough's total vote.)
To be sure, even the outer boroughs (with the possible exception of Staten Island) are more liberal and Democratic than the country as a whole. But unlike the last Republican mayor, John Lindsay, Giuliani is an opponent, not a product, of Manhattan's liberal elite, and that is why Giuliani may succeed at the national level where Lindsay, who briefly sought the Democrats' 1972 presidential nomination, failed miserably.
Speaker Pelosi: Boon on Hindrance?
"After months of being branded by Republican Party officials as an out-of-step 'San Francisco liberal,' " Bloomberg reports, Speaker Nancy Pelosi "is increasing her campaigning for Democrats, especially freshmen, in districts with high numbers of independent and Republican voters":
Her goal is to refute critics who say her support harms Democrats facing the toughest re-election challenges next year. . . .
Pelosi's approval ratings have suffered amid signs voters don't think Democrats are getting enough done. A July 15-18 Lake Research Partners/Tarrance Group poll found her rating at 37 percent--a tie with Vice President Dick Cheney--while 40 percent disapproved. . . .
Pelosi rejects the notion that she must be careful where she treads. "There aren't enough days in the month to go to all the districts I'm invited to," she said in New Hampshire.
Which means, this being August, that she has been invited to at least 32 of the nation's 435 congressional districts.
'Aren't We Glad to See Him Go'
Yesterday we noted that Hillary Clinton, "as far as we can tell," has kept her opinion about Karl Rove to herself. As it turns out, she did have something to say about Rove, in an interview conducted Monday and published yesterday morning with NBC's Andrea Mitchell:
Mitchell: I do have to ask you, because Karl Rove in a parting shot said that you are fatally flawed as a candidate.
Mrs. Clinton: Well, aren't we glad to see him go, I think is the answer to that. You know, I am thrilled to be running this campaign, and to be getting the response that I'm getting all over the country. I was in Pahrump, Nevada, just today, earlier. 2,500 people. I feel very good about where I am.
Still, there's quite a difference between the approach of Mrs. Clinton, who made an offhand comment in response to a question about Rove's comments about her and quickly changed the subject, and those of Barack Obama and John Edwards, who rushed to issue formal statements denouncing the White House deputy chief of staff.
Reliable Sources
"Rep. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, who served as speaker of the House longer than any Republican in history, intends to retire next year at the end of his current term, party officials said Tuesday," the Associated Press reports:
The officials who discussed his plans did so on condition of anonymity, saying they did not want to pre-empt a public announcement.
Does this mean Hastert is going to announce their identities?
Still Dead
"The Cuban Journalists Union (UPEC) granted President Fidel Castro the Prize to Dignity for his exceptional merits and his work in favor of the Cuban press," reports ACN, the Cuban "news" agency:
In a ceremony held at the UPEC's headquarters, the president of the organization, Tubal Paez, said Fidel embraces in himself the dignity of all Cubans, of the country, and of humanity."
Paez said Cuban journalists have been encouraged by the work of Fidel and Raul. For that reason they decided to give the award to the Cuban President, he said.
As Jeff Jacoby noted in a January column, Cuba's hundreds of political prisoners included 23 journalists. But hey, that's a quibble! We're just sorry the union had to give Castro the prize posthumously. (Hat tip: blogger Yitzchak Goodman.)
The Democratic Party Isn't What It Used to Be
"Clinton Man Drowns in Truman Reservoir"--headline, Associated Press, Aug. 15
Can't We Blame Bush?
"When Gas Prices Go Up, Blame Dean"--headline, Detroit Free Press, Aug. 15
'Not Only Are We Going to Reach Land, We're Going to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico, and We're Going to California and Texas and New York! And We're Going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan! And Then We're Going to Washington, D.C.! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!'
"Tropical Storm Dean Forms in Open Atlantic, Remains Far From Land"--headline, Associated Press, Aug. 14
They're Going to Have to Dig Wider Tunnels
"Gaza Tunnel Smugglers Grow Under Hamas"--headline, Associated Press, Aug. 14
Worrying Residents of Nearby Doomsville
"Lightning Sparks 3 Blazes in Burnsville"--headline, Star Tribune (Minneapolis), Aug. 14
This Would Be a Great Headline if the Beaches Were Topless
"Headless Walruses Littering Northwest Alaska Beaches"--headline, Anchorage Daily News, Aug. 15
News You Can Use
o "Dr. Tom Gross: If Feeling Lightheaded, Sit Down Before Falling Down"--headline, Marin (Calif.) Independent Journal, Aug. 14
o "Having a baby? That's no excuse for driving like a maniac."--subheadline, OpinionJournal.com, Aug. 15
Bottom Stories of the Day
o "Binghamton Restripes Conklin Avenue Stretch for Back-In Diagonal Parking"--headline, EmpireStateNews.net, Aug. 11
o "Bredesen Administration Doesn't Propose DUI Changes"--headline, Nashville City Paper, Aug. 14
o "Democrats Vow Pursuit of Rove Over Scandals"--headline, Financial Times, Aug. 15
o "Hillary Clinton Panders in Talk to Blacks"--headline, Chicago Sun-Times, Aug. 14
Dragging America Down
Just how much damage has the Bush administration done to America's standing in the world? Amar Bakshi of WashingtonPost.com, as part of a series called "How the World Sees America," reports that he's even lost the respect of Pakistani transvestites:
"I'm a drag queen, darling . . . not an extremist . . . and I still say if Pakistanis had more self-respect, we'd be even more anti-American," says Ali Saleem, who glosses his lips and dons a sari each week to interview celebrities and politicians on his TV program Begum Nawazish Ali, a talk show sensation in Pakistan. "I'm not speaking religion; it's common sense."
From politics to culture, Ali says American intervention in Pakistan has "brought nothing but sadness" by supporting dictators and rendering Pakistan's people impotent, constantly looking to the outside world, particularly the U.S., for help solving its own problems.
Quips one commenter on the site:
There are so many pieces in the WaPo expressing outraged scorn for the U.S. that reading them becomes rather pedestrian. One would think that all the haters have been represented in print by now and rehashing their grievances is our fate. What a breath of fresh air to find a suicidal drag queen from Pakistan that hates us too. I smell Pulitzer!
Repairing America's tattered relations with Pakistani drag queens is a job for which Rudy Giuliani is ideally suited. That New Yorker profile of Giuliani contains this vignette, involving Eliot Cuker, a native of Uzbekistan who was an adviser to the mayor:
It was Cuker who was responsible for Giuliani's turns in drag, which have also become a YouTube staple. "I am the one who convinced him that it would be a great idea to put him in a dress, soften him up, and help him get the gay vote," Cuker says. "And, ultimately, it was his biggest bonus, because he got the gay vote--and the conservatives, who couldn't believe that he had the balls to do something like that. It was a home run for him, and he got national attention. It showed that he had a sense of humor."
And, as we noted above, Giuliani carried Queens by a wide margin.
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