National Review articles from April 2004

National Review archives from April 2004

I'd rather quit than fight.(Letter to the Editor)
April 5, 2004... After 20 years of loyal readership, my wife and I finally decided to call it quits with the New York Times. This was right before I discovered Jay Nordlinger's article "Going Timesless" in your March 22 issue, which confirmed for me that we did...

Three dead.(Letter to the Editor)
April 5, 2004... In "Sharon's Moves" (March 8), David Pryce-Jones gets one important fact wrong. He writes that the three Israeli soldiers whose corpses Israel received in exchange for the release of 436 Arab prisoners were abducted while Israeli forces were...

Blame game.(Letter to the Editor)
April 5, 2004... While on the whole I found Ramesh Ponnuru's review of The Passion in the March 8 issue interesting and stimulating, one of Mr. Ponnuru's comments is historically unfounded. He writes: "Even some recent defenses of the Catholic Church have...

In Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, President Bush leads Sen. John Kerry, 47 percent to 45 percent.(for the record)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * In Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, President Bush leads Sen. John Kerry, 47 percent to 45 percent.... Bush: "My opponent clearly has strong beliefs--they just don't last very long."... Bush on Kerry's 1995 proposal to slash intelligence...

Kerry on Republicans, according to Chicago Tribune: "These guys are the most crooked, you know, lying group I've ever seen.(for the record)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * Kerry on Republicans, according to Chicago Tribune: "These guys are the most crooked, you know, lying group I've ever seen. It's scary."... House speaker Denny Hastert, in New York Times: "If he wants to describe me as being crooked and a...

Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R., Colo.) says he won't run for reelection, reversing earlier decision to seek another term.(for the record)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R., Colo.) says he won't run for reelection, reversing earlier decision to seek another term.... Despite strong White House pressure, Gov. Bill Owens (R.) chooses not to enter race.... Colorado attorney general...

These alleged cures could make matters worse rather than better," says Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan on protectionist trade policies.(for the record)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * "These alleged cures could make matters worse rather than better," says Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan on protectionist trade policies. "They would do little to create jobs and if foreigners were to retaliate, we would surely lose...

In North Korea, Radio Pyongyang broadcasts Kerry speeches and comments on them "in glowing terms," according to Financial Times.(for the record)
April 5, 2004... * In North Korea, Radio Pyongyang broadcasts Kerry speeches and comments on them "in glowing terms," according to Financial Times.... Terrorist Abu Abbas, who planned Achille Lauro hijacking in 1985, dies of natural causes in Iraq, where he had...

You can say that again: Bill Clinton, in New York Daily News.(for the record)
April 5, 2004... * You can say that again: Bill Clinton, in New York Daily News: "I think Hillary's doing a good job [in the Senate], and one of us in politics is probably more than enough."

Bad news from Spain.(The Week)
April 5, 2004... * Bad news from Spain. John Kerry's constituency of foreign leaders is up by one.

2004 has been a hard-hitting campaign so far, and rightly so.(The Week)(presidential election campaign)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * 2004 has been a hard-hitting campaign so far, and rightly so. "I don't fault George Bush for doing too much in the War on Terror, as some do," John Kerry has said. "I believe that he's done too little.... He hasn't pursued a strategy to win...

Congress approves defense budgets and declares war, the Senate ratifies treaties and confirms top diplomats and bureaucrats.(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * Congress approves defense budgets and declares war, the Senate ratifies treaties and confirms top diplomats and bureaucrats. But the day-to-day management of defense and foreign policy, war and peace, rests with the White House. Voters and...

"I've met with foreign leaders who can't go out and say this publicly," said Kerry at a recent fundraiser, "but, boy, they look at you and say, 'You've got to win this.(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * "I've met with foreign leaders who can't go out and say this publicly," said Kerry at a recent fundraiser, "but, boy, they look at you and say, 'You've got to win this. You've got to beat this guy. We need a new policy.' Things like that."...

Pander gridlock alert: John Kerry, defending "gay rights" before a black audience, explained that when "Mr. King gets dragged behind a truck down [in] Texas by chains and his body is mutilated only because he's gay, I think that's a matter of rights in the United States of America".(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * PANDER GRIDLOCK ALERT: John Kerry, defending "gay rights" before a black audience, explained that when "Mr. King gets dragged behind a truck down [in] Texas by chains and his body is mutilated only because he's gay, I think that's a matter of...

