From the WSJ Opinion Archives
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That
'70s Show
Jimmy Carter is promoting another new book, this one described by Publisher's
Weekly as "less a memoir than an extended brochure for his nonprofit institution,
the Carter Center." For the second time in a year, he's been doing the
media rounds, and he's given some revealing interviews, in which he's gotten
attention less for promoting the Carter Center and his book than for bitterly
second-guessing the policies of the current administration.
Lots of people carp about the government--some of us even get paid to do it--but most of us are in no position to answer "yes" to the question: Could you do any better? Carter is unusual in that he has actually done the top job himself, so one can compare. In an interview with Ed Walsh of Boston's WBZ-AM (listen here or download here), Carter faults the Bush administration for the way it is dealing with Iran. No joke:
Walsh: And finally on Iran, what if they continue to defy world opinion and develop a nuclear weapon capability? What should the United States do about it?
Carter: Well, first of all, I think we should be communicating with the Iranians directly, through diplomatic means. Even after the shah was overthrown, we still maintained diplomatic relations with Iran--in fact, that's proven by the fact that my hostages were in Tehran. They had an equal number of diplomats in Washington, about 75 or so, and we should be communicating with them. And secondly, we should assure them that we don't intend to launch a pre-emptive war against them as we did in Iraq. But there are a lot of threats coming out, and that tends to put the Iranians on the defensive and make them want to do everything they can to build up their weaponry. So communicating with them and letting them know that we'll resolve their difference--differences diplomatically would be my recommendation.
This column agrees that in most situations appeasement and diplomacy are better than war. For example, we wouldn't advocate a military strike, or even the threat of such a strike, against Canada to resolve the current dispute over access to the Northwest Passage.
But when you're dealing with a real enemy as opposed to a friendly adversary like Canada, you sometimes do need to go to war--or, short of that, to use the threat of war to give muscle to your diplomatic effort. The crucial question about the course Carter proposes is: Would it work?
Carter's failure to learn from his own experience is really quite stunning. He proudly cites the taking of "my hostages" (a very odd turn of phrase) at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran as evidence that America had diplomatic relations with Iran. Excuse us, but was that fact ever in dispute? The real point--and this is not so subtle that anyone can be excused for missing it--is that diplomacy with Iran didn't work back then, as evidenced by the Iranians' having taken our diplomats hostage!
Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin of Examiner.com report on another Carter interview:
Speaking with XM Radio's Bob Edwards on Tuesday, former President Jimmy Carter (you know, the guy who gave the "malaise" speech) told the radio host that he "would not want to have changed anything" during his presidency.
Well, okay, maybe one thing. Referring to the Iran hostage crisis, Carter said, "I have a specific regret in not having one more helicopter when I wanted to rescue our hostages. If I had had one more helicopter, they would have been rescued. I might have been reelected president."
But presidency, schmesidency, says Carter, who thinks that the Oval Office isn't nearly as sweet a gig as his own humanitarian efforts at The Carter Center. [After] all, [if] had had that extra helicopter, which would have rescued the hostages (wildly presuming, of course, that the Delta Force commanders were able to pull of a daring rescue of the more than 50 U.S. citizens being held in Tehran) and, thus, helped re-elect him president, Carter said "in that case I probably wouldn't have had the Carter Center, so in balance I would not want to have changed anything."
Now and then even we forget just how public-spirited Jimmy Carter really is.
MoveOn,
SitDown and ShutUp
"Internet giant Google has banned advertisements critical of MoveOn.org,
the far-left advocacy group that caused a national uproar last month when it
received preferential treatment from The New York Times for its 'General Betray
Us' message," reports the Examiner's Robert Cox:
The ads banned by Google were placed by a firm working for Republican Sen. Susan Collins' re-election campaign. Collins is seeking her third term.
Earlier this week, Google told Lance Dutson, president of Maine Coast Designs, that the ads he placed for Collins had been removed and would not be allowed to resume because they violated Google's trademark policy. . . .
The banned advertisements said, "Susan Collins is MoveOn's primary target. Learn how you can help" and "Help Susan Collins stand up to the MoveOn.org money machine." The ads linked to Collins' campaign Web site with a headline reading "MoveOn.org has made Susan Collins their #1 target." The Collins Web site claims that MoveOn has contributed $250,000 to her likely Democratic opponent and has run nine ads against her costing nearly $1 million. The Web site also displays MoveOn.org's controversial "General Betray Us" ad.
