Best of the Web

HOPING FOR PANIC Blogger Mickey Kaus, one of the few Kerry supporters who recognize what a weak candidate he is, has a wonderfully perverse reaction to the Bush speech: The one possible upside for Democrats: If Bush now pulls ahead in the polls Dems may substitute a clear-eyed panic for their previous media-fed belief that this is necessarily a close race – abandoning as well all the bogus comforting spin (“wrong track” internals will save us; Hispanics will save us; 527s will save us; Cheney’s unpopularity will save us, Joe Lockhart will save us, etc.). That’s the way the cocoon crumbles. Better now than on Election Day.HOPING FOR UNEMPLOYMENT Writing in Thursday’s Financial Times, Richard Medley, who runs an eponymous financial-services firm, opined that the Kerry campaign is in trouble, but offered this ray of hope: “He can always hope that tomorrow’s unemployment number is so damaging that the economy becomes the dominant theme.” But the news turned out to be good, which is bad news for Senator Kerry: “Job growth rebounded in the United States last month and the unemployment rate dropped unexpectedly,” reports CNN/Money. “The Labor Department said the economy created 144,000 jobs in August, the strongest reading since May and up from a revised 73,000 jobs in July….The unemployment rate dipped to 5.4 from 5.5 percent in July, mainly due to a decline in the labor force, bringing the rate to its lowest since September 2001.” As we’ve been saying all week, it’s too bad for Mr. Kerry that those “protesters” weren’t looking for work instead of harassing Republicans.THE GREAT UNRAVELING Former Enron adviser Paul Krugman, still waging war against reality, is sinking ever deeper into a quagmire. His New York Times column Friday contained this gem: The vitriol also reflects the fact that many of the people at that convention, for all their flag-waving, hate America. They want a controlled, monolithic society; they fear and loathe our nation’s freedom, diversity and complexity. Remind us again, who is questioning whose patriotism? Of course, this is the same Paul Krugman who, as we have noted, thinks it is a sinister conspiracy when those who don’t share his opinions participate in the democratic process. Like Senator Kerry whining about GOP “anger and insults,” Mr. Krugman is engaging in what psychologists call “projection” – attributing his own faults to others. “Nothing makes you hate people as much as knowing in your heart that you are in the wrong and they are in the right,” the former Enron adviser writes. Physician, heal thyself.THE DEMOCRATIC MAINSTREAM CNSNews.com reports on a National Organization for Women protest rally: Poet Molly Birnbaum read aloud to a crowd of feminists gathered in New York’s Central Park on Wednesday night, as part of a NOW event dubbed “Code Red: Stop the Bush Agenda Rally.” “Imagine a way to erase that night four years ago when you (President Bush) savagely raped every pandemic woman over and over with each vote you got, a thrust with each state you stole,” Birnbaum said from the podium…. “A smack with each bill you passed, a tear with each right you took until you left me disenfranchised with hands shackled and voice restrained. Thanks for that night, Mr. President, I can barely remember my tomorrows,” Birnbaum said to applause. At the same rally, Rep. Major Owens, a New York Democrat, opined “that the Bush administration is taking America ‘into a snake pit of fascism.’ Owens also said the Bush administration ‘spits on democracy’ and is leading the country down a path reminiscent of ‘Nazi Germany.'” We can’t resist one more quote from the former Enron adviser: “There was plenty of hatred in Manhattan, but it was inside, not outside, Madison Square Garden.” What Would Republicans Do Without Experts? “Republicans Stage More Effective Convention – Experts” – headline, Reuters, September 2.WHAT WOULD REPUBLICANS DO WITHOUT EXPERTS? “Republicans Stage More Effective Convention – Experts” – headline, Reuters, September 2OH, BY THE WAY… Did you know John Kerry served in Vietnam?This column is adapted from the Best of the Web, which is issued daily at OpinionJournal.com. (C)2004 Dow Jones and Company Inc.

Best of the Web

Best of the Web

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