In our last issue, we reported that Orrin Hatch was considering a constitutional amendment that would protect the authority of state legislatures to make decisions concerning marriage.(The Week)(same sex marriage)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * In our last issue, we reported that Orrin Hatch was considering a constitutional amendment that would protect the authority of state legislatures to make decisions concerning marriage. Some social conservatives--notably Sen. Rick Santorum and...

It would be nice if Congress got the federal budget under control.(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * It would be nice if Congress got the federal budget under control. Too many congressmen seem to think that keeping control of taxpayers' budgets is an adequate substitute. The Senate has voted for a rule of procedure that would make it harder...

The phrase "Cheeseburger Bill" refers not to the 42nd president, but to H.R. 339, a piece of legislation intended to prohibit obese people from suing fast-food franchises for their condition.(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * The phrase "Cheeseburger Bill" refers not to the 42nd president, but to H.R. 339, a piece of legislation intended to prohibit obese people from suing fast-food franchises for their condition. Endorsing the bill, the White House issued a...

Putting assessments to work in the classroom.(Educational standards)
April 5, 2004... The public conversation about the quality of American education evolved and intensified over the past two decades, and now real reform is being achieved. Some may want to continue arguing about standards, accountability and testing, but the...

The president's council on bioethics, led by Leon Kass, is taking heat from liberals and libertarians upset that it is allegedly stacked with supporters of the president's policies.(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * The president's council on bioethics, led by Leon Kass, is taking heat from liberals and libertarians upset that it is allegedly stacked with supporters of the president's policies. They are complaining that it is getting more stacked, with...

McCain, Tempted.(Poem)
April 5, 2004... MCCAIN, TEMPTED Escorted to the mountaintop By one of Kerry 's guys Whose tail was definitely forked And of a gorgeous size; John heard the proposition--all Of Veepland--but McCain (You ought to...

In the case of Martha Stewart, both justice and injustice have been done.(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * In the case of Martha Stewart, both justice and injustice have been done. A case can be made that the insider-trading laws, or at least the current expansive interpretations of them, which extend to people who have not violated any fiduciary...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger flexed political muscle in getting California voters to approve Propositions 57 and 58.(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger flexed political muscle in getting California voters to approve Propositions 57 and 58. These paired initiatives allow the state to borrow $15 billion to help close its budget shortfall, and impose new spending...

Think of her as the East Coast variant of that rare and fragrant California bloom Johnus Walkerus Lindhus.(The Week)(Susan Lindauer)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * Think of her as the East Coast variant of that rare and fragrant California bloom Johnus Walkerus Lindhus. Susan Lindauer, graduate of Smith College, resident of a "nuclear-free zone" in Maryland, sometime liberal journalist, lover of peace,...

American policy is cracking the ice cap of Baathist oppression that has settled over Syria these 40 years.(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * American policy is cracking the ice cap of Baathist oppression that has settled over Syria these 40 years. Washington's move to impose sanctions for President Assad's support of terror is encouraging Syrians to demand rights. After a...

Though you wouldn't know it from most media accounts, the U.S. achieved an important victory against nuclear-weapons-acquiring rogue states on March 13, when the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolved to criticize Iran for not fully disclosing the extent of its nuclear program.(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * Though you wouldn't know it from most media accounts, the U.S. achieved an important victory against nuclear-weapons-acquiring rogue states on March 13, when the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolved to criticize Iran for...

One of the bonuses of the Iraq campaign was the capture of Abu Abbas in Baghdad, where he was living courtesy of Saddam Hussein.(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * One of the bonuses of the Iraq campaign was the capture of Abu Abbas in Baghdad, where he was living courtesy of Saddam Hussein. A Palestinian, he left his particular mark on history in 1985 as the leader of a team that hijacked a cruise...

Coming up to the 15th anniversary of the massacres in Tiananmen Square, any expression of sympathy for the demonstrating students and workers remains taboo in China's state-controlled media.(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * Coming up to the 15th anniversary of the massacres in Tiananmen Square, any expression of sympathy for the demonstrating students and workers remains taboo in China's state-controlled media. The official line is that the whole movement was a...

It doesn't matter who is casting the votes, said Josef Stalin, an undoubted expert--what matters is who's counting them.(The Week)(Putin stand for re-election)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * It doesn't matter who is casting the votes, said Josef Stalin, an undoubted expert--what matters is who's counting them. Standing for re-election as president of Russia, Vladimir Putin has gone one better: It didn't matter who voted or who...

