National Review articles from May 2004

National Review archives from May 2004

Felicitating the fat man.(Letter to the Editor)
May 3, 2004... Having always considered the best critic the one who agrees with me, I have placed Jay Nordlinger at the top of my list: His assessment of Luciano Pavarotti's incredible career ("Farewell, Fat Man," April 5) was warm and touching. After a...

Purging the spending binge.
May 3, 2004... Regarding Tad DeHaven's "Blowing It" (April 5): The current federal spending binge is a symptom of an inherent flaw in our Republic, or any republic, for that matter. By increasing public spending, the people's representatives can buy the...

In Washington Post poll, President Bush receives 48 percent approval rating.(for the record)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * In Washington Post poll, President Bush receives 48 percent approval rating.... Bush: "We passed tax relief, which made the recession the shallowest in economic history."... More Bush: "We need good tort laws. You cannot run and expand your...

Sen. Ted Kennedy (D., Mass.), in Brookings Institution speech: "This president has now created the largest credibility gap since Richard Nixon.(for the record)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * Sen. Ted Kennedy (D., Mass.), in Brookings Institution speech: "This president has now created the largest credibility gap since Richard Nixon. He has broken the basic bond of trust with the American people.... Iraq is George Bush's Vietnam."...

"Who are they?" says Kerry, of those who criticize him for being Roman Catholic and supporting abortion rights and same-sex unions.(for the record)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * "Who are they?" says Kerry, of those 2who criticize him for being Roman Catholic and supporting abortion rights and same-sex unions. "Name them. Are they the same legislators who vote for the death penalty, which is in contravention of...

Rep. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) debates Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.) before GOP primary: "I represent the Republican wing of the Republican party.".(for the record)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * Rep. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) debates Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.) before GOP primary: "I represent the Republican wing of the Republican party."... Club for Growth's Steve Moore on Toomey candidacy: "If we beat Specter, we won't have any...

Gov. Jeb Bush (R., Fla.) endorses driver's licenses for illegal aliens: "We shouldn't allow them to come into the country to begin with, but once they're here, what do you do?(for the record)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * Gov. Jeb Bush (R., Fla.) endorses driver's licenses for illegal aliens: "We shouldn't allow them to come into the country to begin with, but once they're here, what do you do? Do you basically say they are lepers to society? That they don't...

"Instead of shouting and criticizing the American initiative, you have to bring democracy to your countries, and then there will be no need to fear America or your people," says Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, son of Libyan dictator, in al-Jazeera interview.(for the record)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * "Instead of shouting and criticizing the American initiative, you have to bring democracy to your countries, and then there will be no need to fear America or your people," says Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, son of Libyan dictator, in al-Jazeera...

Jay Leno: "They say John Kerry is the first Democratic presidential candidate in history to raise $50 million in a three-month period.(for the record)
May 3, 2004... * Jay Leno: "They say John Kerry is the first Democratic presidential candidate in history to raise $50 million in a three-month period. Actually, that's nothing. He once raised $500 million with two words: 'I do.'"

Arlen Specter keeps losing ground.(The Week)
May 3, 2004... * Arlen Specter keeps losing ground. He'll just have to rely on his fabled charm.

John Kerry invoked Pius XXIII in his defense.(The Week)
May 3, 2004... * John Kerry invoked Pius XXIII in his defense. The man's faith is so private, he has his own popes.

We may have turned the corner on jobs, with 308,000 having been created in March.(The Week)(presidential election 2004)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * We may have turned the corner on jobs, with 308,000 having been created in March. Kerry said that one good month did not redeem Bush's overall record of failure. But there is a good chance that this one month will be followed by more of the...

"Iraq is George Bush's Vietnam, and this country needs a new president," said Sen. Edward Kennedy in a speech at the Brookings Institution.(The Week)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * "Iraq is George Bush's Vietnam, and this country needs a new president," said Sen. Edward Kennedy in a speech at the Brookings Institution. How is that? Is the long air and infantry slog against Vietnamese Communists, supported by two...

Former senator Bob Kerrey, a member of the 9/11 commission, questioned national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and also gave a little audition for the Democrats' veep slot.(The Week)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * Former senator Bob Kerrey, a member of the 9/11 commission, questioned national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and also gave a little audition for the Democrats' veep slot. Kerrey inserted a commercial against the conduct of the Iraq war...

