Roundup: Media's Take

Nov 1, 2004

How New York Decided the Election of 1800

John Ferling, in the NYT (Oct. 31, 2004):With the presidential election hanging on the outcome of the vote in eight or so swing states, we're approaching America's quadrennial obsession with the Electoral College. New Yorkers often complain that the Electoral College disenfranchises them because nobody bothers to campaign hard in our reliably blue state. Once, however, New York wa

Nov 1, 2004

London's Guardian Interviews Jimmy Carter

Unsigned, The Guardian (London), 25 Oct. 2004 There can be few jobs in the United States Secret Service as cushy as being one of Jimmy Carter's bodyguards. You get to wear the cool earpiece, and ride in the blacked-out SUV, but, seriously, who's going to want to attack the most decent man to have occupied the White House in living memory? Wherever they go, George Bush, John Kerry and Bill Clinton are surrounded by burly, paranoid-looking men, ready to wrestle you to the ground if you

Nov 1, 2004

Experts Assert 2004 Presidential Campaign Especially Dirty

Vincent P. Bzdek, The Washington Post, 24 Oct. 2004 Political signs are stolen or vandalized every election cycle, but many campaign officials and political historians say this year is different. "I think this [presidential] campaign ranks at, or near the top of, dirty campaigns post-World War II," said Allan J. Lichtman, a presidential scholar at American University. Sign snatchings have been reported in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, as well as the h

Nov 1, 2004

Ash Asserts If Bush Re-elected, European Leaders Intend For E.U. To Rival U.S.

Timothy Garton Ash, The Washington Post, 24 Oct. 2004 This U.S. election will shape the future of Europe and the trans- atlantic West. If President Bush is reelected, many Europeans will try to make the European Union a rival superpower to the United States. Led by French President Jacques Chirac, they will find the main justification for further European integration in counterbalancing what they see as irresponsible, unchecked American power. In the great European argum

Nov 1, 2004

9/11 Report As An Award-Winning Historical Narrative

Thomas Crampton, The New York Times, 24 Oct. 2004 If the authors of ''The 9/11 Commission Report'' end up winning a National Book Award on Nov. 17, their acceptance speech should include a thank you to partisan politics. But first they will have to figure out who among the 10 commissioners and 80 staff members should be ready to walk on stage that day to accept the prize -- a bronze scroll and $10,000. Even before the book was chosen this month as a nonfiction finalist

Nov 1, 2004

Columnists Reflect On Hope, Recent History In Iraq

Christopher Hitchens, Michael Rubin, Frederick W. Kagan, and Gary Schmitt; Los Angeles Times; 24 Oct. 2004 Last week, the Onion offered a satirical story with a Baghdad dateline:"After 19 months of struggle in Iraq, U.S. military officials conceded a loss to Iraqi insurgents Monday, but said America can be proud of finishing 'a very strong second.'" Not even Michael Moore would suggest that's about to happen. Yet the reportage from Iraq is almost as bleak. Even as some med

Oct 28, 2004

Mongol's Adjusting To Identifying Themselve Differently

Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times, 23 Oct. 2004 School principal Baast chose the name"Nomad" in keeping with his wandering spirit. Defense Minister Gurragchaa -- the only Mongolian to venture into space -- settled on"Cosmos." And anthropology student Vanchigdash picked the Mongolian word for wisdom."It makes me feel rather wise," he said."I'm very proud of my new name." Mongolians, long used to using only first names, are reshaping their identities under a government-led initiativ

Oct 28, 2004

The Problem Of Military Service Imposters

Jonathan Green, Financial Times (London, England) 23 Oct. 2004 They were valorous stories, full of bravado and death, meant to make a lady swoon. And when he turned up to take her to breakfast in his white navy uniform, his chest bedecked with three tiers of medals, it was more than Katherine Bradbury could bear."I went weak at the knees the first time I saw him," she says. Captain Roger Edwards, 45, was a naval officer with limpid brown eyes, a neatly trimmed moustache and a br

Oct 28, 2004

Greg Palast: The Problem in Florida

Greg Palast, in Harper's (November 2004): [Mr. Palast, a contributing editor to the magazine, is author of the New York Times bestseller, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.] To understand the fiasco in progress in Florida, we need to revisit the 2000 model, starting with a lesson from Dick Carlberg, acting elections supervisor in Duval County until this week. "Some voters are strange," Carlberg told me recently. He was attempting to explain why, in the last pre

