Scoundrels, Knaves, and Fools

Ashcroft Must Be Punished

• The Senate's confirmation hearings for John Ashcroft are in full bray. Religious lefties are screaming bloody murder and hurling allegations like confetti. None of them will admit what this is all about. Ashcroft is guilty of the left's two most unforgiveable sins: he is opposed to abortion and he is a Christian. He cannot go unpunished. (January 16, 2001)

Try To Imagine This, If You Can. . .

• Tonight's television coverage of the Ashcroft hearings provided a true Kodak Moment. I hope no American missed it. There, of all conceivable things, was Senator Edward M. "Teddy" Kennedy of--need we be reminded?--Chappaquiddick and Certain Other Unpleasantnesses fame, lecturing Ashcroft about morality, veracity, truth, and honoring the rule of law. And the Reverend Al Sharpton was rumored to be standing at the back of the hearing room, a brooding presence over all. (January 19, 2001)

Time For The Orkin Man

• Dubya don't have a hair on his ass if he doesn't arrange for an Orkin truck to be parked on the White House driveway on Inauguration Day.

Pre-Emptive Strike

• George Stephanopolous made a pre-emptive strike on ABC's This Week show this morning. In a brief discussion of Sick's 176 last-minute pardons and commutations, the former Sick White House aide noted that among the beneficiaries was Marc Rich, a commodities broker who fled the United States in the 1980s to avoid federal racketeering, tax evasion and fraud charges, and whose then-wife had donated "over $600,000 to the Democratic Party." George probably preferred this type of disclosure to having some antiChrist like Rush Limbaugh dig it up. The Associated Press story in my Sunday paper didn't mention the 600 grand (which later became "over $1 million" once intrepid reporters got to digging). They probably just didn't have time to do their research. Host Sam Donaldson quoted a Justice Dept. Attorney noting that many of the people Sick pardoned "had not even applied for pardons." (January 21, 2001)

A Little Travelin' Music For The Senator. . .

• If I'm John Ashcroft, I reach over, as soon as Senator Kennedy finishes his pontificating and the Left's thunderous applause dies down, push the "Play" button on the boom box at my witness table, and play "Bridge over Troubled Water" by Mary Jo and The Oldsmobiles.

Snortin' Time

• Lefties are snorting now that the special prosecutor has closed the case against the Sicks by announcing there'll be no prosecution of either of them. Their spin is this proves the Sicks did nothing wrong. Not quite. What Prosecutor Ray said is that he couldn't find sufficient evidence to indict. That's a tribute to the cleverness of the Sicks and their support group entourage, not proof that they did nothing wrong. Joke's on America. The Sicks skate free again.

Poor Tim Russert No Match For McAuliffe And Gilmore

• The freshly-minted national chairmen of the Democrat (Clintonista and (close) FOB, Terry McAuliffe) and Republican (Virginia governor James Gilmore) parties were both guests on Meet The Press February 4. They provided convincing proof that Congress should have no greater priority than passing legislation providing the death penalty for mantra-chanters. McAuliffe obsessed over the Florida election results. Again and again he noted that "Al Gore won the popular vote" and coupled it with "if all the votes had been counted Al Gore would have won Florida and would have been president." If he said "at the end of the day" once he said it 25 times. No matter what question host Tim Russert asked, McAuliffe either spun it completely to mantra, or gave what would pass for an answer in the inattentive minds of most viewers and then tacked on mantra. He remarked repeatedly about how the Democrats were going to "fight for" this and "fight for" that. He ardently defended his "close friend", Sick Willie, denied all Russert's feeble attempts to discuss the smelly heap of allegations of illegal fund-raising which mysteriously arose during the Sick Administration. To be fair, his Republican counterpart engaged in the same behavior, but less frequently. And he was far less competent and effective when he did. Russert's other guests, Congressman Charles Rangel and J.C. Watts, both blacks, were themselves spinning like crazy. The most interesting information for me was when Watts raised the ugly topic Republicans should have been raising loudly and relentlessly for years: why do black Democrats get treated differently than black Republicans? And isn't it an ideology issue rather than a strictly race issue where the Left is concerned? And aren't there different standards (particularly among lefties) for judging blacks? And don't black Democrats get away with things Republican blacks cannot? Rangel didn't realize it, but his non-answers to these questions confirmed the hypocrisy Watts said existed. If only it were possible to sit down with Russert and tell him what a waste of air time this is. He and ABC--and most of the rest of these types of programs--are throwing away an hour of valuable time. The public learns nothing from a program like this. My guess is that's the way all the guests want it. And who knows what Russert thinks he is doing by allowing these hacks to get away with this crap? (February 4, 2001)

Sorry, Billy's Not Eligible

• The toupeed co-host of ABC's Sunday This Week show, Sam Donaldson, got off a fine zinger during a brief account of a no doubt serious movement in New Mexico to get one of its sons, the famous criminal and killer, Billy The Kid, pardoned. Sam quickly quipped, "But Billy The Kid took money. He didn't give money. Therefore he is ineligible for a pardon."

• The February 6 Wall Street Journal carried a beautiful story Dan, Tom, Peter, and the rest of the big talking heads won't be chasing. Among the plunder hauled out of the White House by Sick and his bride was a mess of furniture--chairs, ottoman, davenport, you know--and now an individual has come forward to testify that he gave all that furniture as part of a White House renovation in 1993 and it was given to the nation (for the White House) not as personal gifts for the Sicks. Just another error in judgment--about sex, no doubt--by the Clintonistas on their way out, don't you suppose? Loaded onto the van by mistake. Surely no harm was done. A spokesman for the Sicks is said to have said that, by golly, the Sicks would be returning the mistakenly appropriated goods (now that they've been caught, again, I would add--but then I'm such a spoilsport).

• One phrase describes the Sicks as well as any: Snopesian grifters.

• The February issue of the American Spectator mentions in an article about the legal shenanigans surrounding the Florida election, that a 1998 poll of law professors revealed that a bare 10 percent of them described themselves as "conservative in some degree." Eighty percent admitted they were registered Democrats. (Presumably the other 10 percent took the Fifth). This is something we had already divined, but it always helps to have evidence entered into the record for the next time this group or that denies it has any political bias.