Perhaps some of you are worried about the fact that Zack Exley, one of the leading anti-Bush attack dogs at MoveOn.org, has now become a top official of the Kerry campaign.(The Week)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * Perhaps some of you are worried about the fact that Zack Exley, one of the leading anti-Bush attack dogs at MoveOn.org, has now become a top official of the Kerry campaign. You might remember those Bush-Is-Hitler ads that were entered in a...

Kerry's bishop said that he should not present himself for communion as long as he supports abortion, and Kerry shot back: "I don't tell church officials what to do, and church officials shouldn't tell American politicians what to do in the context of our public life.".(The Week)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * Kerry's bishop said that he should not present himself for communion as long as he supports abortion, and Kerry shot back: "I don't tell church officials what to do, and church officials shouldn't tell American politicians what to do in the...

Pat Toomey continues to make headway against liberal Republican senator Arlen Specter.(The Week)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * Pat Toomey continues to make headway against liberal Republican senator Arlen Specter. The polls keep showing the race tightening. Toomey forced Specter to agree to a debate; even the moderator said that Toomey "made the better showing."...

Pay it forward.(dividend tax cut may be helping economy)
May 3, 2004... THE evidence is mounting that President Bush's dividend tax cut, enacted last spring, may be stimulating the economy even more than its most ardent supporters predicted. Proponents of the dividend tax cut argued that it would help the...

No child left behind: no unfunded mandate.(education law)
May 3, 2004... It has been said, more than once, that the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act is a mandate that the federal government has failed to fund. Not true. The law is neither unfunded nor, with one exception, much of a mandate. On the funding side,...

Republicans control both chambers of the Virginia legislature.(The Week)(taxation)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * Republicans control both chambers of the Virginia legislature. But the senate Republicans, and a third of the house Republicans, are helping Democratic governor Mark Warner to raise taxes. Yet it is not as though the state faces some crisis...

Sen. Chris Dodd recently praised his colleague and fellow Democrat Sen. Robert Byrd by saying that "he would have been a great senator at any moment....(The Week)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * Sen. Chris Dodd recently praised his colleague and fellow Democrat Sen. Robert Byrd by saying that "he would have been a great senator at any moment.... He would have been in the leadership crafting this Constitution. He would have been right...

Rosy-Fingered Dawn.(Poem)
May 3, 2004... ROSY-FINGERED DAWN The Indians--who would have thought?-- Move jobs to the hated U.S., And China begins to outsource, As Democrats, rattled, obsess; Concurrently, equities rise With business, now shaking a...

President Bush signed the ban on partial-birth abortion in November, but now our second legislature--the federal judiciary--is deciding whether to accept or veto it.(The Week)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * President Bush signed the ban on partial-birth abortion in November, but now our second legislature--the federal judiciary--is deciding whether to accept or veto it. The abortion lobby is challenging the ban in three federal courtrooms....

The president's council on bioethics, aka the Kass council, is again being criticized--but this time, by social conservatives.(The Week)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * The president's council on bioethics, aka the Kass council, is again being criticized--but this time, by social conservatives. The council has recently come out for two reforms. It has asked Congress to set an age limit on research conducted...

The ACLU has filed a class-action suit against the government, challenging its "no-fly list" on grounds that it violates passengers' constitutional rights to privacy and due process.(The Week)(American Civil Liberties Union)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * The ACLU has filed a class-action suit against the government, challenging its "no-fly list" on grounds that it violates passengers' constitutional rights to privacy and due process. No doubt the Transportation Security Administration's...

Media moralists are convinced that something has to be done about stock options.(The Week)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * Media moralists are convinced that something has to be done about stock options. Companies are supposedly hiding the costs of the options they are issuing to their executives. The government's accounting-standards board is being pressured to...

Wal-Mart, our biggest and arguably best company, has suffered a defeat.(The Week)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * Wal-Mart, our biggest and arguably best company, has suffered a defeat. They wanted to convert 60 barren concrete acres in Inglewood, Calif., into a Supercenter. A referendum was scheduled. The Left--the usual gang: unions, activists, the...

Bill Perkins, a member of the New York City Council, wants to name a street after Benjamin Davis (1904-1964), a former city councilman and member of the Communist party.(The Week)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * Bill Perkins, a member of the New York City Council, wants to name a street after Benjamin Davis (1904-1964), a former city councilman and member of the Communist party. "Many heroes of that era need to be looked at again," Perkins explains....

The other bright new idea in Gotham, besides naming streets after Communists, is to let non-citizens who are legal immigrants vote in New York City elections.(The Week)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * The other bright new idea in Gotham, besides naming streets after Communists, is to let non-citizens who are legal immigrants vote in New York City elections. (We like the caveat about legal immigrants; the truly progressive stance would be...

