God Help Us

Senator John Kerry (D-MA) will file papers this week with the Federal Election Commission, a pro forma step on the way to a declaration of candidacy for the 2004 Democratic Presidential nomination.

I wrote a lot about Senator Kerry as a columnist for The Boston Globe. He's an able, smart fellow. But he's a bummer. He wears the burdens he bears on his sleeve. This is disconcerting because -- on paper, at least -- his life could hardly be better. He's married to the terrific Theresa Heinz. His children (from his first marriage) are great. He has more money than he can count (Theresa Heinz is one of the richest women in the world). Every advantage God could bestow upon someone has been bestowed on John Kerry.

Yet the tone of his campaigns is always funereal. In John Kerry's view, the glass is always half-empty. After a while, this disconnect between the facts of his life and the woebegone-ness of his rhetoric begins to grate.

I doubt he'll be able to wrest the nomination away from Gore. I doubt anyone can. But Kerry surely won't win a single state primary until he cheers up and walks his campaign down the sunny side of the street.

Al Qaeda's Allies

A chilling tale of Chechen rebels seeking to acquire nuclear weapons can be found here. It is well worth reading.

Paul Krugman's Drivel

I promised myself I would never write another word about New York Times op-ed columnist Paul Krugman because, well, why bother? Unfortunately, in a weak moment at the St. Louis Airport, I made the mistake of reading his most recent screed, which contained the following paragraph:

Fox's Brit Hume even claimed credit for the midterm election. "It was because of our coverage that it happened," he told Don Imus. "People watch us and take their electoral cues from us. No one should doubt the influence of Fox News in these matters." (This remark may have been tongue in cheek, but imagine the reaction if the Democrats had won and Dan Rather, even jokingly, had later claimed credit.)

As it happens, Mr. Hume did not, in his interview on the Imus show, "claim credit" for the midterm election results. He was mocking the notion that he or anyone else at the Fox News Channel had that kind of power. "It was because of our coverage that it happened" was Hume's way of saying that anyone who believed that was an idiot.

The editors of The New York Times op-ed page know this. But they printed Krugman's drivel anyway. And the question is this: Why would you print something that everyone knows is nonsense?

Blog Stop

Ellisblog will not be posting new material this week. A happy Thanksgiving to one and all.

The Osama Letter

A letter, purportedly written by Osama bin Laden, is circulating on the Internet and has been published by The Guardian. You can read it by clicking here. In it, Osama calls America to account for virtually all of the world's ills. The world's best-known mass murderer doesn't like Jews very much, but you probably knew that already. He does, however, support the Kyoto protocols, which is a weird touch.

Their National Anthem is a Beer Commercial

More on the moron controversy. This from people who start weeping when they hear the following advertisement for Molson's beer:

Hey. I'm not a lumberjack, or a fur trader.
And I don't live in an igloo, or eat blubber, or own a dogsled.

And I don't know Jimmy, Sally or Suzy from Canada, although I'm certain they're really, really nice.

I have a Prime Minister, not a President.

I speak English and French, NOT American. and I pronounce it 'ABOUT', NOT 'A BOOT'.

I can proudly sew my country's flag on my backpack. I believe in peace keeping, NOT policing. DIVERSITY, NOT assimilation, AND THAT THE BEAVER IS A TRULY PROUD AND NOBLE ANIMAL.

A TOQUE IS A HAT, A CHESTERFIELD IS A COUCH, AND IT IS PRONOUCED 'ZED' NOT 'ZEE', 'ZED'!!!

CANADA IS THE SECOND LARGEST LANDMASS! THE FIRST NATION OF HOCKEY! AND THE BEST PART OF NORTH AMERICA!

MY NAME IS JOE!! AND I AM CANADIAN!
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Gore 2004

The Gore for President 2004 campaign soft launched last Friday, with the Baba Wawa interview and The Washington Post Sunday Magazine piece and has continued on (and on) this week. Today, columnist and Atlantic Monthly editor Michael Kelly, writing for The Washington Post op-ed page, launches on Gore. A column worth reading, as always.

Latest Fast Company Column

A look back at the year 2002. It was not a very good year.

Rush Rouses Rabble?

Yet more evidence that leading Democrats have lost their marbles can be found by clicking here. Soon-to-be ex-Majority Leader Thomas Daschle (D-SD) accuses Rush Limbaugh and "Limbaugh wannabes" of inciting the rabble to new levels of nasty and vicious behavior. Mr. Daschle provided no evidence to substantiate this claim. Daschle's remarks were the latest in a series of Democratic rants regarding the supposedly undo influence of conservative talk radio on American politics.

Openly Proclaimed

The following is from The Wall Street Journal's Best of the Web:

"Our country is headed for very deep trouble," Gore told Time. "I wish it were not so, but I believe that with all my heart. I think that our economic plan has zero chance of working. I think that it is wrong at its core. I think that our foreign policy, based on an openly proclaimed intention to dominate the world, is a recipe for getting our country in some of the worst trouble it's ever been in." Bush, Gore says, has compiled the worst economic record since Herbert Hoover. "For Democrats to lose the Senate and to lose ground in the House means that we have got to examine what we could have done more effectively as a party. I think it's the time now for us to be a loyal opposition, not just in name but in reality, and to present a clear alternative."

Did I miss one of the President's speeches? When did he or anyone in his Administration "openly proclaim" their "intention to dominate the world?" What in the world is Gore talking about? I "get" the Hoover boiler-plate. But the Dr. Evil stuff is just loony.