Carville In Mid-Season Form In 'Slopers' Premiere

• I had the good fortune to see the Year 2001 season premiere of "The Dance of the Low-Sloping Foreheads" this week on Chris Matthews' Hardball television program. The Democratic Party's head of Strategic Policy and Planning, James Carville, starred. He was at his absolute finest. He harangued Chris nonstop. He could not be silenced, even when Chris tried to break in and ask questions. Carville's beady eyes stared down at the table almost continuously. He vowed revenge, vowed to keep Their Anger and Resentment at a fever pitch for the next two years and the next four years and on into infinity if necessary, until vengeance and justice are obtained. He vowed to fight today and tomorrow and the next day and the next week and next month, to fight and fight and fight and fight and fight and fight and fight and to keep fighting for however long it takes to right the grievous wrongs that have been done to His People. I do believe Chris was genuinely flustered. Jimbo literally took over the show, something you rarely see happen to the feisty, aggressive Matthews. The beetle-browed Jimbo was sassy. He was insulting. He chanted mantra. He vowed to keep counting all the votes. And Chris, ever-mindful of his show's voracious 24-7-365 appetite for guests and material to fill up the bottomless pit of emptiness which must be filled every night of our lives forever and ever and ever, took it all without protest. He even muttered, as the segment ended and the advertisemnts swelled, that Carville was his "good friend" in spite of what an awed nation had just witnessed. It was a truly inspirational evening. (February 9, 2001)

• Things have been quiet for Dubya so far. You can be sure the Democrats are gathering for an attack. Bush had his first press conference. It was a change for eager reporters. Dubya's answers were short and crisp. Someone kept track: he fielded 30 questions in 45 minutes. He even--the press gasped!--referred to notes. Nothing like Sick used to do. (Nothing like Sick is why). One of the press crew interrupted Dubbya in mid-answer. It sounded like that overrated, bloviating pig, Helen Thomas, who's been hanging around these things forever. Whoever it was, Dubya cut them off firmly, saying, "I wasn't finished with my answer." Nothing vindictive or angry, just making it clear that some manners would be required (Unlike the Sick White House, where grossness and rudeness were the dominant themes). I hope Dubya will be driven forward in the remaining years of his presidency by an unrelenting anger and revulsion at the way Sick and the Clintonistas disgraced and degraded the office, the White House, and our country. Sick was a dirty diaper on our nation. He soiled everything he touched, and he touched everything. The vile stink of him lingers everywhere. The stain will be a long, long time going away. At last the disinfecting process is underway.

• The ubiquitous Jimbo Carville was back screeching on Meet The Press again this morning. He's endlessly fascinating. Each time you think he's exhausted his bag of absurdities, he comes up with new ones. Host Tim Russert let him rant unchecked. In another of his classical Carvillean tirades against the November election, Jimbo broke into new territory for describing the things Al Gore and the Democrats really won--disregard the official election results and the reality of George Bush in the White House, now. His face contorted and twisted in an ugly sneer, Jimbo leaned out across the table and told Russert and the nation that, by god, "Al Gore won the Florida vote. He won the overcount. He won the undercount. He won the popular vote" But then--a breakthrough--"He won the intended vote. Lefties have been screaming for months about how their clients intended to vote, but this is the first time I've heard one use the term as a category or classification of vote type. Jimbo angrily told Russert that "the Florida vote count is not over" and that, by god, they were gonna keep counting votes down there till every vote was counted and then the Republicans and the American people would finally know the truth. Near the end, a visible wad of white, frothy spittle had formed in the right corner of Carville's mouth. Another over-the-top performance from America's Low Sloping Forehead Poster Boy. (March 4, 2001)

• George Stephanopolous said this morning on ABC's This Week program that Hillary Clinton is trying to rally her Democratic colleagues and has told them that "We (they) need a War Room" to organize and direct the attacks on Dubya and the Republicans. Same old Clintonista mentality. So much for the spirit of bipartisanship the left so assiduously says it yearns for.

By Golly, The Clintonistas Were Right--Everybody Does Do It

• Those who watched closely will recall that President Lyndon Johnson "wore a Silver Star ribbon on his lapel throughout his political life." But now that, too, has been exposed as a howling fraud, according to a short note in USA Today. An article just out in Naval History describes LBJ's self-claimed "combat experience" as, well, a "myth." The article's authors, Barrett Tillman and Henry Sakaida, say Johnson, then in the Naval Reserve and exempt from active duty because he was a Congressman, went on a bombing mission against the Japanese, "but the plane developed engine trouble and returned to base." A couple of generals on General MacArthur's staff recommended the medal for LBJ, anyway. The newspaper article says Johnson, used the nickname "Raider Johnson" and arranged to have the Silver Star medal "awarded to him several times" while campaigning in Texas.

• If I'm China, I give us the finger and take apart our spy plane one molecule at a time to discover its secrets. We don't need to worry. Sick probably has sold all that technology to the Chicoms, anyway.

• The Wall Street Journal last week ran an extensive report about how election reform is quietly dying on the vine in Wonderland, D.C. The article confirms something I've believed all my life: that the truth is that the last thing politicians ever want is an informed electorate showing up at the polls in huge numbers. Quite the contrary: their fervent wish is the fewer--and dumber--the voters, the better. They're getting their wish, too.

• I thought Barbra Streisand and Alec Baldwin swore they'd leave the country if Bush were elected. They're still here. Where do I send my contribution to their moving fund? (April 12, 2001)

• Vote!--Jim Jeffords, Arlen Specter and Lincoln Chaffee for Traitor!--Vote!

• Chris Matthews returned to his natural self the other night on Hardball, playing lefty spin doc with two-time sinner guest Ralph Reed, who is both a conservative and a Christian. Ralph had to repeat himself and correct Chris at least three times before they had to bust for a commercial break.

• Where's Newtie? If only he'd come back we'd get this thing turned around.

• Wonder who'll be fooled by the left's redistricting proposals for Indiana?

• At last!!--Jesse speaks, and extends a gracious offer of international diplomacy to resolve the China Unpleasantness And Bring Our Boys Home.

• Let's send Jesse and Sick and Al (Sharpton, not Weird) all three!

• And speaking of Sick, did you see where he just visited an orphanage founded by Mother Theresa? Still workin' on that image!

• We do owe Sick one debt of gratitude: He brought hummers out into the bold, respectable light of day, something men have prayed eons for. All hail!

• Was that a tracer round I just saw go overhead?

• Harold Stassen died last month. Did anyone notice?

• And somewhere in darkest Florida, Jimbo Carville is still counting votes.

