The Week

London will apparently crack down on Al-Tajdeed Radio, which preaches violent jihad. But what about the BBC?

Let’s say you’re a Democratic senator. In the last few weeks, you’ve been having some, well, impure thoughts about the Supreme Court nomination of John Roberts. Maybe he should be confirmed, you think, or, at least, maybe you should not try to stop the nomination, since doing so might backfire on your party. Now, if you ever find yourself having such thoughts, be sure that you never, ever tell anyone-especially a reporter. Just look what happened after the Washington Post published a front-page story headlined, “Roberts Unlikely to Face Big Fight; Many Democrats See Battles as Futile.” The very possibility that Roberts might be confirmed so enraged the leaders of groups like People for the American Way, the Alliance for Justice, and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights that they quickly gave leading Democrats an earful-so much so that the very next day, the Post published another front-page story headlined, “Democrats Feel Heat From Left On Roberts; Groups Say Fight Should Be Stronger.” Sure enough, some Democrats became stronger. For example, Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, released a statement calling Roberts a representative of the “far right wing of his party” whose views are “radical” and aimed at “reversing decades of policies on civil rights, voting rights, women’s rights, privacy, and access to justice.” Now that’s more like it.

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London will apparently crack down on Al-Tajdeed Radio, which preaches violent jihad. But what about the BBC?

Let’s say you’re a Democratic senator. In the last few weeks, you’ve been having some, well, impure thoughts about the Supreme Court nomination of John Roberts. Maybe he should be confirmed, you think, or, at least, maybe you should not try to stop the nomination, since doing so might backfire on your party. Now, if you ever find yourself having such thoughts, be sure that you never, ever tell anyone-especially a reporter. Just look what happened after the Washington Post published a front-page story headlined, “Roberts Unlikely to Face Big Fight; Many Democrats See Battles as Futile.” The very possibility that Roberts might be confirmed so enraged the leaders of groups like People for the American Way, the Alliance for Justice, and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights that they quickly gave leading Democrats an earful-so much so that the very next day, the Post published another front-page story headlined, “Democrats Feel Heat From Left On Roberts; Groups Say Fight Should Be Stronger.” Sure enough, some Democrats became stronger. For example, Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, released a statement calling Roberts a representative of the “far right wing of his party” whose views are “radical” and aimed at “reversing decades of policies on civil rights, voting rights, women’s rights, privacy, and access to justice.” Now that’s more like it.