While little old ladies flying to the next state to see their grandchildren can now expect to have their knitting needles impounded by airport security staff, vigilance is about to be relaxed on our nation's borders, at least for one favored class of foreigners.(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * While little old ladies flying to the next state to see their grandchildren can now expect to have their knitting needles impounded by airport security staff, vigilance is about to be relaxed on our nation's borders, at least for one favored...

Harvard political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, whose 1993 essay "The Clash of Civilizations" launched a thousand discussion groups, has been setting the cat among the pigeons again.(The Week)(immigration)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * Harvard political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, whose 1993 essay "The Clash of Civilizations" launched a thousand discussion groups, has been setting the cat among the pigeons again. Writing in the journal Foreign Policy, Huntington argues...

"Suggest that immigration, legal or otherwise, not only is in the American tradition but a net benefit to our economy besides, and watch the editors at National Review and the pseudo-populists at Fox News come unhinged".(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * "Suggest that immigration, legal or otherwise, not only is in the American tradition but a net benefit to our economy besides, and watch the editors at National Review and the pseudo-populists at Fox News come unhinged." These words by Jason...

It is with great pleasure that we announce the birth of a new conservative magazine--a Canadian one--christened Western Standard.(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * It is with great pleasure that we announce the birth of a new conservative magazine--a Canadian one--christened Western Standard. Based in Calgary, Western Standard emerged from the womb on March 12 and is reportedly doing splendidly. As Mark...

Defend the Bush Economy, Stupid!
April 5, 2004... ONE of the great mysteries of this campaign season is why the Republicans are so defensive about the economy. The Kerry Democrats' mantra is that 2 million jobs have been lost on George W. Bush's watch. But this allegation is misleading at...

It was a firing heard 'round the world.(The Week)(Deborah Voigt)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * It was a firing heard 'round the world. The Royal Opera at Covent Garden gave Deborah Voigt the heave-ho on grounds that she was too fat. Who is Deborah Voigt? The great American soprano who is perhaps the finest Strauss singer in the world....

In other opera news, the Los Angeles Times committed a howler with respect to Die Frau ohne Schatten--another Strauss opera.(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * In other opera news, the Los Angeles Times committed a howler with respect to Die Frau ohne Schatten--another Strauss opera. The paper's music critic, Mark Swed, had called this opera "an incomparably glorious and goofy prolife paean." (He...

Professional sports are a business, and, as such, need customers.(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * Professional sports are a business, and, as such, need customers. When violence brings them in, violence can--and will--be provided. A bad-boy persona can even make a player more valuable to a team's owners. Thus, in a recent NHL game,...

A new planet has swum into our ken, an icy sphere 1,000 miles across and four times farther from the sun than Pluto.(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 5, 2004... * A new planet has swum into our ken, an icy sphere 1,000 miles across and four times farther from the sun than Pluto. Though astronomers were pleased to observe this object, its existence was not much of a surprise. Theory has long suggested...

Senator Kerry says he is running to be America's second black president.(The Week)
April 5, 2004... * Senator Kerry says he is running to be America's second black president. Does that mean W. has to run as the 43rd white president?

A defeat in Spain.(At War)(Madrid train station bombings' political fallout)
April 5, 2004... THE Madrid bombings were a scene out of Goya--a brew of body parts, fear, and fanaticism. Days later they were followed by an event that, though quintessentially modern, is no less irrational, the election upset: The Popular party of outgoing...

Notes & asides.(Letter to the Editor)
April 5, 2004... * Dear Mr. Buckley: Regarding Notes & Asides in the Sept. 29 issue: I respectfully take issue with Mr. William J. McNamara's suggestion that we should never refer to the Ukraine as "the Ukraine." The world "Ukraine" means "the frontier" in...

Too early to panic: the Bush team has a handle on the situation.(Campaign 2004)
April 5, 2004... 'THE only poll that matters is on Election Day," the trailing candidate typically asserts; but the polling eight months before Election 2004 has mattered, in contributing to the gloomy mood among many of President Bush's supporters. Most polls...

What do you mean 'we'? 9/11 families for Bush.(Campaign 2004 II)
April 5, 2004... IN mid March, George W. Bush traveled to Long Island to help dedicate a new memorial to the 281 people from Nassau County who died in the September 11 terrorist attacks. The president took part in a ground-breaking ceremony, and while he didn't...

Twilight struggles: the Cold War and the Terror War, alike and not alike.(At War)
April 5, 2004... WHEN the Cold War ended suddenly in 1991, it was widely believed that its demise opened the gates to an eternity of peace and freedom. Francis Fukuyama's immensely successful End of History, published in January 1992--days after the dissolution...

