While thinking about how surprised the pundits were at the surge of Jean Marie Le Pen in France, we struck upon a poll just taken by Fox News. It asked people what they thought of the recent suggestion by Rep. Cynthia McKinney that President Bush knew in advance of September 11 of the attacks on America, but did nothing to prevent them so that his associates in the energy and defense sectors could profit. Coming from Ms. McKinney, the assertion itself is hardly surprising. She is the Democratic congresswoman from Georgia who publicly apologized to Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia after Mayor Giuliani rejected the prince’s offer of $10 million for World Trade Center victims. The prince had accompanied his offer with a suggestion that America shared blame for the attacks. No, the intriguing thing about the Fox News poll is that it turned up the fact that 17% of Democratic respondents believe that Congresswoman McKinney’s suggestion is “correct.” Everyone likes to think that the demise of the radical left has entered the post-September 11 Zeitgeist as established fact, that the hatred of all things red, white, and blue has fled to European shores. Yet if the Fox News poll is correct, it may well be that the self-hating strain of the Democratic party is alive and well. If some xenophobic wing nut emerges from its ranks, readers of the Fox News poll may not be as surprised as the French professed to be by Monsieur Le Pen.