Oct 28, 2004

How W Remade the Conservative Movement

John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, in the WSJ (Oct. 28, 2004):http://www.opinionjournal.com/ac/?id=110005811 We still have to wait another few days to discover whether George W. Bush will stay in the White House. But we already know that his presidency has been momentous--two terms rolled into one, by any decent reckoning. He has not only transformed American policy. He has also transformed American conse

Oct 28, 2004

Delia M. Rios: Reforming the Electoral College ... Many Have Tried

Delia M. Rios, for the Newhouse News Service (Oct. 27, 2004):While much of America fixates on the possibility that Nov. 2, 2004 may rival the confusion of Election Night 2000, Harvard historian Alexander Keyssar is casting a look backward _ to the 1968 contest pitting Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey not only against one another, but against third-party candidate George Wallace. Wallace w

Oct 27, 2004

The Republican Party's Ongoing Campaign to Cut Labor Down to Size

Thom Hartmann, at CommonDreams.org (Oct. 25, 2004): [Thom Hartmann (thom at thomhartmann.com) is a Project Censored Award-winning best-selling author and host of a nationally syndicated daily progressive talk show. www.thomhartmann.com His most recent books are"

Oct 27, 2004

John Dean: The Coming Post-Election Chaos

John Dean, at findlaw.com (Oct. 22, 2004): This next presidential election, on November 2, may be followed by post-election chaos unlike any we've ever knownLook at the swirling, ugly currents currently at work in this conspicuously close race. There is Republicans' history of going negative to win elections. There is Karl Rove's disposition to challenge close elections in post-election brawls. And there is Democra

Oct 27, 2004

Europe Is at "The End of History" ... Turkey, Alas, Is Not

Michael J. Totten, at Tech Central Station (Oct. 25, 2004):The European Commission recently approved membership talks between the European Union and Turkey. It was a top-down decision. E.U. citizens overwhelmingly oppose the idea of Turkey joining their union. They fear Princeton historian Bernard Lewis may be right when he says that based on demographic trends Europe will be Islamic by the end of the century.

Oct 27, 2004

Elisabeth Bumiller: Should We Pay Any Attention to the Promises the Candidates Make?

Elisabeth Bumiller, in the NYT (oct. 26, 2004):LYNDON JOHNSON famously declared during the 1964 presidential campaign that he was ''not about to send American boys 9,000 or 10,000 miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing themselves.'' Woodrow Wilson campaigned for re-election in 1916, the year before the United States entered World War I, on a promis

Oct 27, 2004

Joel Engel: Why Are American Jews Still Voting for the Democrats?

Joel Engel, n theWeekly Standard (Oct. 26, 2004):FOR NEARLY SIXTY YEARS, since the birth of Israel, American Jews have faced accusations that they care more about the well-being of their ancient homeland than of their home. Well, barring some unforeseen circumstance, the canard of dual loyalty should be retired forever on November 2, 2004. On that Tuesday, Elect

Oct 24, 2004

Jeffey Rosen: In a Close Election, Bush v. Gore Could Spell D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R

Jeffrey Rosen, in the New Republic (Oct. 4, 2004): It's November 2, and the presidential election looks close in Ohio. An army of lawyers are dispatched by the Bush and Kerry campaigns to scour all 11,614 precincts in the state for any hint of voting irregularities. Within hours, both sides have filed competing suits in state courts challenging the standards for counting provisional, absentee, and military ball

Oct 24, 2004

President Bush and the Importance of Admitting Mistakes

David Ignatius, The Washington Post, 19 Oct. 2004 As the presidential campaign enters its final two weeks, one of the nagging questions is whether President Bush has learned anything from America's reversals in Iraq. The United States has made serious and costly mistakes there, but does Bush see them? On that issue turns an evaluation of his fitness to lead the country for another four years. The British historian Christopher Andrew has argued that one of the decisive strengths

Oct 22, 2004

Can Their Kids Really Either Hurt or Help Bush and Kerry?

Mary Voboril, in Newsday (Oct. 18, 2004):Ronald Reagan faced four alarming negatives in the 1984 presidential campaign, all but one named "Reagan." Here he was, running for re-election, and his daughter Maureen was an in-your-face supporter of abortion rights and the Equal Rights Amendment, both anathema to Reagan a

Oct 22, 2004

What If Israel Decides to Take-Out Iran's Nuclear Facilities?

Laura King, in the LAT (Oct. 22, 2004):Increasingly concerned about Iran's nuclear program, Israel is weighing its options and has not ruled out a military strike to prevent the Islamic Republic from gaining the capability to build atomic weapons, according to policymakers, military officials, analysts and diplomats....Preemptive strikes have always been an essential element of Israel's military doctrine. Perhaps the most pertinent example is the air