Roundup: Media's Take

September 8, 2004

Pataki Gets the History Leading up to 9-11 Wrong

Wayne Barrett, in the Village Voice (Sept. 7, 2004): The Have-They-No-Shame Contest for New York Presidential Pretenders was a draw: Rudy Giuliani and George Pataki demonstrated an equal willingness to distort the meaning of the attack on their own city in craven efforts to position themselves for 2008 runs. Giuliani, at least, did it with guile. After cherry-picking three swing states for anecdotes about Americans who came to New York's aid in the attack's aftermath,

September 7, 2004

James Carroll: Bush Was Finally Right

James Carroll, in the Boston Globe (September 7, 2004): GEORGE W. BUSH finally told the truth. It happened last week when he said of the war on terrorism,"I don't think you can win it." We know it was the truth because of the way it embarrassed him, because of the way his handlers immediately required him to repudiate it ("I probably need to be more articulate")

September 7, 2004

Why Are Chechens So Angry at Russia?

Angus Roxburgh, in the Australian Sunday Herald (Sept. 6, 2004): ... The breakaway Caucasian republic has been a festering sore for the Kremlin since it declared independence in 1991. Unless a political solution is found, which somehow satisfies the Chechens’ desperate desire not to be ruled by Russia and Russia’s equal determination to rule it, then more Beslans are inevitable – and more hijackings, and suicide bombs in Moscow, and exploding aeroplanes, and any number of oth

September 6, 2004

Is This the Most Important Election in History? But People Are Always Saying That

Quotes collected by the NYT (Sept. 5, 2004):1864 Lincoln vs. McClellan"We have had many important elections, but never one so important as that now approaching."Gen. James H. Lane,pro-Lincoln campaigner, The New York Times, March 311888 Harrison vs. Cleveland"The Republic is approaching what is to be one of the most important elections in its history."New York Times editorial, July 21924 Coolidge vs.

September 3, 2004

Not Since the Goldwater Convention Has the UN Come in for Such Harsh Attacks

John Nichols, in the Nation (Sept. 2, 2004):John Kerry has taken his hits at this year's Republican National Convention. But the Democratic presidential nominee came off easy compared with the United Nations. Not since the convention that nominated Barry Goldwater in 1964 has a gathering

September 3, 2004

John B. Judis: 2004 Most Resembles ... The Election of 1980 (Bad News for W)

John B. Judis, in the New Republic (Sept. 3, 2004):Presidential campaigns inevitably model themselves on past successes. As was evident at this year's Republican Convention, the Bush campaign hopes that this election recapitulates the elections of 1984 and 1996, where the incumbent easily won a second term. The campaign has hired veterans of Ronald Reagan's 1984 campaign, including Michael Dea

September 3, 2004

Who Is John O'Neill? Was Nixon Behind His Attacks on Kerry in 1971?

Michael Dobbs, in the Washington Post (Aug. 28, 2004):...White House records show that Nixon and his advisers were so concerned about Kerry they immediately began looking around for other Vietnam veterans who would counter his popular appeal. One they came up with was O'Neill, described by Colson in a memo as "a very attractive dedicated young man -- short hair, very squ

September 3, 2004

David Broder: Does Bush Need a Second Term to Be a Great President?

David Broder, in the Wash Post (Aug. 29, 2004):... The uncertainty about his legacy is mirrored in the wide range of judgments on whether Bush has burnished or tarnished the GOP's reputation. Lee Edwards, a veteran conservative writer and a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, places Bush squarely in the Goldwater-Reagan tradition, with echoes of even earlier party heroes such a

September 3, 2004

George Will: Dumping the Electoral College Would Be a Mistake

George F. Will, in Newsweek (Aug. 30, 2004):November's most portentous vote is not for president. It is Colorado's vote on abandoning, beginning this year, the winner-take-all allocation of the state's electoral votes. Instead, they would be divided according to each candidate's percentage of the popular vote. This is a pernicious proposal, and not merely because one of its aims is partisan:

September 3, 2004

Fred Barnes: No Candidate in History Hs Ever Run on His War Record Like Kerry Is

Fred Barnes, in the Weekly Standard (Aug. 30, 2004):THERE'S NEVER BEEN a presidential campaign like John Kerry's. Never has a presidential nominee made his own experience in a war the centerpiece of his campaign for the White House. In 1960, John F. Kennedy didn't hide his World War II record as commander of PT-109, but he didn't talk it up either. When asked about bein