At a fundraiser in Los Angeles, President Bush joked, "I used to think my brother, Jeb, was the coolest governor," referring of course to the superior coolness of California's own governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.(The Week)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * At a fundraiser in Los Angeles, President Bush joked, "I used to think my brother, Jeb, was the coolest governor," referring of course to the superior coolness of California's own governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. The president couldn't be...

Question: Who is the most widely syndicated op-ed columnist in the United States?(The Week)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * Question: Who is the most widely syndicated op-ed columnist in the United States? Answer: Cal Thomas, who is celebrating his 20th anniversary as a syndicated columnist. He has also written ten books, has a Fox News Channel show (After Hours),...

Last year, Oliver Stone made a movie called Comandante.(The Week)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * Last year, Oliver Stone made a movie called Comandante. It was a valentine to Fidel Castro. But then Castro did something rude: He threw 75 democrats and dissidents into dungeons. HBO refused to run Comandante (although it was shown...

Below is a recent example of Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury.(The Week)
May 3, 2004... * Below is a recent example of Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury. You can form your own commentary. As for us, we'll only say, "Oh, the things they get away with!" ("they" being liberals, of course). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

In a turn of events surprising to no one, Donna Mills, the dreadlocked Manhattan supreme-court judge on trial for driving under the influence, has been acquitted.(The Week)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * In a turn of events surprising to no one, Donna Mills, the dreadlocked Manhattan supreme-court judge on trial for driving under the influence, has been acquitted. It didn't matter that Mills was so intoxicated that an arresting officer "had...

After the Masters, Tiger Woods flew to Fort Bragg, N.C.(The Week)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * After the Masters, Tiger Woods flew to Fort Bragg, N.C. Why? To do some training with the Green Berets, just as his father had, during the Vietnam War. The young man honors his father, and service to this country, especially during wartime....

Antoine de Saint-Exupery remains an attractive figure to contemplate, and the mystery of his death 60 years ago has now been cleared up.(The Week)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * Antoine de Saint-Exupery remains an attractive figure to contemplate, and the mystery of his death 60 years ago has now been cleared up. On July 31, 1944, he took off from Corsica in a Lockheed twin-engined P-38 to scout German forces in the...

A church in Glassport, Pa., had the notion of putting on a show to make the point to worshippers, especially children, that the central figure of Easter is Jesus of Nazareth, not the Easter bunny.(The Week)
May 3, 2004... * A church in Glassport, Pa., had the notion of putting on a show to make the point to worshippers, especially children, that the central figure of Easter is Jesus of Nazareth, not the Easter bunny. Their way of doing this was to stage a...

The arboretum in the city of Derby is believed to be England's oldest public park.(The Week)(Brief Article)
May 3, 2004... * The arboretum in the city of Derby is believed to be England's oldest public park. It was presented to the city by local worthy Joseph Strutt in 1840. Along with the park, Mr. Strutt also gave the city a fine statue of a boar, based on a...

An end to illusion.(At War)(Iraq)
May 3, 2004... IRAQ seems to have returned to relative stability for the moment. The militia of Moqtada al-Sadr has withdrawn from cities in the south. The power play by the radical cleric did not herald the broad Shiite uprising that many feared, and that...

Rice uncooked.(At War II)
May 3, 2004... CONDI RICE had her turn before the 9/11 commission, which has increasingly sullied itself with partisan gotcha games. Rice stymied hectoring Democratic commissioners with a cool and persuasive performance. The central point of her testimony was...

Family romance.(At War III)
May 3, 2004... AT one point in F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night, Dick Diver, the hero, notices, on his way to an assignation, a party of Gold Star mothers--American women whose sons died in World War I--and feels momentarily abashed by the contrast...

Defending our Freedoms at Home and Abroad: Sean Hannity delivers an essential handbook on defeating terrorism, despotism and liberalism.(Deliver Us From Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism and Liberalism)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 3, 2004... In the two years since 9/11, says Sean Hannity, too many Americans have forgotten why we are fighting the war on terror, and what's at stake. Enter Deliver Us From Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism and Liberalism. This trenchant new book...

Notes & asides.(Letter to the Editor)
May 3, 2004... * Dear Bill: No gifts from Craig Koch at Hertz this year. He found out that I am anti-Bush. The only way he could have known is if someone told him. I hope wasn't you. Cheers, Art [Buchwald] Washington, D.C. Dear Art: Well,...

