Text 7010, 136 rader
Skriven 2008-07-24 17:49:00 av TIM RICHARDSON (1:123/140)
Ärende: Hos (clip!) `The Column'
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BUT WILL THEY RESPECT HIM IN THE MORNING?


July 23, 2008


Back before the Republican Party was saddled with John McCain as its nominee,
The New York Times called him "the only Republican who promises to end the
George Bush style of governing from and on behalf of a small, angry fringe."

The paper praised him for "working across the aisle to develop sound
bipartisan legislation" and predicted that he would appeal to "a broader range
of Americans than the rest of the Republican field."


At the same time, the Times denounced "the real" Rudy Giuliani as "a narrow,
obsessively secretive, vindictive man" and Mitt Romney as "shape-shifting,"
claiming it's "hard to find an issue on which he has not repositioned himself
to the right since he was governor of Massachusetts."


Here are a few issues I found that Romney hadn't switched positions on, and it
wasn't "hard": tax cuts, health care, same-sex marriage, illegal immigration
and the surge in Iraq. The only issue on which Romney had changed his position
was abortion, irritating people who would prefer for Republicans to refuse to
run in places like Massachusetts and New York City in order to preserve their
perfect pro-life credentials.


Times columnist Nicholas Kristof echoed the editorial page in early February
with a column titled: "Who Is More Electable?" In the very first sentence,
Kristof concluded that McCain is "the Republican most likely to win the
November election." Kristof touted McCain's "unusual appeal among swing
voters" and cited polls that showed McCain would do "stunningly well" in a
general election.


Also in February, CNN produced polls showing McCain doing better than "generic
Republican" in a general election, which Jeffrey Toobin said was a tribute to
how "well respected" McCain is. Hey, is it too late for us to nominate
"generic Republican"?


And on MSNBC's "Hardball," from the way Chris Matthews carried on about
McCain, you'd think he had caught a glimpse of Obama's ankle. Matthews said
that McCain was "the real straight talker ... a profile in courage ... more
seasoned than the current president, a patriot, of course ... honest and
respected in the media. He has all the pluses in the world of a sort of a, you
know, an Audie Murphy, if you will, a real war hero."


I guess the party's over.


Now the Times won't even publish McCain's op-ed. I wouldn't have published it
either -- I've read it twice and I still can't remember what it says -- but I
also wouldn't have published McCain's seven op-eds in The New York Times since
1996.


Since McCain has gone from being a Republican "maverick" who attacks
Republicans and promotes liberal causes to the Republican nominee for
president, he's also gone from being one of the Times' most frequent op-ed
guest columnists to being an unpublishable illiterate.


I looked up McCain's oeuvre for the Times, and if you want unpublishable,
that's unpublishable. In one column, McCain assailed Republicans for their
lack of commitment to the environment, noting that polls -- probably the same
ones showing him to be the most "electable" Republican -- indicated that "the
environment is the voters' number-one concern about continued Republican
leadership of Congress."


McCain concluded with this ringing peroration: "(O)ur nation's continued
prosperity hinges on our ability to solve environmental problems and sustain
the natural resources on which we all depend." That's good writing -- I mean
assuming you're writing hack press releases for an irrelevant environmentalist
think tank.


The rest of McCain's op-eds in the Times bravely took on -- I quote --
"unnecessary regulation" and "pork-barrel spending." It's that sort of courage
and clear-headedness that tells me we're going to be OK this fall.


In coming out four-square against "unnecessary regulation" and "pork-barrel
spending," McCain threw down the gauntlet to those who favor "unnecessary
regulation" and "pork-barrel spending." Actually, I think there's a rule that
says you're not being brave if there is not a single person in the world who
would publicly disagree with you.


While the media are busy telling McCain that "It's not you, it's us," Al Gore,
a recent Democratic candidate for president, has become certifiably nuts.
Gore's increasingly bizarre public statements are a reminder of the dangers of
going off carbs cold turkey.


On "Meet the Press" last weekend, Gore called on America to be carbon
dioxide-free within 10 years. In the same spirit of pointlessness and
futility, I call on America to be 100 percent oxygen-free within 10 years.


Say, how do "hot lap dances" affect global warming? Last week, a Gore
supporter, Louis Posner, enraged over the result of the 2000 presidential
election and founder of the Democratic voter organization Voter March, was
arrested in New York on charges of prostitution and money laundering.


According to the police, in addition to sponsoring events with Vincent
Bugliosi about Bush stealing the 2000 election, Posner ran a prostitution ring
out of his club, the Hot Lap Dance Club, where employees say they were
required to have sex with Posner in order to work there. No wonder Posner was
so testy about the 2000 election -- he wanted to preserve the glory of the
Clinton years.


Imagine the important reporting we could have gotten on the Hot Lap Dance Club
story if only the entire American media weren't with the Messiah on his "Ich
Bin Ein Berlitzer" Tour!


But a two-week vacation in Europe is just what B. Hussein Obama needs to
polish up his speech about how all our geopolitical challenges are due to
American boorishness and stupidity. That ought to make for a boffo op-ed in
The New York Times.


COPYRIGHT 2008 ANN COULTER



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