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![]() Note: Links were good at the time we posted this column, but they often go bad after a while. We make no guarantees. BY JAMES TARANTO Monday, January 5, 2004 3:06 p.m. EST
Saddam's 'Sex Therapist'
Block's imagery is particularly twisted given that Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime actually used rape as a tool of political control. But whatever, she's just another harmless left-wing nut case, right? Unfortunately, wrong. The Globe reports that Yeni Safak, an Islamist newspaper in Turkey, cited Block's essay in a "report" that claimed American soldiers had raped more than 4,000 Iraqi women. The rumor seems to have incited at least one terrorist attack in Istanbul:
Since Sept. 11, "Why do they hate us?" has been a stock question of the anti-American left. One reason they hate us is because of the diligent efforts of homegrown haters like Susan Block. The Spirit of '76 Similarly, the New York Times reports that "the Bush administration has decided to let the Kurdish region remain semi-autonomous as part of a newly sovereign Iraq despite warnings from Iraq's neighbors and many Iraqis not to divide the country into ethnic states." A stateless people, oppressed in every country they inhabit (Iran, Syria and Turkey as well as Iraq), finally has a hope for self-rule, thanks to the U.S. acting to protect its own national security. In the 20th century, of course, America also liberated Europe from the Nazis, Asia from the Japanese and (in a more roundabout way) Russia and Eastern Europe from communism--not to mention finally making good on its own promise of equal citizenship. The U.S. may not be perfect, but it's hard to think of any greater force for good in human history. Embedded in Reuterville
Hmm, could it be that the guys at Reuters are getting a little too close to the story? Weasel Watch
Could it be that even little girls are too formidable a foe for the French? Dean Goes Job Hunting
In a Republican debate back in 1999, George W. Bush was asked to name his favorite "political philosopher or thinker." He answered: "Christ, because he changed my heart," then elaborated: "When you turn your heart and your life over to Christ, when you accept Christ as the savior, it changes your heart. It changes your life. And that's what happened to me." One might complain that Bush didn't answer the question, since Jesus Christ was not in fact a political philosopher. Then again, if you watch any of these debates, you'll see the candidates almost always dodge the question and say what they want to say. And Bush's nonanswer answer was pretty smart, for it deftly accomplished what Dean is now trying to do: let Christian voters know he's one of them. Dean has talked an awful lot about how he plans to talk about his faith, but on the rare occasions when he actually does talk about his faith, you get the impression that he thinks Jesus really was a political philosopher. On Christmas Day the Boston Globe quoted Dean as explaining why he left the Episcopal Church to become a Congregationalist: "I didn't think [opposing the bike path] was very Godlike and thought it was hypocritical of me to be a member of such an institution." Today's Daily Telegraph, meanwhile, quotes Dean as asking a group of voters: "Don't you think Jerry Falwell reminds you a lot more of the Pharisees than he does of the teachings of Jesus? And don't you think this campaign ought to be about evicting the money changers from the temple?" One wonders what George Soros thinks of the latter idea. The contrast between the Bush and Dean approaches to religion is instructive. To Bush, religion is a source of personal strength and guidance. To Dean, by contrast, it dictates policy: God told me to build a bike path. Dean has criticized his Democratic opponents as "Bush lite," but he seems to be Pat Robertson lite. What Would Pat Robertson Do Without God? Yeah, Right
Will this approach work? Well, ponder this question: Whom would Osama bin Laden rather have in the White House, George W. Bush or Howard Dean? One man who doesn't buy Dean's JFK analogy is George McGovern, the 1972 antiwar candidate. "McGovern recently said that he is a big fan of Howard Dean, whose campaign reminds him very much of his own," the Times reports. Meanwhile, Time's Joe Klein likens Dean to another candidate who tried to get to Nixon's right:
We'd say if Dean gets the nomination, he has a pretty good chance of exceeding the 13.5% of the popular vote Wallace got as the American Independent Party's nominee in 1968. Matching Wallace's 46 electoral votes may be a taller order. Hey, here's an idea for how Dean could get to Bush's right. On a Web site called BrandChannel.com, one Viejo Hytti, a goofy-looking Finnish consultant, argues that the president is actually antibusiness:
May we suggest this Dean slogan: Iraqi lives aren't worth a single point of Coke's market share! The Terrorists Have Won, and So Has Dean And We're Throwing Our Own Surprise Birthday
Party The New Republican Party-switching from Democrat to Republican has been fairly common in recent decades; among those who've made the switch, as an outdated CNN list notes, are former and current senators Strom Thurmond (S.C.), Phil Gramm (Texas), Richard Shelby (Ala.) and Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Colo.) and representatives Bob Stump (Ariz.), Nathan Deal (Ga.), Billy Tauzin (La.) and Virgil Goode (Va.), though Goode was an independent for a time before he became a Republican. GOP-to-Dem switches are far rarer; the only one CNN lists is Rep. Michael Forbes of New York, who jumped in 1999, then lost a primary to a candidate who in turn lost the 2000 general election to a Republican--though the Democrats picked up the seat in 2002. The U.S. Senate Web site, meanwhile, has a list of senators who've switched parties since 1890. (Gramm doesn't appear because he actually made the change while in the House.) Interestingly, not a single senator went directly from the Republican to the Democratic party, though two (Henry Teller of Colorado and Fred DuBois of Idaho, around a century ago) became "Silver Republicans" and then Democrats, and one (Wayne Morse of Oregon, at midcentury) became an independent and then a Dem. And of course the last senator to switch parties was Vermont's Jim Jeffords, who became an independent and started voting with the Democrats even more than he did as a nominal Republican. By the Way No, Most of Us Are Born in Hospitals This Just In What Would Lebanon Do Without Famous
Clairvoyants? What Would We Do Without
Researchers? They Were Expecting Miami Beach? Rush to Judgment
You'd think someone in the business of naming morons would make an effort not to look like one herself. It was the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, not Limbaugh, who coined the phrase "defining deviancy down." The Palm Beach Post reports that Limbaugh "says prosecutors are unfairly targeting him with a prescription fraud charge known as 'doctor shopping' because he is a famous political conservative":
Limbaugh, who hasn't actually been charged yet, isn't the only Rush with legal problems in Florida. The Associated Press reports that the guitarist for the Canadian rock band that shares the radio host's Christian name "skirmished with sheriff's deputies, spat blood on one and was arrested on New Year's Eve after his son refused to leave the stage at a fancy hotel, authorities said":
Let that be a lesson in what happens when you can learn to resist anything but temptation. Happy New Year It appears, however, as though 7% of Americans are hopeful yet discontent. That's the percentage who described themselves as "somewhat dissatisfied." Fifty-eight percent said they were "very satisfied" and 30% "somewhat satisfied." Only 4% are "very dissatisfied," and they try and they try and they try and they try. (Elizabeth Crowley helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Michael Segal, Jerome Marcus, Derek Ayame, Barak Moore, Naftali Friedman, Alex Makowski, Zev Safran, Rosanne Klass, Yehuda Hilewitz, Dave Hauck, Tom Linehan, Tom Keller, Michael Nunnelley, Thomas Crimmins, William Demas, Doug Levene, Paul Hartwick, Chris Stetsko, Scott Garland, Gadi Niram, Joel Goldberg, Rick Richman, Steve Roberts, Roger Heinig, David Flanagan, George Bushwaller, Thomas Dillon, Abe Beyda, Peter Melvoin, Jack Connelly, Michael Rydelnik, Jeff Fuller, Paul Ruschmann, Alex Robson, Patrick Baker, Roger Johnson, Evan Graham, Dan Friedman, Kevin Brouillette, C.E. Dobkin, Nick Ianuzzi and Jim Orheim. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)
Today on OpinionJournal:
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