The L word: how to gain legitimacy in Iraq?(At War)
May 3, 2004... MALCOLM MUGGERIDGE was fond of citing this sentence from a Manchester Guardian editorial--"One is sometimes tempted to believe that the Greeks do not want a stable government"--as the epitome of high-minded liberal cant in foreign policy....

Clashes: their way is not our way--but we must adapt to their way.(At War II)(Iraq War)
May 3, 2004... THE murder of four American civilian contractors in Fallujah, and then the instant defilement of their corpses, is conspicuously barbarous. So is the maltreatment of hostages, and the threat to burn them alive. Barbarous but not surprising:...

The cost of weakness: when al-Jazeera loves Ted K....(At War III)(Iraq War)
May 3, 2004... MOQTADA AL-SADR's uprising and the violence in Fallujah set off a frenzy of panic in Washington. In remarks rebroadcast repeatedly on al-Jazeera, Sen. Edward Kennedy said, "Iraq is George Bush's Vietnam." Jimmy Carter called the entire Iraq...

Security and politics: get the latter right, and you'll have the former.(At War IV)
May 3, 2004... THE current fighting in Iraq was almost inevitable. The new political process we are putting in place is based on elections, and those who know that they are going to lose them have every reason to disrupt that process. The Sunni radicals and...

Blame game: the Democrats' search for 9/11 'contradictions'.(Washington)
May 3, 2004... IN the weeks since former White House counterterrorism official Richard Clarke began promoting his anti-Bush book, Against All Enemies, it has become commonplace for the president's critics to say there are "contradictions" or "inconsistencies"...

The un-Kerry: meet John O'Neill, the Vietnam vet who once debated John Kerry on The Dick Cavett Show.(Campaign 2004)
May 3, 2004... More than 30 years after he returned to voluntary, and happy, obscurity as a Houston lawyer, 58-yearold John O'Neill is making a primetime comeback. Who's John O'Neill? He was the Vietnam veteran--a former commander of a Patrol Craft Fast,...

Boomerang! Republicans should not try to beat Democrats at their own campaign-finance game.(Public Policy)
May 3, 2004... FOUR months ago, in the case of McConnell v. FEC, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance bill, now known as BCRA. It has already become cliche to pronounce this a "new era" in the regulation of...

Kicking the corpse: why the mutilation of dead bodies repulses us--or should.(Culture Watch)(Column)
May 3, 2004... WHY do we find the mutilation of bodies, such as that recently perpetrated by the jubilant crowds in Fallujah upon the four Americans they had killed, so deeply repellent, worse even than the murder itself? A rationalist would have difficulty...

Few, proud, remarkable: with U.S. Marines-to-be.(Culture Watch II)
May 3, 2004... Parris Island, S.C. A MORNING here is invariably punctuated by shouts and yells. Standing at an area reserved for martial-arts training sometime around 7:00 A.M.--practically afternoon by Parris Island standards--I can hear platoons in the...

Outsource, outsource, and outsource some more: a boon to the American economy.(The Economy)(Column)
May 3, 2004... WHEN President Bush's chief economist, Gregory Mankiw, observed in February that foreign outsourcing "is probably a plus for the economy in the long run," reaction was swift. In a press release the following day, John Kerry thundered: "Unlike...

They charge war crimes: how John Kerry et al. have defamed the American serviceman in Vietnam.(History)(Column)
May 3, 2004... VIETNAM is the war that just won't go away. And for many Americans, especially those in the media, nothing says "Vietnam" quite like "atrocity" and "war crime." Indeed, it is the conventional wisdom that My Lai, the darkest chapter of...

Help!!!!(Comic)(Cartoon)
May 3, 2004... MCDONALDS MADE ME FAT. JACK DANIELS WRECKED MY CAR. PHILLIP MORRIS GAVE ME CANCER. IF ONLY I HAD BEEN THERE TO STOP THEM! MARCH JOB CREATION "Can you loan me ten till the Democrats regain the White House?" YOU TWO...

The Race to Watch.(Poem)
May 3, 2004... THE RACE TOWATCH Chafee, Voinovich, and Snowe, Stay close to your radio On the 27th, when Specter's fetid Pennsy fen Could be right-wing Toomey's; who Strains to wave a toodle-oo At that icky lib the way ...

The long view.(satire)
May 3, 2004... A Nightline Fantasia Transcript from ABC News's Nightline with Ted Koppel, September 15, 2001 TED KOPPEL: "And so then what happened?" MOHAMED ATTA: "Well, Mr. Koppel, as I was boarding the plane, or should I say, trying to board...