A clash of interests: will it be the national interest, or the interests of the 'international community'? This is a campaign question.(At War II)(presidential elections and campaigns)
April 5, 2004... PRESIDENTIAL elections are not, as a rule, decided by foreign-policy issues. But key foreign-policy issues can be decided by presidential elections, and this will be particularly true of 2004's. The differences between George W. Bush and John...

A wretched place on earth: the agony of Haiti, unending and worsening.(The Americas)
April 5, 2004... HAITIAN naive art often depicts landscapes replete with surreally lush vegetation, populated with friendly, smiling lions, leopards, and giraffes. When you know Haiti as it is, however, these paintings take on a different and much deeper...

No more Mr. nice guy: the death of George W. Bush's 'compassionate conservatism'.(Cover Story)
April 5, 2004... IN his first presidential campaign, George W. Bush had a number of campaign themes. The candidate said that he was a "reformer with results" and that he would "restore honor and dignity to the White House." The two most consistent themes,...

Accidental discovery of mysterious "Gold Rush" coin stuns experts: world's rarest U.S. $20 gold proof found: the San Francisco Mint 1854 double eagle proof!(Collector's Report)(Advertisement)
April 5, 2004... WASHINGTON, D.C -- A one-of-a-kind U.S. Treasury gold proof coin has been accidentally discovered within the vaults of the Smithsonian Institution. This 1854-S gold Double Eagle $20 coin was struck by the San Francisco Mint in its first year of...

Bush is the one: there is no choice--and he is not an echo, either.(Campaign 2004 III)
April 5, 2004... THREE months before 9/11, George W. Bush faced one of the toughest decisions of his presidency: Should he honor his campaign promise to block federal funding for stem-cell research? On one side of the controversy were the united forces of...

Blowing it: the administration's spending is inexcusable, no matter what the White House spin.(Public Policy)
April 5, 2004... TO the chagrin of fiscal conservatives, the Bush administration is set to achieve a record of spending growth unseen since the era of Lyndon B. Johnson. In December, perhaps sensing that all was not well among the president's supporters, Joshua...

Our last cold war casualty ... and a hero of the age.(Appreciation)
April 5, 2004... ON New Year's Eve in 1984, a small group of U.S. soldiers decided to exploit the Soviet weakness for drunken revelry to get as close as they could to a T-80 tank in East Germany. The men weren't out on their own inebriated lark--they were part...

Help!!!!(Comic)
April 5, 2004... "THE IMPASSE IS OVER, THEY AGREED TO REMOVE TGE AMDENDMENT DEFINIG MARRIAGE." HEY! EXCUSE ME WOULD YOU MIND NOT DOINT THAT IN HERE? "All the good ones are already married four times." "I AM SHOCKED PERSIDENT BUSH IS EXPLOITING 9/11...

Uneasy Dems.(Poem)
April 5, 2004... UNEASY DEMS The nominee's named; April looms, Along with May, June, and July. Teresa is loaded, but John Can't milk the estate--maybe why McAuliffe's so testy: The race He front-loaded runs like a yawn. ...

The long view.(satire)
April 5, 2004... Transcript: Larry King Live 2004 Presidential Debate October 23, 2004 LARRY KING: "We're back from the break with President George Bush and Senator John Kerry. Fellas, we've had some pretty good back-and-forth here, some interesting stuff,...

A new kind of army.(Washington's Crossing)(Book Review)
April 5, 2004... Washington's Crossing, by David Hackett Fischer (Oxford, 564 pp., $35) FIFTEEN years ago, David Hackett Fischer published an extraordinarily illuminating book called Albion's Seed, which traced the influence of a number of British...

The sickness unto death.(Death-Devoted Heart: Sex and the Sacred in Wagner's Tristan and Isolde)(Book Review)
April 5, 2004... Death-Devoted Heart: Sex and the Sacred in Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, by Roger Scruton (Oxford, 248 pp., $25) TOWARD the end of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, Tristan tears a bandage from his body and thus allows the life to flow out of...

Joe Simpson.(Poem)
April 5, 2004... Joe Simpson Joe Simpson was a man I scarcely knew. I saw him when he came to see his father. Our talks, if they were talks, were brief and few. And yet I think I knew the man, or rather, I knew something about him....