September 3, 2004

Weekly Standard: Kerry Was Always a Peacenik

Matthew Continetti, in the Weekly Standard (Sept. 6, 2004):IN 1965, JOHN KERRY, a junior at Yale and the newly appointed head of the Yale Political Union, was invited to give a speech at Choate, the tony prep school known mainly for its famous alumni Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. Like Yale, Choate is in Connecticut, so Kerry didn't have to travel far. He went

September 3, 2004

Considerations On Whether Bush Will Get A Second Term

Ronald Brownstein, Financial Times (London), 30 Aug. 2004 Like second marriages, second presidential terms represent the triumph of hope over experience. Every incumbent since Herbert Hoover has sought re-election. And yet, after the experience of their predecessors, it is easy to wonder why they bother. Bill Clinton was impeached in his second term. Richard Nixon would have been if he had not quit first. Ronald Reagan was crippled by the Iran- Contra scandal. Lyndon Johnson san

September 3, 2004

An Historical Look At Zell Miller

Bob Kemper and Jim Tharpe, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 30 Aug. 2004 As U.S. Sen. Zell Miller explains it, it's an Appalachian thing. He's been a Democrat all his life. He will deliver the keynote address to the Republican National Convention on Wednesday as a Democrat. And he will still be a Democrat as he travels the country this fall campaigning for President Bush. So as Democrats from Washington to Atlanta step up their demands that Miller get out of the party, Georgia

September 3, 2004

The Role Of Moderates In The Republican Party

Andrea Stone, USA TODAY, 31 Aug. 2004 PORTLAND, Maine -- Merton Henry calls himself an"old-school New England Republican" -- fiscally conservative, socially moderate. He got his political start in 1948 working for Margaret Chase Smith, the legendary senator who challenged McCarthyism and was the first Republican woman to make a serious presidential bid. In the 1960s, Henry served three times as state chair for Nelson Rockefeller, the socially liberal New York governor whose pres

September 3, 2004

Roles Of Political Delegations Compared To Past Conventions

Rick Hampson, USA TODAY, 31 Aug. 2004 Many things about national political conventions have changed in a half-century, but few things have changed more than the lot of the delegate. "It isn't what it was," admits Loras Schulte, an Iowa delegate to the Republican National Convention."There isn't the same excitement." Certainly not for the 54-year-old computer consultant. He wasn't swilling bourbon or conspiring on a dark horse candidacy; he was sitting in his room at the Sher

September 3, 2004

Jacob Heilbrunn: The Struggle in the Republican Party Over Reagan's Soul

Jacob Heilbrunn, in the LAT (Aug. 29, 2004): [Jacob Heilbrunn is a Los Angeles Times editorial writer.]The Republican convention this week is certain to look like a lovefest of party unity. Republican moderates such as Rudolph W. Giuliani will be trotted out alongside social conservatives such as Rick Santorum. They'll stand solidly united behind President B

September 1, 2004

WSJ: Bush's Economic Record ... Why He's No Hoover

Editorial, in the WSJ (Sept. 1, 2004): As the Republican conventioneers proclaim the Administration's infallibility inside Madison Square Garden and protesters build "Bush-villes" outside, is there room out there for a balanced view of President Bush's track record? Since nobody else seems to be offering voters the big picture, here's our take on the Bush economy. John Kerr

September 1, 2004

Kevin Phillips: This Election Will Turn on Terrorism ... Both Candidates Have Some Explaining to Do

Kevin Phillips, in the LAT (Aug. 29, 2004):[Kevin Phillips is the author, most recently, of"American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush."]... Taken together, U.S. blunders in Iraq and the undiminished threat of Islamic terrorism in the United States have merged into a national-security

August 31, 2004

Michael Barone: Conventions Held During Wartime Can Be Gloomy

Michael Barone, in the WSJ (Aug. 30, 2004): [Mr. Barone, senior writer at U.S. News & World Report and contributor to Fox News, is co-author of The Almanac of American Politics.] ... One might assume that presidents' wartime conventions would be occasions for triumphant celebration. But at least four of these five conventions assembled in a state of political gloom and doom. As it tur

August 29, 2004

NYT Compares the Background of Bush and Kerry

David Halbfinger, in the NYT (Aug. 29, 2004):John Kerry and George W. Bush started out the tumultuous late 1960's in exactly the same place, young men of privilege with a scant two years separating them at Yale. But they were worlds apart in outlook, and they made starkly different choices after graduating that now, more than three decades later, continue to reverb