Last month Jon Healy of the Los Angeles Times reported on similar efforts:
It's not too surprising that the liberal advocacy group would be a mite touchy from all the blowback online [from its McCarthyite attack on Gen. David Petraeus], even though it should be used to the abuse by now. So touchy, in fact, that it's been sending out cease-and-desist letters to CafePress, a website that lets people offer custom-designed t-shirts, coffee mugs and the like for sale. Last week it demanded that the site remove eight items, arguing that they violated MoveOn's merchandising trademarks.
Trademark law doesn't confer monopoly rights over all uses of a registered phrase or symbol, however, and it wasn't created simply to protect the trademark owner's interests. Instead, it's designed to protect consumers against being misled or confused about brands. The courts have repeatedly ruled in favor of parodies and critiques; that's why www.famousbrandnamesucks.com doesn't violate famousbrandname's trademark. And most, if not all, of the items targeted by MoveOn were clearly designed to razz it, not to trick buyers into thinking they were the group's products.
Beyond that, it's amazing that MoveOn would try to squelch political speech. That's another clear purpose of the targeted items. Take, for example, this message on a t-shirt designed by a lifelong Democrat from Southern California:
General Petraeus has done more for this country than MoveOn.org. MoveOn.org, the worst friend a Democrat could have! Move Away from Move On!
To its credit, CafePress refused to take down five bumper stickers, and it reinstated a t-shirt that it had taken down briefly in response to MoveOn's initial request.
It's not amazing at all that MoveOn would try to squelch political speech. This effort is of a piece with its thuggish rhetoric about Petraeus and other figures not of the Angry Left. Thuggish rhetoric is of course protected by the First Amendment, and MoveOn is not above taking advantage of America's liberal ideals in order to undermine them.
Body
of Law
In a racist rant against Justice Clarence Thomas, Angry Left blogger Oliver
Willis observes: "If Thurgood Marshall were still alive at Thomas' Supreme
Court nomination he would have surely recoiled at the neanderthal positions
Thomas held on race."
In his memoir, "My Grandfather's Son," Justice Thomas describes visiting the court in the week before his formal swearing-in. From page 286:
What was supposed to have been a brief courtesy call on Justice Marshall ballooned into a two-and-a-half-hour visit, and I loved every minute of it. He regaled me with tales of his long, remarkable career as a civil-rights lawyer. "I would have been shoulder to shoulder with you back then--if I'd had the courage," I said.
"I did in my time what I had to do," Justice Marshall replied. "You have to do in your time what you have to do." Those words have stayed with me too.
As all of us must, Justice Marshall did eventually die--on Jan. 24, 1993, 15 months after Justice Thomas took his seat.
The
Decline of Wonkette
We haven't looked at Wonkette.com in years, but a colleague calls our attention
to a piece on the site by "West Coast bureau chief" Ken Layne about
Laura
Bush's op-ed in yesterdays Wall Street Journal that just makes us shake
our head:
What does a lame-ass-duck administration do when basically nobody in the entire world listens to anything it says because every Senior Administration Official is either a worn-out loser or a hapless placeholder? Get Laura Bush to freak out on the Burma military dictatorship, that's what! . . .
Murderous generals in Burma were said to be terrified by the First Lady's harsh words, which they were surprised to find in their favorite section of the Wall Street Journal.
It is 2 a.m. in Rangoon, Burma. In the middle of the tropical night, army troops pour into the neighborhood surrounding a peaceful Buddhist monastery. The soldiers occupy nearby homes, so that residents will not peek through their windows or go outside to witness the raid. Troops then storm the monastery, brutalizing, terrorizing and arresting the monks inside.
That's some pretty melodramatic and terrible writing, Mrs. First Librarian. We could run down some basic news/column rules here, but let's just mention the most important one: Don't start a [obscenity] lede with the time element unless the time is the most important thing about the story.
When Ana Marie Cox did Wonkette, we considered it a guilty pleasure. But is there really a market for tasteless cynicism unleavened by any touch of wit?
Wannabe
Pundits
Philadelphia Inquirer football columnist Paul Domowitch:
The [Eagles'] offensive numbers are poor, but if you really want a scary, my-daughter-married-a-Republican moment, take out the Detroit game and look at them again.
According to Domowitch's bio, he has "2 terrific daughters," both of marriageable age. May they both find true love, with men who care for them enough to tolerate a prejudiced father-in-law.
With Friends Like These . . .