• Who'll be the lucky winner of the national Democratic Party's Happy Days Are Here Again Office Pool for when Strom drops over dead? The vigil continues.

Iowans Riled Over Possible Loss Of Front-Row Spot At The Trough

• Iowans--at least a bunch of them wanting to tap into the Federal Treasury--were said to be made as hell at Dubya in late April after he recommended limits on a national flood insurance program. The Bush administration in its 2002 budget proposals has taken the astounding position that after property has been repeatedly under water and the federal government has repeatedly compensated its owners for water damages--in some cases for much more than the property's value--there ought to be a point where the money flood is turned off. A reasonable and sensible approach, I believe most people would agree. But not Iowans living along the Mississippi River, which flooded again this spring. They think it's an outrage. Much of the howling came from Davenport, where a 1993 flood caused over $100 million in damage. Joe Allbaugh, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) says Davenport at the least ought to be required to build a flood wall downtown. "The question," he said, "is how many times the American taxpayer has to step in and take care of (Davenport's flood damage), which could easily be prevented." Davenport's Democrat Mayor Phil Yerington bristled and said this was "an insult." Yeringtold told reporters, "You can't punish people for living along a river." USA Today's account April 25 said that Davenport officials obejct to a flood wall because it would "spoil a river view that attracts tourists." The federal flood insurance program has paid $10.4 billion in claims since 1968 to people living in flood plains and flood-prone areas, according to USA Today. Bush has common sense on his side, but I doubt his proposals will survive Congressional review. Lefties will screech about mean-spiritedness and that will be the end of another good idea. (April 25, 2001)

• Former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerry's angst-ridden apologia to the planet for his role in a Certain Vietnam Unpleasantness He's Never Been Able To Forget has the Left caught in its shorts. Let's see if I have this straight: It was during the Vietnam War. Kerry and his squad were in the middle of a jungle. It was the dead of night. The area was known to be a Viet Cong stronghold. Someone began shooting at them. Are the liberals telling me Kerry and his comrades shouldn't have shot back? Here's what someone should stuff in the critics' faces: war is ugly; innocent people get killed; it has been this way for billions and billions of years; shut up and get on with your miserable whiny lives. (May 3, 2001)

• As for Kerry, despite his terrible suffering over the years, he managed to accept the awards he says he never deserved in the first place, he's managed to keep them for over 30 years and he says today he has no plan to turn them back to the government. Can't have it both ways, Bob, sorry.

• I breathlessly report another confirmed sighting last night on television of the Head of Strategic Policy and Planning for the national Democrat Party, Jimbo Carville. He was his usual classic self on Fox TV's The O'Reilly Factor: beetle-browed, grimacing, slit-eyed, spastic, spittle-flicking, raving. I can assure you the genial host, Bill O'Reilly, was completely outmatched!

• When are Republicans and Democrats going to drop the pretense about seeking bipartisan solutions and be honest--it's total war and to the death of the last enemy?

• There's a beautiful story afloat (the Chicago Tribune's John Kass is digging into it) about Jesse Jackson's son somehow being awarded a coveted Budweiser distributorship three years ago, borrowing $6 million from a bank to buy it, and it now being worth $25 million or so. (Hillary's broker, the legendary Red Bone, must be involved!) A backdrop footnote is that some years ago Jesse The Father accused Anheuser Busch of racism for not employing enough minorities. Jesse extracted a million dollars and effusive promises from the brewery in exchange for Jesse going away and leaving them alone. The ironies here are just too precious! Gotta stay tuned. (May 18, 2001)

• Sick was egged May 17 while visiting in Warsaw, Poland. Did the big talking heads pick up on this? Even I, wacko extremist far right fascist kook troglodyte that I am, don't think Sick should be egged. Indicted, yes; egged, no.

• If Vermont's Senator James Jeffords switches to the Democratic Party it will be the most honest thing he's done in his political lifetime. (May 22, 2001)

• Word arrives from Canada that actor Evan Brown has been sentenced to 30 days in jail after being found guilty of assault for shoving a plate of whipped cream into the face of Prime Minister Jean Chretien. Brown said he was protesting arrogance and a lack of accountability by the government. He must also pay $33 into a victim compensation fund. Thirty days and $33 seems like a fairly reasonable trade to me. There's certainly no shortage of bureaucrats, politicians and public figures who deserve a pie in the face. Where do I get in line? (May 24, 2001)

Silly Side of Camelot Department

• Recently declassified gub'mint documents show that the Kennedy Administration--no greater political icon hath America, Sick Willie and the Clintonistas excepted, of course!--had hatched a plan in the early 1960s to blow up a U.S. Navy ship, fake casualties, have a mock funeral for the victims, and blame it all on Fidel Castro.

• And speaking of JFK, the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library Foundation's selection of former President Gerald Ford as its 2001 Profile in Courage award winner is every bit as silly as the dopey plan to blow up a Navy ship and blame it on Castro. Ford is being honored for his 1974 pardon of former president Richard Nixon after Nixon resigned rather than be impeached in the Watergate Unpleasantness. The Foundation and others consider Ford's act one of great political courage. I consider it one of great betrayal. Nixon should have been indicted, tried, and brought to justice as any ordinary citizen would have been. All Ford did was confirm the fraud and terrible deceit in the claim that all Americans are equal before the law. We are not, and it was depressing in an otherwise lovely spring of 2001 to be reminded of it.

Defcon Alert On Dog Log Drive

• I was coiled, ready last evening for a Hard Cheese rendition of The Dance of the Low Sloping Foreheads--a torchlit parade of joyous Democrats celebrating the capture of the turncoat Jim Jeffords--Jimbo Carville, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Maxine Waters, Lanny Davis, John Podesta, Paul Begala, Geraldo Rivera, Alec Baldwin, Alan Dershowitz out front in drum major hats, pumping the air with their batons (topped with miniature shrunken Dubya skulls)--surging up Dog Log Drive onto my lawn, there to pitch campfires, chant mantra, sing songs of triumph, and heave taunts, opprobrium, and rotten fruit at our house in celebration of their recapture of the Senate and driving the godless infidel enemy into rout and ruin. We waited, Mogo and I, crouched tensely, doing the low crawl from room to room over our sumptuous carpet of unbridled capitalist greed, ready to descend, if danger threatened, into our hardened silos. But nothing happened. Nothing! We maintained our vigil until somewhere around 3:30 a.m. before retiring. Perhaps tonight. . .(May 25, 2001)