The German way.(A Mighty Fortress: A New History of the German People)(Book Review)
April 5, 2004... A Mighty Fortress: A New History of the German People, by Steven Ozment (HarperCollins, 416 pp., $26.95) GERMANS have contributed much more than their fair share to civilization but also to human misery. Gifted as so many individual...

2004 Bermuda Cruise: sailing May 12-19 on the Radisson Seven Sea Cruises MS Navigator.(Sail With Us On The National Review)(Advertisement)
April 5, 2004... FANTASTIC NEWS! NEW SPEAKERS!--RICHARD PERLE and RADEK SIKORSKI to join former Education Secretary WILLIAM BENNETT, former CIA Director JAMES WOOLSEY, plus National Reviewall-stars RICH LOWRY, JOHN O'SULLIVAN, JAY NORDLINGER, RAMESH PONNURU,...

Saving life.(Rethinking AIDS Prevention: Learning from Successes in Developing Countries)(Book Review)
April 5, 2004... Rethinking AIDS Prevention: Learning from Successes in Developing Countries, by Edward C. Green (Praeger, 392 pp., $39.95) LAST June, the official in charge of UNICEF's eastern and southern African operations declared that, in the name of...

New Allamo Film promotes PC History.(American history)
April 5, 2004... The Fordham Foundation report, Lynne Cheney's op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal on The National History Standards, and the Albert Shanker Institute Report, all correctly concluded that today's U.S. history textbooks overemphasize America's...

It isn't even past.(Bandbox)(Book Review)
April 5, 2004... Bandbox, by Thomas Mallon (Pantheon, 306 pp., $24.95) TIME travel is the pornography of eggheads. What reasonably well-read person wouldn't jump in the Wayback Machine if he could? You don't have to be a science-fiction geek to wonder what...

Farewell, fat man.(Music)(Luciano Pavarotti)
April 5, 2004... HE was our Caruso, and now he's gone--or almost gone. In the first half of March, Luciano Pavarotti bade farewell to the Metropolitan Opera with three appearances in Tosca. He is scheduled to retire altogether sometime in 2005--on his 70th...

Open wide!(The Straggler)(dentists)(Column)
April 5, 2004... MY daughter needs braces, I am due for a check-up, and my wife has lost a crown. (Singing Bishop Heber's fine hymn, "Holy, Holy, Holy," I have often reflected on the pleasure dentists must feel at the line, "Casting down their golden crowns...

Alternatives for Bush.(on the right)
April 5, 2004... GSTAAD, FEBRUARY 27 THE president said that a constitutional amendment is not to be taken lightly. He is correct, but misses the opportunity to say that an amendment is also a step towards the redistribution of power. And that in and of...

The impossible reform.(on the right)(social security reform)
April 5, 2004... GSTAAD, MARCH 5 FROM all ideological quarters, people are pushing and pulling in the matter of Social Security reform. The sheer steepness of any approach to reform is vivid in memory, the most humiliating example of which was the attempt...

Bloody passion.(on the right)(The Passion of the Christ)(Movie Review)
April 5, 2004... NEW YORK, MARCH 9 THE film by Mel Gibson is moving because of its central contention, namely that an innocent man of high moral purpose was tortured and killed. It happens that the man in question, Jesus of Nazareth, is an object of...

Bad policy, pure and simple.(monopoly)
April 5, 2004... The Department of Justice announced a few weeks ago that Oracle's takeover of PeopleSoft violates antitrust law, stating that "we believe this transaction is anti-competitive--pure and simple." Ironically, in the same week the Supreme Court, in...

Compassion lives.(Letter to the Editor)
April 19, 2004... Ramesh Ponnuru claims that compassionate conservatism is dead ("No More Mr. Nice Guy," April 5). It is not. President Bush has helped Congress move the compassion agenda forward through his historic global AIDS relief legislation, faith-based...

Unsung hero.(Letter to the Editor)
April 19, 2004... I'd like to pass along a note of gratitude for John J. Miller's moving portrait of Arthur Nicholson ("Our Last Cold War Casualty," April 5). The printed word is seldom better put to use than when it teaches us about brave men and women who,...

Power to the people.(Letter to the Editor)
April 19, 2004... David Gelernter's "What 'Republican' Should Mean" (March 8) was right on the money, particularly with regard to one of our greatest national problems: the undemocratic, indeed antidemocratic, abuse of the courts to promote a left-wing agenda....

