November 30, 2004, 8:40 a.m.
The unbullyable Horowitz, a dangerous poem, a couple for the ages — and more

A reader writes, "Is Jimmy Carter sick or something? A gang of thugs just stole an election in Ukraine, and our former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner wasn't there to give it thumbs-up."

Al Franken called David Horowitz a racist — what an asinine charge — and, unlike a lot of other people, David wouldn't take it. So he has answered in a big and damning way. One of the glorious things about David — aside from his knowledge and intelligence and eloquence — is that he can't be bullied. Oh, for a million more of him. When we — we Reaganites — gained Horowitz, we gained a lot.

It's not every day that the New York Times publishes an article about the Washington Post, and when they do, you take notice. Or at least I do. A week and a half ago, the Times published a piece on the Post's hiring of a managing editor. (Payment now required, to see the piece in toto.) What's so newsworthy about that? you ask. Well, the man is white. And a man! So? you ask.

What do you mean, "So?"? Haven't you been living in America?

According to this report, another finalist for this job was black, and another was a white woman. The hiring of the white man — he has a name, actually, and personhood: Philip Bennett — caused some upset at the paper. But the man who did the hiring, Leonard Downie Jr., "said he 'thought for a long time' about diversity before deciding Mr. Bennett was best for the job."

Hiring the person you think best for the job — in some circumstances, that is almost an act of courage now.

Joshua Sharf sent the following message: "Bush's new commerce secretary, Carlos Gutierrez, fled Cuba in 1960 as a child. Consider that Coca-Cola's legendary CEO, Roberto Goizeuta, also was a Cuban refugee. Those who look at Castro's 'achievements' might consider what prosperity the island might have achieved if Communism hadn't driven away this kind of talent." Yes, and the new Florida senator (and former HUD secretary), Mel Martinez, was a Peter Pan (Pedro Pan) child.

Etc., etc.

Was mightily amused by a news story in the New York Post. (Good luck finding it online; what a difficult site.) I ask you to read a couple of paragraphs, and then let me give you the punchline:

A Long Island high school student placed a fake kidnap call to his 15-year-old schoolmate's family and threatened to "shank" [knife] the boy if they didn't come up with $5,000 [in] ransom, officials said yesterday.

Suffolk police said Michael Ramirez, 16, of Rockville Centre, ripped off his schoolmate's cellphone to call the student's mother, telling her he wanted money in return for his safety — and told her not to call the cops.

"We have your son, and we want $5,000 or we'll [knife] him," Ramirez told the mother . . .

Etc., etc.

Okay, here's the beauty part. After the kid was caught and charged, his father said, "They'll get you for every little thing if you're Hispanic."

Ah, there is a man who has learned America — who has really learned America. Nice going, sir: You are the perfect American for 2004.

Thank goodness Carlos Gutierrez et al. learned other lessons.

The governor of Kentucky, Ernie Fletcher, is a Republican, and also a doctor. He supports the death penalty for the most heinous criminals. As a result, a group of other doctors is trying to have his medical license revoked — can't kill, you see.

Begin your own personal anti-abortion rants now . . .

David Broder, the "dean" of the Washington press corps, is of course very unhappy with President Bush, and one of the reasons is that the president campaigned for Republicans in the recent elections.

No, really.

"[W]ith Republicans riding high in Congress, Bush, rather than courting conservative Democrats like [defeated Texas representative Charlie] Stenholm, wants to cut their legs off. He went out of his way to plug [Republican Randy] Neugebauer when he campaigned nearby, and Vice President Cheney came in twice to help sink Stenholm."

The president went out of his way to "plug" the Republican candidate? Dick Cheney visited twice?

Will the vicious partisanship ever cease?

I look forward to the criticism that this dean, or future deans, will level against Democratic presidents when they have the audacity to campaign for Democratic candidates.

(Incidentally, Broder's complete column can be found here. Also incidentally, the Republican candidate, Neugebauer, was an incumbent congressman like Stenholm. Redistricting had pitted the two against each other.)

Received a little story from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, described as "a nonprofit, nonpartisan public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions." Story is out of Garwood, N.J., and in particular the Lincoln-Franklin Elementary School. (Uh-oh: Those Lincoln and Franklin guys sound like "white males.") Fifth-graders were assigned to write Thanksgiving poems, and one girl penned, "Pilgrims thanked God for what they were given. / Everybody say . . . Happy Thanksgiving!"

But one word, "God," was edited out before the poem was displayed in the school hallway.

As the Becket Fund says, "Fortunately, the school changed its mind and decided to reinsert the word 'God' into the poem after the child's mother expressed outrage and the school consulted with attorneys." Still, sounds like a close call.