• Donna Shalala, Sick Willie's far left Secretary of Health and Human Services and now the new president of the University of Miami (Florida), is quoted in this weekend's USA Today criticizing the behavior of Indiana University basketball coach Bob Knight, who was fired last September. This from an ardent defender-to-the-death of Sick. Knight must be a Republican. (May 25, 2001)

Jeffords Home At Last

• Somebody's gone to the trouble of adding it up: 70 percent of Jeffords' votes in the Senate have been with the Democrats. Why does Jeffords claim he is--or ever was--a Republican? Why does anyone claim this? Jeffords was an imposter, a Democrat posing as a Republican. Why would Republicans want the enemy inside their own house? This baffles me. Screw Jeffords and the Trojan horse he rode in on. He is finally where he should be--in the Democratic camp, posing now as a gutless Independent who won't even admit he's a Democract. (June 4, 2001)

• ". . .liberalism's Marge Schott." --Columnist Paul Gigot in the May 9, 2001 Wall Street Journal, describing California Senator Barbara Boxer.

• Now that Jeffords has come out of the closet, the Stromster Death Watch loses much of its suspense and impact. Time to shift attention to Chafee and McCain.

• The Left Rev. Al Sharpton is said to be considering seeking the Democratic nomination for president in 2004. He's perfect for the Democratic Party. He's perfect for America.

• Stunning news out of Florida following exhaustive analysis by press organizations of everything related to the election: facts prove--though not to Jimbo Carville's satisfaction--he's still counting votes--that the counties with the highest illiteracy rates had the highest error rates on their ballots. Watch for renewed Democrat screaming for more spending on education.

• And after billions and billions of hours and dollars spent counting, recounting, studying, and analyzing, there's still not a single documented case of a Republican stepping forward to complain of being unable to understand the butterfly ballot.

Pssst. . .Right Over Here

• Wacko environmentalist kooks chained themselves together to block an exit at the Paris airport when Dubya landed there for meetings with French leaders. But alas, Bush and his entourage departed through another exit and the screamers were left yapping at empty air. Good! (June 14, 2001)

• I've just finished Seymour Hersh's book, The Dark Side of Camelot. It's tempting to believe that had JFK been serving in another era--post-Watergate, say--he would have been impeached, removed from office, then indicted and convicted as a newly-minted civilian for multiple high crimes and misdemeanors. Though Hersh documents Kennedy's involvement with organized crime figures and a wide range of Other Unpleasantnesses, including bribery, election fraud, assassination plots against several foreign leaders, and more, if it happened today he would be elected President for Life and his face would be carved on Mt. Rushmore, right alongside Sick's. Published in the mid-1990s, The Dark Side of Camelot, is a highly entertaining account of the semi-sordid history of the Kennedy family, with emphasis on JFK, Teddy, Bobby, and their father, Joseph. The Kennedys had the good fortune to have been given a free lifetime pass, and they took advantage of it with gusto. The book itself is too late to be of any use except clarifying the historical record, but better that than nothing. (June 18, 2001)

• New York Times columnist William Safire is out with early handicapping of the Democrat presidential contenders for 2004. Weird Al (that would be Gore, not Sharpton) heads Safire's list with 2-1 odds. I agree. No one is better suited or better equipped to nourish the bitter, corrosive hatred Dems worldwide have toward The Enemy, or to inflame and sustain their relentlessly festering grievance that they were denied their rightful due in last November's election. Al is the party's perfect candidate and if he wants the nomination, it's his. Tom Daschle was rated 4-1, along with "the other Kerry," the one with big hair from Massachusetts who, Safire says, will have to spend plenty out of the gate to let people know he's not that Kerry, the troubled Bobster from Nebraska. Safire lists Gephardt, Edwards, Leahy and a few others at 6-1 or worse, but--and man, this is weird, too--he totally omits the leviathan presences of Hillary, Jesse, and the Right Rev. Al (that would be Sharpton, not Gore). Got me fired up just thinking about it! (June 26, 2001)

• Indianapolis Star columnist David Perlmutter--yeah, yeah, so who is David Perlmutter, anyway?--offered a fairly delicious challenge this morning to those howling that tax cuts are bad and that Dubya's are too much, too soon, too dangerous, and too evil for this great nation ever, ever to survive, and to those who claim that vast majorities of Americans don't really favor tax cuts, anyway. David's challenge--and there'll be precious few takers, bet on it--is this: make it voluntary, let the IRS send all of us a post card asking a simple question: Do you want us to mail your tax cut check to you--yes or no? That would cut off at the knees this spinoff of America's great hypocrisy industry. What could be fairer?

• Lefties are rightly clucking about writer David Brock's recent admission that he basically made up derogatory stories about Anita Hill when she was accusing Clarence Thomas of sexual harrassment during Senate hearings on Thomas's nomination to the Supreme Court. They're quick to toss this in the face of those who complained about dishonesty in the Sick Administration. Brock won additional notoriety a couple of years ago with a public apology for being a conservative and for his criticism of Hillary Clinton. Later he wrote a highly complimentary book about her. It's a fair enough criticism. Nail Brock to the wall, I say. As for Thomas, lefties should apply the same unflinching standards to him that they apply to their own, the Right Revs. Jackson and Sharpton being two wonderful examples who get free lifetime passes from the left, while Thomas doesn't. Sick and his handlers remain scumbags, regardless of the verdict on Brock or Thomas.

More Clues

• A June get-together of Women in the Senate offered a snapshot the GOP ought to ponder: of the 13 women posing for a group picture, 10 were Democrats, three Republicans. (July 8, 2001)

• Senator Tom Daschle has proposed granting amnesty for 8.5 million illegal immigrants. This is code for: 8.5 million more Democratic votes, somehow, some way.

• This morning's Indianapolis Star offers a shining example of why we conspiracy theorists get so het up. I cite for reference three columns on the editorial and op-editorial pages: one by Mona Charen, a known conservative, the other two by Georgie Ann Geyer and Ellen Goodman. It is the Star's practice to append at the end of all columnists' work, a brief italic note about who they write for and/or how they can be reached. No problem so far. This is valuable information for Mr. and Mrs. Front Porch. Geyer's column today has a footnote telling us she is a "foreign affairs columnist for the Universal Press Syndicate." Ellen Goodman's reads: "Goodman is a Boston Globe columnist." But Mona Charen's footnote reads: "Charen is political columnist who worked for the Reagan White House. If the Star believes it's vital for M&M FP to know that Charen worked over a decade ago for the Reagan Administration, why doesn't it provide us the same information for Goodman and Geyer? I think we all understand the code here. This is a sneaky attempt to subtly undercut the validity of Charen's work via a thoroughly gratuitous association with what the editors consider troglodytic, lunatic, addled Reaganites. Of course I could be wrong about every last syllable of this. (July 30, 2001)

• Two Asian-surnamed fellas (Yang and Hsu) have been arrested here in America and charged with trying to smuggle top-secret encryption equipment to Red China. Why arrest them? I thought Sick said it was OK to give our secrets to China.