In Newsweek poll of registered voters, President Bush leads Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.), 45 percent to 43 percent.(for the record)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... * In Newsweek poll of registered voters, President Bush leads Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.), 45 percent to 43 percent.... Bush: "The war on terror is not a figure of speech. It is an inescapable calling of our generation."... In AP poll, 60...

National security adviser Condoleezza Rice on former terrorism official Richard Clarke, on Fox News: "I can't judge his motives.(for the record)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... * National security adviser Condoleezza Rice on former terrorism official Richard Clarke, on Fox News: "I can't judge his motives. I do know that the timing of [his] book is a little suspicious."... Sen. Joe Lieberman (D., Conn.) on Clarke's...

Kerry foreign-policy adviser Rand Beers: "It is simply not appropriate for any foreign leader to endorse a candidate in America's presidential election.(for the record)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... * Kerry foreign-policy adviser Rand Beers: "It is simply not appropriate for any foreign leader to endorse a candidate in America's presidential election. John Kerry does not seek, and will not accept, any such endorsements."... Sen. Zell...

Sen. Kent Conrad (D., N.D.) on Republicans: "They have no credibility on fiscal issues to begin with.(for the record)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... * Sen. Kent Conrad (D., N.D.) on Republicans: "They have no credibility on fiscal issues to begin with. They're going to take us right over the fiscal cliff."... RNC documents 350 Kerry votes in favor of higher taxes and against tax cuts.......

In Florida Sun-Sentinel poll, only 48 percent of Cuban Americans say they'll "definitely" vote for Bush.(for the record)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... * In Florida Sun-Sentinel poll, only 48 percent of Cuban Americans say they'll "definitely" vote for Bush.... Gov. Jeb Bush (R., Fla.), in Washington Post: "Groups such as the Congressional Black Caucus, who claim to support democracy yet focus...

Spain's Socialist prime minister-elect, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, according to International Herald Tribune: "We're aligning ourselves with Kerry.".(for the record)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... * Spain's Socialist prime minister-elect, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, according to International Herald Tribune: "We're aligning ourselves with Kerry."... In French regional elections, Socialists rout party of President Jacques Chirac.......

Gov. Mitt Romney (R., Mass.) on Kerry's two marriages to wealthy women.(for the record)
April 19, 2004... * Gov. Mitt Romney (R., Mass.) on Kerry's two marriages to wealthy women, in Boston Herald: "He's not kidding when he says he's going after the rich."

Barney Frank, defending same-sex marriage, notes that it would not be "mandatory.".(The Week)
April 19, 2004... * Barney Frank, defending same-sex marriage, notes that it would not be "mandatory." Sure--that's what they always say, at first.

Richard Clarke, former counterterrorism expert for Presidents Clinton and Bush, began his testimony before the 9/11 commission with an apology: "Your government failed you.(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... * Richard Clarke, former counterterrorism expert for Presidents Clinton and Bush, began his testimony before the 9/11 commission with an apology: "Your government failed you. Those entrusted with protecting you failed you. And I failed you. We...

"Outsourcing" is to this election year what "downsizing" was to 1996.(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... * "Outsourcing" is to this election year what "downsizing" was to 1996. Then as now, the economy had substantial underlying strength. But news reports at the start of the year were dominated by the theme that brutal competition was endangering...

Do you suppose that John Edwards is interested in his party's vice-presidential nomination?(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... * Do you suppose that John Edwards is interested in his party's vice-presidential nomination? Well, listen to this. Said the North Carolina senator (for now), "We are fortunate because John Kerry has strength and vision, which he has proven at...

John McCain for secretary of defense--President Kerry's secretary of defense, that is?(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... * John McCain for secretary of defense--President Kerry's secretary of defense, that is? Well, why not? Take the reasons, from ig- to noble. McCain dislikes George W. Bush, and nurses a grudge from the 2000 primaries. McCain has vouched for...

The Washington press dinner at which presidents make self-deprecating appearances is a tribal custom valued by those who work in the Beltway, incomprehensible to those outside it.(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... * The Washington press dinner at which presidents make self-deprecating appearances is a tribal custom valued by those who work in the Beltway, incomprehensible to those outside it. Either it is a welcome exercise in humility, a saturnalia in...

They've got to be chugging Maalox in the headquarters of Arlen Specter, who is facing conservative congressman Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania's April 27 Republican Senate primary.(The Week)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2004... * They've got to be chugging Maalox in the headquarters of Arlen Specter, who is facing conservative congressman Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania's April 27 Republican Senate primary. A mid-March statewide poll of people who say they are "certain" to...