Thank God — I mean, thank Floyd Abrams, or Harry Blackmun, or whomever — that the school consulted with those attorneys! Lawyers tell us exactly what we may and may not do!

I was wondering what had happened to Donald Runnicles. The Scottish conductor, who holds several posts in the United States, promised — or seemed to promise — that he would leave the country if Americans had the gall to reelect Bush. So I did some rooting around — and he is not leaving. Stayin' put, apparently. Oh, well.

While I was rooting, I found a feature in the San Francisco Chronicle, in which "artists" — boy, is their definition broad — detail their pain and fears following the president's reelection.

The poet Robert Hass said,

The question of how the rest of us should behave seems pressing. Erosion of civil liberties? The courts? Further and deeper predations on the environment? It's hard to see how the Endangered Species Act will survive, except perhaps in name. [Do you love that "perhaps"?] An interesting indicator of the intentions of that Bush clique will be to see whether they punish Republican dissenters like Richard Lugar. If they go after moderate Republicans first, watch out.

Oh, positively Niemoellerian, that last bit!

(And how about that "Republican dissenter" Richard Lugar — Nixon's favorite mayor!)

Nancy Peters, "co-owner and publisher, City Lights Books," said, "We're still in a state of shock. We have our 'Dump Bush and Cheney' sign in the window, which Lawrence [Ferlinghetti] painted himself. We're looking forward to impeachment or, perhaps, indictments for war crimes."

There are many other entries, but I can't go on.

If you don't want to believe that "artists" are the most stupid people on the face of the earth, don't read the Chronicle.

But do read Ralph Peters, who, as usual, has written some stirring columns of late. Here he is on Muslim Americans, including a friend who "had recently found yet another reason to believe in America — in a place the rest of us would overlook. Coming from a land where the rich can even murder with impunity, he was thrilled that Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps had to face drunken-driving charges.

"'Seven gold medals!' my friend said. 'He is a hero, sir! And still he must face the court! It is not hidden away because he is powerful. This is very good, this is Islam."

And here is Peters on Ukraine, in a typically bold, bracing column.

That snarky, lefty Newsweek does not let you down. They had a piece on possible locations for the George W. Bush presidential library. So what was their headline? "One Library Bush Is Sure to Visit."

Now, what could they have meant by that?

In response to my notes re Condi Rice yesterday, many readers expressed the desire that she run for vice president, or even president. One post at a time, y'all — let her face the State Department bureaucracy before she faces the electorate. Then again, the electorate is split between Democrats and Republicans. The Democratic-Republican split in the State Department is . . . what? Ninety-five to five? Or am I attributing too much diversity to the department?

Robert Merrill recently died, and many of you may remember him as the kindly, handsome, fun-loving gent who sang the national anthem at Yankee Stadium. Merrill was a superb baritone, and, if I may, I'll recommend two recordings: first, the great Thomas Schippers recording of La Forza del Destino, with Leontyne Price, Richard Tucker, et al. (Sorry, can't find it on Amazon. Good luck.) And an album of Jussi Bjoerling in duet, which includes a lot of Merrill. (Found that one: here.)

And a word about the late Cy Coleman? I'll love him for several things, but perhaps most for "The Rhythm of Life," one of the great songs, enchanting, enlivening, and warming in almost every version (e.g., the King's Singers').

I was going to publish several letters, but this one is so amazing, I think I will let it have the floor all to itself:

Mr. Nordlinger,

I'm an 18-year-old college student, but my boyfriend is currently deferring school as he manages a small, trendy retail outlet in the Midwest. [I'm omitting some details, to protect this couple from retaliation.] His store carries several Che Guevara items, including at least two shirts and a hat. Whenever anybody purchases one, he asks the buyer whether he knows who is featured on the item, and about half do not. He reports answers as diverse as "Bob Marley" and "that one guy from the 70s." [Guevara died in 1967.] He makes it a point to inform them of Guevara's identity and legacy, as briefly as possible, but so far has yet to dissuade any of them from purchasing. It sickens us both to see that their nonchalance doesn't disappear with their ignorance. . . .

As an aside, on the night my boyfriend and I met, we spent the entire evening (February 21, 2003) discussing Fidel, China, the Iraq war, and especially Jimmy Carter, while banished to a laundry room by peers whose attempted fornication we had (apparently) been interrupting. When the topic turned to Carter, I referred to your Impromptus of the previous day (along with your "Carterpalooza") at great length. Apparently, once I had left, he was smitten, especially by the fact that he found somebody who, in his words, "despises Carter as much as I do, but knows more!" He's an NRO-nik for life now.

Sigh. Sigh.