• Independent Counsel Robert Ray has formally notified the Justice Department that his investigation of the Clintonistas is over after 7 years. The cost so far exceeds $65 million. A few million more will be required for wrapping up housekeeping details. Well worth it, I say.

• Sick's No. 1! Sick's No. 1! That's the cry ringing across America--indeed, around Planet Earth--today following the announcement by the Knopf publishing division of Random House that it's signed a deal to pay Sick Willie to write a "thorough and candid telling of his life" in 2003. The memoirs will earn Sick a rumored $10 million and that, USA Today breathlessly reported in its August 7 edition, tops even the $8.5 million deal for Pope John Paul II and the $8 million Hillary Clinton is getting from Simon & Schuster. Awesome! Anyone thinking they'll get candor and honesty from either of these Snopesian grifters is dreaming, though. (August 7, 2001)

Another Leftie In A Bind

• California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, an ardent supporter of Sick Willie's lying to the American people during the Monica Lewinsky Unpleasantness, has turned her back on fellow Democrat and Californian Gary Condit in his hour of need during his Chandra Levy Unpleasantness because, Feinstein recently said, Condit "lied to me, and that's something I just can't forgive." Well, not from Gary Condit, anyway.

Predators Of A Feather. . .

• A faithful correspondent who must remain anonymous reports on a so-far little noticed story out of Chicago, where the Rev. Jesse Jackson has hired former Democratic U.S. Congressman and ex-convict Mel Reynolds to work for Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Reynolds was one of 176 individuals granted presidential pardons in the final hours of the Sick Administration, receiving a commutation of a federal sentence for such errors in judgment as wire fraud, bank fraud, lying to the Federal Election commission, and having sex with an underage campaign volunteer. This is believed to be a first in American politics: An ex-congressman who had sex with a subordinate won clemency from a president who had sex with a subordinate, then was hired by a clergyman who had sex with a subordinate. And they're all Democrats! Reynolds' new job? Youth Counselor! This is one beautiful, beautiful country!

Antichrists By The Boatload!--And They're Better Book-Buyers, Too!

• Peter Tomasky surely provided Wall Street Journal readers the equivalent of gaper's block in his August 16 column about much-heralded $10 million memoirs deal for Sick and the $8 million deal for Hillary. Tomasky, a political columnist for New York magazine subbing for vacationing wacko liberal columnist Al Hunt, spilled his liberal angst all over the Journal's op-ed page and even the most determined reader must have had difficulty averting his eyes. Tomasky resurrected many Clintonista demons--Ken Starr, the "harlequinade of haters, harpies, and hustlers" (give Peter credit--he knows his alliteration!), former FBI director Louis Freeh, the occasionally treasonous New York Times (for those occasions when it was critical), the Journal itself, the "Tourette-ish hyperventilation" of Hillary's "camera-seeking detractors," and finally, of course, the vast, rightwing conspiracy--and confessed he looked forward to joining the hoped-for millions of citizens who will "want to buy Bill Clinton's book so that they can read all about his experience governing--not because they care about Monica or impeachment." After all, Tomasky wrote, "millions voted for the man and two-thirds of the country, even during his most humiliating hours, wanted him left alone." But then fear and doubt seemed to intrude, and Tomasky confessed to worry that the Clinton memoirs won't reach the audience they should. It wasn't clear why, but Tomasky bitterly noted--and if this doesn't sound like the death spasms of a mortally wounded animal, what does?--that "conservatives organize to buy books in a way that liberals just don't." (August 16, 2001)

• Only two weeks ago Dick Gephardt told Tim Russert on national TV that Rep. Gary Condit was an honorable man. Now The Gepster's huffing and puffing about the shame and disgrace of Condit's Chandra Levy Unpleasantness as Revealed By The Connie Chung Interview. (August 28, 2001)

Gary's Got The Necessities

• I say Gary Condit's proven he's a qualified challenger for the Democratic presidential nomination and it's high time we got on with our lives and the really important business of the American people. You know, stuff like demagoguing Social Security, putting Sick and Hillary on Mt. Rushmore, those kinds of things.

Jim Jeffords In A Skirt

• Indianapolis Star columnist Michelle Malkins got off a great line at the close of her August 28 column on what a dispiriting spring and summer it's been for conservatives (as well it should be), one freshly topped off by Jesse Helms's announcement he's retiring. Michelle tore into the candidate every leftie hopes gets the GOP nomination to run for Helms's vacant seat--Elizabeth Dole. Malkins dumped a huge load of ugly truth about Elizabeth and closed by saying she was "Jim Jeffords in a skirt." Priceless! An an empty skirt at that.

Corpses Propped Up And Voting

• Phil Gramm's announcement that he's retiring from the U.S. Senate produced a note deep in the Indianapolis Star's story that "No Democrats are known to be planning to retire." We can bet there won't be, too--not with the delicious prospect of total triumph in sight. I can smell blood, can't you? I can see the Dems at last, at long, long last regaining control of both the House and Senate by 2004, and whupping Dubya for the big chrome tractor seat in the White House, too! Reminds me of Donna Shalala's classic comment--or was it the legendary Ann Lewis?--at the height of the Sick Unpleasantness when, asked if she would ever consider resigning, she earnestly replied, "Oh, no, I'd never consider that. Our agenda is far too important." Keep an eye peeled for Democratic corpses propped up with sticks and scaffolding, their mouths operated by cleverly concealed thin wires and hidden tape recorders, as the elections draw nigh. The GOP may be wheeling around the ageless Strom Thurmond on a little refrigerator cart by then. Loyalty and keeping even corpses propped up and voting is gonna be crucial in the coming months. I think both parties are up to the task! (September 5, 2001)

• James Carville is apparently so busy still counting ballots in darkest Florida that he didn't even notice the Most Recent Terrorist Unpleasantness yesterday, and thus failed to get on any of last night's talk shows. (September 12, 2001)

• We saw millions and millions and millions of people in front of the TV cameras in the aftermath, but where was Jesse Jackson? Off seeking reparations, I suppose.