The freedom framers.(Restoring the Lost Constitution: The Presumption of Liberty)(Book Review)
May 3, 2004... Restoring the Lost Constitution: The Presumption of Liberty, by Randy E. Barnett (Princeton, 366 pp., $32.50) PARTISAN debates about judges can mislead casual observers into thinking that the Right is of one mind about the judicial...

2004 Caribbean: sailing November 13-20 on Post-Election Cruise.(Advertisement)
May 3, 2004... A PHENOMENAL CAST OF PREMIER CONSERVATIVE SPEAKERS INCLUDING Renowned author VICTOR DAVIS HANSON, Islam expert BERNARD LEWIS, Republican party chairman ED GILLESPIE, acclaimed author DINESH D'SOUZA, Club for Growth boss STEPHEN MOORE,...

Crimes of the century.(Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar)(Book Review)
May 3, 2004... Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, by Simon Sebag Montefiore (Knopf, 816 pp., $30) COMMUNISM, it is now generally acknowledged, was a human calamity of a kind and on a scale never previously known. As a matter of ideology, all means were...

The gold standard.(A Terry Teachout Reader)(Book Review)
May 3, 2004... A Terry Teachout Reader (Yale, 438 pp., $35) Some critics hope to revive beauty, others high culture, but it is a curious thing that any hopes to revive both. Beauty is immediately accessible, and thus, from the perspective of high culture,...

Fatima.(Poem)
May 3, 2004... FATIMA Great crowds of pilgrims under a fierce sun, More like a furnace than a holy place Without an inch of shade or blade of grass-- A desert of paved stone, concrete and glass Crowned with cathedral and basilica ...

Free the media.(Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity)(Book Review)
May 3, 2004... Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity, by Lawrence Lessig (Penguin, 368 pp., $24.95) THE motion-picture and video industries employ over a quarter-million people and collect $55...

A spring selection.(Shelf Life)(First Family. In The Bushes: Portrait of a Dynasty)(Book Review)
May 3, 2004... 'THE Bushes consider self-focus and self-analysis to be dangerously close to self-centeredness," write the authors of an entertaining new collective biography of the current First Family. In The Bushes: Portrait of a Dynasty (Doubleday, 574...

Book report.(The Straggler)(literary criticism)(Column)
May 3, 2004... I NOTE from my work logs that in 2003 I published 17 book reviews; a total of over 30,000 words (there are a couple of long literary divagations in there), with gross remuneration--I mean, not augmented for the value of the free books--of...

Mighty mindedness.(on the right)(The Economics of Innocent Fraud)(Book Review)
May 3, 2004... NEW YORK, MARCH 26 I CALLED on the legendary John Kenneth Galbraith, probably the most influential U.S. intellectual of the 20th century, and although old and housebound, he has a new book, The Economics of Innocent Fraud. The publishers...

Bush vs. U.S.(on the right)(Richard Clarke)
May 3, 2004... NEW YORK, MARCH 30 THE response given to Richard Clarke's apology for 9/11 is instructive. We assume he was sincere in tendering it, and, manifestly, the family members of the victims were sincere in their appreciation. Granting all that,...

Let there be light.(on the right)(petroleum industry)(Column)
May 3, 2004... NEW YORK, APRIL 2 IT was, to put it calmly, infuriating to be told by OPEC, at a moment when gasoline prices were rising, that production of oil would be reduced by four percent (one million barrels per day). A Saudi prince sought to ease...

Wal-Mart wars.(Letter to the Editor)
May 17, 2004... Jay Nordlinger calls Wal-Mart "gloriously, unabashedly, star-spangedly American" ("The New Colossus," April 19). But American virtues like truth, honor, and fair play do not come to mind when thinking of Wal-Mart. I was president of a...

Meet the marines.(Letter to the Editor)
May 17, 2004... Rich Lowry has written a beautiful and inspiring piece on Marine recruits ("Few, Proud, Remarkable," May 3). Among the important characteristics he touches on is "alacrity"--a valuable asset in the military, sports, and business. More...

The case for operation Iraqi freedom.
May 17, 2004... A year after the elimination of Saddam Hussein's murderous dictatorship, shortly before the Coalition Provisional Authority hands over power to the Iraqi people, and with violence in Iraq on the upswing, how do the Bush administration's...