- "Cruel Vandals Sink Boat of Quadriplegic Lobsterman"--headline,
Breitbart.tv,
Oct. 9
- "Disabled Lobsterman's Boat Sunk in Friendship"--headline, WLBZ-TV Web site (Bangor, Maine), Oct. 9
Sounds
Like a Fun Hospital
"Hospital Gives Man Drip-Feed of Vodka"--headline, Associated Press,
Oct. 10
'You're
a Fine Student, but That's Really Disgusting'
"GW to Fine Students Who Vomit on Shuttle Bus"--headline, Associated
Press, Oct. 10
It's
True--Our Grandmother Did
"Human Ancestors Walked Upright, Study Says"--headline, LiveScience.com,
Oct. 10
Breaking
News From 1978
"Carter Says U.S. Tortures Prisoners"--headline, CNN.com, Oct. 10
News You Can Use
- "Greenpeace Urges Kangaroo Consumption to Fight Global Warming"--headline,
Herald
Sun (Melbourne, Australia), Oct. 10
- "Going From Heart Attack Back to Job Stress Is Path Back to Heart Attack,
Research Finds"--headline, WRAL-TV
Web site (Raleigh, N.C.), Oct. 9
- "Rating Wine Not an Exact Science"--headline, Salt
Lake Tribune, Oct. 10
- "Balts Can Now Work in Luxembourg"--headline, Baltic
Times (Riga, Latvia), Oct. 11
- "Lot Next to Obama Can Be Yours for $1.5M"--headline, Chicago Sun-Times, Oct. 10
Bottom Stories of the Day
- "Michelle Obama Not Hurt in Iowa Car Crash"--headline, Chicago
Sun-Times, Oct. 10
- "Britney Spears Won't Be in Court Today"--headline, Associated
Press, Oct. 11
- "BoBo Gets New Owner, Yard to Call Home"--headline, El
Paso (Texas) Times, Oct. 11
- "Blogger to Remain Unknown for Now"--headline, Paris
(Texas) News, Oct. 10
- "Saskatchewan Election Called for Nov. 7"--headline, CBC.ca,
Oct. 10
- "Jimmy Carter Calls Cheney a Disaster for U.S."--headline, Reuters, Oct. 10
Great
Moments in Homeland Security
Officials in Dover, N.J., are hard at work preventing terrorism, Newark's Star-Ledger
reports. "Three aldermen are in the middle of a nine-month inspection of
Dover's coin-operated gumball and candy machines":
Already they say they've discovered more than 100 unlicensed coin-operated machines in town--many filled with gumballs, jawbreakers and other candies they call perfect for potential terrorists.
The security threat should be "looked at seriously in light of what has happened so far," said Poolas. "Someone who wanted to do harm really could."
However, Police Chief Harold "Butch" Valentine said the police department has no reason to believe terrorists are even contemplating contaminating candy.
"We've never received any information to the contrary. The gumballs are safe," he said.
The odds are remote that candy machines would be targeted by terrorists, he added. "You'd probably win the lottery first," Valentine said.
Thomas Zellman, director of the Morris County Department of Law and Public Safety, agreed that gumball machines are "certainly not" a threat to homeland security.
The notion of terrorists poisoning gumballs is a variant on the old urban legend of poisoned Halloween candy. According to Snopes.com, the only known actual case was that of 8-year-old Timothy O'Bryan of Houston, who died after eating cyanide-laced Pixie Stix on Halloween 1974. But O'Bryan turned out to have been murdered by his own father, Ronald O'Bryan:
To make his act appear more like the work of a random madman, [the elder] O'Bryan also gave poisoned Pixie Stix to his daughter and three other children. By a kind stroke of fate, none of the other children ate the candy. . . . The O'Bryan murder was an attempt to use a well-known urban legend to cover up the premeditated murder of one particular child.
Once the Dover gumshoes are done with their investigation, maybe they can set about securing the town sewers against Allah gators.
(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Paul James, Rod Pennington, Ed Lasky, Greg Masone, Ken Jorgensen, Michael Segal, Paul DiGiovani, Will Martin, John Williamson, Jed Flint, Monty Krieger, Alan Utter, Chris Green, Rosanne Klass, Clayton Hayer, Lee Stokes, Daniel Foty, Ray Hendel, Wright Truesdell, Michele Schiesser, George Struve, William Katz, Ethel Fenig, Glenn Rowan, John Nernoff, Doug Levene, Paul Martin and Jerry Skurnik. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)
Today on OpinionJournal:
- Review & Outlook: How the World Bank winked at bribery, and worse, in Cambodia.
- Dan Henninger: Would Mrs. Clinton defend Rush Limbaugh's speech rights against the left?
- Christopher DeMuth: What I learned during two decades as head of America's most influential think tank.