• The big talking heads were their usual blathering selves. Peter Jennings seemed particularly addled, capping one segment with several failed attempts to twist Orrin Hatch's words into something that suited Peter's agenda. Both times Hatch issued snappish corrections which halted Peter in his tracks.

• Newtie's comments and analysis were by far the most incisive of any I saw or heard in the early going. What a shame he's out of politics.

• Dubya's first speech to the nation fell far short of what was needed. He served up soft pablum and tired cliches. He vowed to hold the perps responsible. Better to hold them guilty. This is what we always say. Trouble is, we seldom do anything. The U.S.S. Cole is a fine example.

Can We Make It Up?

• The great national debate must now be: What did we ever do to make these terrorists feel so badly about themselves, and what can we ever do to make it up?

• New York Senator Charles Schumer, with Hillary somberly at his side, went on national TV to assure the victims and their families and friends that he and Hillary "feel their pain." (I did not make this up.) Then Hillary, no doubt quietly gagging at the thought, told us how much she supported and admired all those brave people over at the Pentagon.

• We can be sure that someone, somewhere has already run the numbers on how much the lost shopping time has already cost our country.

• Stormin' Norman was his usual beautiful self on one of the talk shows. The now retired Gulf War hero referred to the perps unambiguously as "these bastards" and he said it loudly and clearly, the spit fairly flying out of his mouth.

• Somewhere in all the post-blast babble I heard those magic words, something about this being a highly professional and coordinated blow striking at the heart of capitalist greed. An unmistakable clue that the Blame America First Crowd is out of its burrows and back in action.

• My fear: We'll huff and we'll puff. We'll wring our hands. We'll search our hearts for where we went wrong and what we ever did to bring this on ourselves. We'll memorialize, appoint task forces, take polls, form focus groups to learn how we feel. We'll recriminate. We'll blame airport security. We'll blame the intelligence community. Lefties will bluster about Ugly Americans and U.S exploitation of innocent peoples everywhere. We'll blame Ronald Reagan. But when it comes down to having the will to act, I fear we'll come up half-baked and short. And after a suitable period of "bipartisanship" we'll get back to business as usual--demonizing and demagoguing, but feeling better about ourselves. (September 15, 2001)

• Kodak Moments:The Food Network and the Home and Garden Network suspended regular programming the night of September 11 due to "the nature of the day's events."

• The events of September 11 surely fit the definition of hate crimes. Wonder if we'll hear lefties wailing about this and demanding special legislation?

Many Regulars Lying Low

• Have we noticed the usual crowd of guilt hustlers and handwringers is nowhere to be found these days? Jesse Jackson, The Reverend Sharpton, Susan Estrich, Paul Begala, Maxine Waters, Alcee Hastings, Paul Wellstone, and the rest--lying low, one supposes.

• Sick cut short a vacation and flew back from Australia to get on-camera, though.

You Know, The Ones With No Arms Or Legs

• CNN ran a "crawler" across the bottom of the screen tonight reporting that New York Governor Pataki had "suspended the statues of limitations" for civil and criminal proceedings. . .

• Later in the evening, a CNN correspondent, speculating on explosions in Kabul, Pakistan, said that perhaps it was the United States wanting to show the world "it's still capable of reaching out and touching its enemies."

Keepin' A List, Checkin' It Twice

• All these public mentions of God and all these flags flying must have the ACLU nearly hysterical with anger and frustration. One of the millions of offenders was New York's own Senator Charles Schumer, who uttered the words,"Praise God" while standing near the World Trade Center ruins. We can bet someone's keeping a list.

• Reports now emerge that many of the creatures unjustly alleged to have been the September 11 perps had lived in Florida. Bet money that Jimbo Carville is working assiduously even at this moment to assure that their votes for Weird Al Gore were fairly counted.

• One of the talk shows had Tom Friedman, foreign affairs editor of the New York Times, as a guest. He was asked if the events of September 11 represented a failure by America's intelligence community. The only failure, Friedman replied, was a "failure of imagination"-- namely, the failure to imagine evil on as colossal a scale as this. That had to disappoint lefties who stoutly deny there is such a thing as evil and say that it's merely someone who's misunderstood and suffering from low self-esteem. Friedman spoke from Tel Aviv where, one hoped, he was looking over his shoulder periodically.

Dan's Dopiness

• News reports say Dan Rather went on Letterman's show the other night and cried. He must think 10 minutes of blubbering on national TV makes up for the other 23 hours and 50 minutes a day he's a howling fraud impersonating an objective journalist, and a liberal buffoon to boot. (September 19, 2001)

Neutering The Attack Donkeys

• Dems must be chewing their own arms off now. They were set to launch a coordinated major political attack against Dubya the day before the hijackings and bombings. Senator Joe Biden was to have led the assault. Now, in just a few terrible hours, events have neutered the attack donkeys and put the smell of treason on anything but complete support for a previously stumbling Bush Administration.

• First it's Osama bin Laden. Then Usama bin Laden. Every day we see it spelled both ways. Can't we get together and agree on one or the other?

• Dubya can now define his presidency with this single issue of terrorism. If he handles it well, he can practically assure his re-election in 2004 and give life--and much-needed backbone--to Republican Congressional candidates in the mid-term and 2004 elections.

Sounds All-American To Me!

• And totally by coincidence, less than a week after the terrorist bombings, one of America's home-grown terrorists, the legendary black militant H. Rap Brown, now a "Muslim cleric" re-named Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, had his own murder trial delayed by an Atlanta judge on grounds that Brown/Al-Amin couldn't get a fair trial "because of anti-Islamic sentiment" stirred by the events of September 11. Brown/Al-Amin is accused of killing a sheriff's deputy last year, and claims he is the victim of a police conspiracy. (September 20, 2001)

Chomsky Dopiness

• The Trash America and Western Civilization First crowd is warming up and legendary lefty Noam Chomksy wasted no time issuing a screed broadcast over Radio Belgrade in which The Chomster blamed Western Civilization and American colonialism for the Current (and surely all previous) Unpleasantnesses. Chomsky, in only thinly disguised code, hinted that America is Getting Exactly What America Deserves (at least on the single day of September 11) and that if it retaliates it will only be adding millions upon millions upon millions of innocent victims to its already staggeringly colossal list of victims down through the ages. Better we should take our medicine like men and apologize over and over and over and over again until--praise be to Allah when that blessed day comes!!--we, a vile plague upon this planet, are all dead. And to think, it took all of a week for this to begin. (September 20, 2001)

Answer: To Make Yasser Feel Better About Himself, And Because We Don't Know A Terrorist When We See One

• Amir Wolfe of Silver Spring, Maryland, asked a terribly embarrassing question September 20 in a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal. Confessing skepticism about the West's ability to confront terrorism, Wolfe wants to know: How does the West explain giving a Nobel peace prize to one of the world's best-known terrorists, Yasser Arafat?