In Washington Post/ABC News poll of registered voters, President Bush leads Sen. John Kerry, 48 percent to 43 percent, with independent candidate Ralph Nader at 6 percent....(for the record)(Brief Article)
May 17, 2004... * In Washington Post/ABC News poll of registered voters, President Bush leads Sen. John Kerry, 48 percent to 43 percent, with independent candidate Ralph Nader at 6 percent. . . . Bush: "If al-Qaeda were a board of directors, the chairman and...

Kerry on his anti-war activism, on CBS: "I was young.(for the record)(Brief Article)
May 17, 2004... * Kerry on his anti-war activism, on CBS: "I was young. It was an emotional time, and we were all caught up in it. And I wish I'd sort of, you know, paid greater tribute to some of the service of people and drawn the line in a better way."... ..

Rep. Dick Gephardt (D., Mo.): "I am more frightened about our country and the problems we face around the world than I've ever been.".(for the record)(Brief Article)
May 17, 2004... * Rep. Dick Gephardt (D., Mo.): "I am more frightened about our country and the problems we face around the world than I've ever been." . . . Al Gore on global warming: "If we continue, this trend will create the worst catastrophe known to our...

In Tulsa World poll on Oklahoma Senate race, former Rep. Tom Coburn leads GOP primary field but narrowly trails Rep. Brad Carson (D.), 37 percent to 35 percent....(for the record)(Brief Article)
May 17, 2004... * In Tulsa World poll on Oklahoma Senate race, former Rep. Tom Coburn leads GOP primary field but narrowly trails Rep. Brad Carson (D.), 37 percent to 35 percent. . . . Senate historians can't recall time when one Senate leader has traveled to...

Banner ad featuring former mayor Ed Koch as New York City prepares for GOP convention: "The Republicans are coming. Make nice.".(for the record)(Brief Article)
May 17, 2004... * Banner ad featuring former mayor Ed Koch as New York City prepares for GOP convention: "The Republicans are coming. Make nice." . . . In U.S. News & World Report/PBS poll, 48 percent of evangelicals say politicians who support gay marriage...

Afghan president Hamid Karzai: "Afghanistan sees its future in the free market and investment, and so Afghanistan needs investment, and Afghanistan will cooperate with anyone who comes to invest.".(for the record)(Brief Article)
May 17, 2004... * Afghan president Hamid Karzai: "Afghanistan sees its future in the free market and investment, and so Afghanistan needs investment, and Afghanistan will cooperate with anyone who comes to invest." . . . President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe...

Craig Kilborn: "Kerry shocked the crowd when he ended his speech by asking, 'Where are the rich widows at?'".(for the record)
May 17, 2004... * Craig Kilborn: "Kerry shocked the crowd when he ended his speech by asking, 'Where are the rich widows at?'"

50 years later, Brown v. Board of Education tells us to 'Get in the Way'.
May 17, 2004... Fifty years ago, a group of parents changed America, winning a court case that overturned racial segregation in the public schools. The U.S. Supreme Court's May 17, 1954, decision in Brown v. Board of Education held that "separate educational...

Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.) regrets that her mother lacked the right to an abortion.(The Week)
May 17, 2004... * Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.) regrets that her mother lacked the right to an abortion. We're thinking, we're thinking . . .

Iraq is at a turning point, with the immediate future likely to be determined by how we handle the confrontations in Fallujah and Najaf.(The Week)(Brief Article)
May 17, 2004... * Iraq is at a turning point, with the immediate future likely to be determined by how we handle the confrontations in Fallujah and Najaf. It is essential that Iraqis learn that it is a devastating mistake to be an enemy of the United States....

Should photographers be allowed to snap pics of the flag-draped coffins of American servicemen as they arrive at Dover Air Force Base?(The Week)(Brief Article)
May 17, 2004... * Should photographers be allowed to snap pics of the flag-draped coffins of American servicemen as they arrive at Dover Air Force Base? Since 1991 the Pentagon has said no, though a website, the Memory Hole, filed a Freedom of Information Act...

Bob Woodward has published a book, and Washington stops in its tracks.(The Week)(Plan of Attack)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
May 17, 2004... * Bob Woodward has published a book, and Washington stops in its tracks. Woodward's latest, Plan of Attack, examines the run-up to the second Iraq War. Agitating the capital at press time are these claims: The Bush administration diverted money...

Pat Toomey ran a valiant campaign, and came agonizingly close to unseating liberal Republican senator Arlen Specter.(The Week)(Brief Article)
May 17, 2004... * Pat Toomey ran a valiant campaign, and came agonizingly close to unseating liberal Republican senator Arlen Specter. But he was unable to overcome the efforts of the White House, Rick Santorum, and the rest of the Republican establishment to...