• James Patterson , an Indianapolis Star editorial writer, offered an eye-popping claim in this morning's edition. He reports there is significant evidence that an Iraqi terrorist--the mysterious "John Doe Number Two"--was involved in the April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City bombing. Patterson quotes from a book by a Florida journalist, Elliot Goldenberg. Patterson's conclusion is that this story is being buried by American authorities and ignored by the press. Many will scoff at this as the fevered hallucinations of conspiracy theorists. It could be, of course, but I'd like to hear more.

CNN, Pollitt Dopiness

• The conservative Weekly Standard magazine wasted no time setting up a "Chattering Asses" department to recognize the usual jerks and idiots on America's public stage. Among the first nominees was Katha Pollitt, a columnist for the Nation, who rushed into print with a report that she'd had to lecture her own daughter about the incorrectness of flying the American flag, which "stands for jingoism and vengeance and war." CNN, where the spirit of retired anchor Bernard Shaw lives on, won its citation by announcing it would refuse to use the term "terrorists" to describe the men responsible for the September 11 attacks but would instead refer to them as "alleged hijackers" because "CNN cannot convict anybody; nothing has been judged by a court of law." (September 22, 2001)
• Early research reports from the field indicate that the "O" form is running slightly ahead in actual usage (about 55 percent to 45 percent) of the "U" variant in the Bin Laden Conundrum. With only a small few precincts reporting we hesitate to declare Osama a winner. This thing's far from over. And we're gonna count every last dangling O and U and count and count and count and count and count and count, until everyone's votes are fairly counted!

• And while we're at it, what's the difference between Moslem and Muslem? (Other than one of Jonathan Winters's characters--was it Princess Mary Louise Louise over in the castle?--wore a dirty, grey dress made of this material). One of the big foundations ought to research this!

• Jesse Jackson has offered to undertake negotiations with the Taliban. Hubris lives. (September 25, 2001)

Rudy Should Decline The Bait

• Rudy Giuliani should politely discourage all efforts to repeal New York's term limits law to provide him another term as mayor. Then he'd be just like all the other whores. No need to set this precedent. Leave this to the lefties.

• New York Times columnist William Safire says Colin Powell's claim on Sunday talk shows that we still see "no direct links" between Iraq and The Most Recent Unpleasantnesses is disingenuous. Safire's column today says the connection is clear, and he names names and places.

• There's a great picture circulating on the Internet. Click, and up comes a full-screen picture of a B-52 Hustler. Before it on the tarmac in neat rows are arrayed the full payload of rockets, bombs and armament. The caption says: "The terrorists have won the toss and elected to receive." Precious. (September 27, 2001)

• Non-Confidence Builder: A note in the Wall Street Journal indicates that 80 percent of the baggage handlers employed at Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C. are not U.S. citizens. National Public Radio later reported the number at 87 percent.

• Strong evidence that life has returned to normal may be found in the quick establishment of a "peace camp" on the Bloomington campus of Indiana University. Tents and shanties have bloomed in Dunn Meadow and campus activists are busy handing out literature and paraphernalia. Local full-time activist Sean "Steps" Bagley is quoted saying that the American military response to the September 11 terrorist attacks will accomplish nothing but "creating more terrorists" Volunteers are handing out green ribbons to passersby. Protester Peter Drake told local reporters that the color green synmbolizes life and is the traditional Islamic color for peace. Too bad Peter couldn't have been in East Coast airports handing out these ribbons on September 11 before the doomed flights took off.

• The Indianapolis Star published a story last week based on documents it obtained on the results of various Federal Aviation Administration security tests during the 1990s at the Indianapolis airport. Airport security baggage and passenger screeners allowed the following items to board airplanes without so much as a whisper of alarm: hand grenades, pipe bombs, pistols, and knives. And not once, but multiple times. These were errors in judgment, no doubt. It is already past time to get on with the really important business of our nation.

Geraldo's Transformation

• The single most surprising thing on television since September 11 is the 180-degree turnaround of Geraldo Rivera. You'd have to see this to believe it. Rivera is--or was--a self-admitted liberal. He spent years as a hysterically ardent defender of Sick Willie. September 11 has transformed him into an ardent patriot. He closes each night's show with an emphatic "God Bless America." He now warmly embraces conservatives and military experts as guests on his show. He openly calls for "getting the bastards who did this to us." Bill O'Reilly, another Fox News program host, interviewed Geraldo and asked what caused such a change. Rivera said September 11 was a life-transforming event for him, that the deaths of dozens of parents from the schools his own children attend, and of many people from his own New Jersey neighborhood, changed his whole view of the world. For those of us who watched the "liberal" Rivera on parade for years, the "new Rivera" has been an amazing experience. It tends to confirm the old joke about a new conservative being a liberal who's just been mugged. I suspect September 11 has driven a number of liberals at least into hiding if not into conversion.

What Are They Worried About?

• Why have they postponed the Emmy Awards show twice? Everyone else in America seems to be going on as scheduled now that we're out of our burrows. Why would a bunch of stars and starlets and glitterati be any more afraid to to gather together than Mr. and Mrs. Front Porch are when they go, for example, to an NFL game? Can someone explain this to me?

• Sunday night on 60 Minutes the narrator said there are an estimated six million Muslims in the United States and that is more than the number of Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists and numerous other denominations. The Muslim religion is said to be the fastest growing religion in America. Separately, we learn from an article in a British publication, The Spectator, that 80 percent of the mosques in America are under the control of Wahhabi imams, who preach extremism. Osama bin Laden is a Wahhabi, as are many known terrorists in the Middle East. The combination of these facts should not be comforting for Americans.

• "We're not running out of targets; Afghanistan is." --Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. (October 13, 2001)

• An al-Qaida spokesman has proclaimed that "there are thousands of young people (presumably Muslim soldiers) who are as keen about death as Americans are about life." Our job is to see that they get their wish.

• By early October a conclusive ruling on the spelling of bin Laden's name was made easier when the FBI's internet posting of the equivalent of a Most Wanted poster used Usama as its official choice. So the U's have it. Usama Bin Laden it is!

An Attention-Getter For The Taliban

• Joining B-52s on my favorites list is the Daisy Cutter, a few of which have just lit up the skies over Afghanistan. Officially designated the BLU-82 in Pentagon language, these big babies weigh 15,000 pounds and are so big they must be dropped by parachute from cargo planes. So named because of the circular pattern of destruction it creates, the "Daisy Cutter" is the size of a small automobile and explodes about three feet above the ground. The resulting fireball incinerates anything within 600 yards. Its blast creates an enormous crater and a shock wave that can rupture human eardrums and crush nearby human bodies. "They make a heck of a bang when they go off, and the intent is to kill people," said Marine Corp Gen. Peter Pace, in a USA Today interview. Film clips have been shown on television several times, and the sight reminds one of the newsreels of atomic bomb explosions we saw in the 1950s and 1960s, when cameras miles away showed the titanic fireball, and a second or two later buildings and other structures were flattened as the blast wave spread visibly outward. Can't be any fun to be under a detonating Daisy Cutter.

Feel The Force, Let It Flow. . .

• The Brits, noted for their dry sense of humor, have found a new opportunity to show it. An Associated Press report in the October 14 Indianapolis Star notes that significant numbers of British citizens are filling in their 2001 census forms with "Jedi Knight" when asked for their religious affiliation. So many are using the designation that the government has had to assign Jedi Knight its own category when compiling census results. (Jedi Knights, for the uninitiated, are the warriors who battle evil in the Star Wars movies). British authorities appear uncertain how to react. An Office of National Statistics spokesman confessed that "large numbers" of Jedi Knight responses are pouring in but hastened to add that the government was "not saying that Jedi Knight was an official religion," then called such responses "nonsense" and urged people to stop making them. The British Press Association reported that an e-mail campaign was behind the orneriness. All Hail the Jedi Knights, I say. (October 14, 2001)
• Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is easily my favorite character in the Bush Administration. He and Cheney look like Bush's most brilliant decisions to date.
• `"We don't owe American anything. America owes us." --Al Sharpton, speaking at a conference in Atlanta the week of Nov. 26-30, 2001.
• The Montgomery County (Maryland) Council has passed an ordinance providing for a $750 fine if the smell of cigarette smoke from any resident's house "irritates a neighbor," according to columnist George Will on ABC's This Week program Nov. 25. Will referred to the council's office as "Taliban headquarters" and said his fondest hope is that when U.S. Special Forces are done with their work in Afghanistan, they will come home and "chase the Montgomery County Council into (nearby) Virginia."
• The headline of the education establishment's dreams appeared in this morning's Indianapolis Star. Over a story about Indiana's budget problems was the heading: "Fiscal Crisis Threatens Educational Reform Law." This is the sweetest music the teachers unions and other reform opponents could ever want to hear. (November 24, 2001)
• The U.S. Senate, in another of its typical late-night capers, voted itself a sneaky pay raise a few days ago. The Indianapolis Star, editorializing about it this morning, asked the cosmic (though disingenuous) question: "What were they thinking?" Surely the Star knows. The answer is easy. They were thinking: Screw the troops, they're asleep at the switch. (December 11, 2001)

Rebellion Brewing In Rocklin?

• When Breen Elementary School in Rocklin, California, put up a "God Bless America" sign outside the school in September after the terrorist bomings, the ACLU sent them an angry letter telling them to take it down. The ACLU claimed the sign sent a "hurtful, divisive message" to "religiously pluralistic" students. The school board so far has refused to obey the ACLU. No telling where this will lead.
• Think of how many times, though, that the words "God Bless America" have been printed and uttered in the United States since September 11, and how each utterance drives the ACLU and the Religious Left crazier and crazier. A deeply comforting thought.
• A man successfully boarded two successive flights in Tampa and Atlanta carrying a loaded pistol in his carry-on briefcase the last week of December. He was apprehended only when he was selected for a random inspection in Memphis. No charges yet filed. The man told police he had forgotten the weapon was in the luggage. It is hardly a confidence-builder to realize that after all the publicity about heightened airport security, this sort of thing could happen. (December 31, 2001)
• By the end of the year this beautiful paradox confronted the bodkin politic. Leftie screaming about racial profiling had made it impossible for authorities to concentrate on the people statistics and common sense say are most likely to be potential terrorists--young males of Arabic or Middle East origin. Instead, authorities must include equal numbers of 85-year-old grandmothers, two-month-old infants, pets, and others for screening. Then citizens who were stopped began to bitch about the nonsense of them being singled out when they, after all, are not the problem. Sorry, people, can't have it both ways. What to do? What to do? (December 31, 2001)
• Much of our world may have changed September 11, but political correctness and politics certainly haven't. Congress, responding to complaints about the appalling lack of airport security, passed legislation putting the federal government in charge of airport baggage handling and screening. Part of the upgrade included a requirement that the new federal employees have at a minimum a high school diploma. Then someone figured out that such a rule would eliminate at least one quarter of all the employees already at work in America's airports. So that requirement was dropped. We have a devil of a time doing much in this country that inconveniences us. And it was obvious at year's end that the country was still far from being serious about airport security.

A Question Of Will

• I have no doubt about America's ability to prevail in its declared war on terrorism, provided our leadership can overcome the squeamishness, short attention span, and general softness of character which dominate the popular culture. We have the ability, but do we have the will? It will take unflinching and sustained commitment and ferocious, unswerving willingness to do what is necessary for us to prevail. What is necessary is the annihilation of the enemy. That means no negotiations, no discussions, no focus groups, no counseling or self-esteem building. It means hunting down the enemy and killing them. It means killing them until there aren't any more of them, anywhere, able to do us harm. It is that pure and that simple. Our leaders need to confront every doubter, every weak-kneed sniveler everywhere, every day, with this question: What is it about the word "war" that you don't understand? The jury will be out for a long time on this. If we don't have the ability to stick to this task, we may as well mail in our resignation as a nation, for our enemies will triumph. Which will it be is the question we must answer. (December 31, 2001)

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