Be Careful What You Read

Former NPR producer Paul Beston writes at WaTi, Feb. 27, about how he saw the error of his liberal ways:

.... My main responsibility was to distill guests' books into a few single-spaced pages and write interview questions for Larry that he could accept or reject while adding his own. As part of my job, I read omnivorously in the conservative literature — books, periodicals and the Web sites that were coming online.

Larry had print subscriptions to just about everything, from Reason to Crisis. The piles of conservative magazines lay around my workspace like a stack of Hustler in Saudi Arabia, daring me to look inside. Opening the pages of National Review or Commentary for the first time gave a certain thrill of heresy.

It quickly became clear that my understanding of conservatism was a cartoon. The writers took perfectly reasonable positions and argued them with eloquence. Always, there was the sense of limits to what one could hope for — and the warning that taking action could make things worse instead of better. After my years in the fervent environs of the left, the sober skepticism of the conservatives was very appealing. I couldn't help but think that many of my fellow liberals had, like me, assiduously avoided coming in contact with their arguments. That was easy to do in New York City....

(Thanks, Jennifer.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 03/30/04 06:36:44 PM
Categorized as Social/Cultural.

Pro-Marriage South-Dakota Democrat Being Forced to Toe the Homosexualist Line

Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode CCXLIII

A story at Talon News today.

A rift has developed between the campaigns of Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Stephanie Herseth, the Democratic candidate for South Dakota's lone House seat over the issue of gay marriage.

A month ago, the Associated Press quoted Herseth as saying, "I agree with the president on this issue. Marriage should be between a man and a woman."

Her statement produced a strongly negative reaction from some Democrats, especially from inside the Daschle campaign. The Rapid City Journal reported that Steve Hildebrand, campaign manager for the Senate minority leader asked for a refund of his contribution to the Herseth campaign. No reason was given for the unusual request and requests for comment by Talon News were not returned.

A recent Associated Press story said that donations coming in through web sites had dried up, and Democrats were criticizing Herseth on the Internet. Ben Hanten, an executive board member of the South Dakota Democratic Party considered withdrawing his support until the candidate reassured him that her intent was to take the issue "off the table."

Others have not been as understanding.

Sam Hurst, a columnist for the Rapid City Journal wrote a blistering commentary in which he said, "Stephanie Herseth is too young and too bright to have lost her backbone. At an age when she should be known for brash idealism, she has chosen instead to pander to the dark voices of discrimination. Such is the cynical calculus of electoral campaigns."

Hurst said that at least one influential Rapid City couple canceled a fundraiser for her in disgust. Hurst noted that Herseth's stand puts her in direct opposition to the positions shared by Daschle and Sens. Tim Johnson (D-SD) and John Kerry (D-MA).

In a subsequent statement to the Rapid City Journal, the candidate said, "This is a difficult, deeply personal issue for many Americans. It is being debated in town halls, city governments, and living rooms across the country, so I see no reason why it should not be debated at the national level as well. That is what President Bush has called for, and it is why I did not object to his proposal."

She added, "I hope very much, though, that the timing of his proposal was not political because what we need in America today is more friendship and respect in politics and less divisiveness."

"There were some negative reactions," Herseth admitted. "Some were surprised and not very interested in hearing my rationale."

Despite taking a conservative position on gay marriage, Herseth remains one of the star candidates supported by the liberal, pro-abortion group Emily's List.

In 1996, the South Dakota legislature defined marriage as a union "between a man and a woman." Four years later lawmakers voted to respect any marriages conducted outside the state except those of same-sex couples.

Copyright © 2004 Talon News — All rights reserved.

The Blog from the Core asserts Fair Use for non-commercial, non-profit educational purposes.

So, the South Dakota state government has twice in the past eight years defined marriage as between a man and a woman. But, to make it onto the national Democratic stage, this candidate must renounce what is, apparently, the will of the people of the state she would represent.

Alas, it might work. ISTM that Americans are notoriously, historically stupid for electing individuals to the Congress who will do their darnedest to subvert the will of their constituents as expressed through their local and state governments. It's our fault, folks, if we keep on doing so.

But Herseth might have been able to avoid this if she had avoided saying that she is supporting Satan Incarnate the president (as if she isn't supporting the American people and 5,000 years of Western civilization): she should have said, instead, that she supported the state legislature expressing the will of the people who elected them, and that she would not work against them in the Congress.

(Thanks, Ryan.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 03/30/04 06:20:24 PM
Categorized as Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode.

The Row Back Times No More?

Great news from Donald Luskin at NRO today: NYT says they're going to require columnists to openly 'fess up to errors.

Something happened at the New York Times last week — a small thing, perhaps, but fundamental and potent — that may forever diminish the privileges and power of the liberal media elite.

What happened is that the Times has been forced to deal with its fox-guarding-the-henhouse policy of letting its op-ed columnists handle corrections of their own errors. That policy of institutionalized unaccountability has led, just as you would expect, to lots of errors and almost no corrections, and to the illusion of infallibility for the likes of Paul Krugman.

Think how much less influential liberal icons like Krugman and Maureen Dowd will be when their errors must be admitted and corrected. Think how the threat of that will restrain them from making errors in the first place. And, most important, think how much less powerful their rhetoric will be when it can no longer rely of errors which, to be blunt, are frequently not "errors" at all — but rather deliberate distortions, misquotations, and downright lies.

The Times's policy-shift is subtle but significant. In a memo last week, editorial-page editor Gail Collins declared,

while their opinions are their own, the columnists are obviously required to be factually accurate. If one of them makes an error, he or she is expected to promptly correct it in the column. After some experimentation at different ways of making corrections, we now encourage a uniform approach, with the correction made at the bottom of the piece.

What does this mean, exactly? It means that no longer can columnist corrections come in the form of what Times “public editor” Daniel Okrent calls a “rowback” — the correct restatement of the error in a subsequent column, without reference to the original error or any admission that there even was an error in the first place. Columnists (and reporters, for that matter) love rowbacks — they can comfort themselves by setting the record straight, but without having to admit the error....

Perhaps NYT's embarrassment over this was a partial catalyst?

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 03/30/04 05:53:22 PM
Categorized as Media.

Holy Baptism

Today is the forty-sixth anniversary of my baptism. (This day, 1958, was Palm Sunday.)

Lege.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 03/30/04 07:32:42 AM
Categorized as Religious.

"Golden Poppies"

A spring poem by John Hearn.

Warming and waking in time and
Season, spring calls sleeping seeds
To glory the ancient earth with
Leaf and flower in colors hot
And new. Paradise
Hovers on the air, straining
In the marred perfection of form and fire,
To keep at last the promise
Of Our Lady's splendor — begging
My selfish heart to relent and in adamic
Labor lift each budding blossom
To itself. The desert wind
Blows over the hills and through little
Valleys between, and each brilliant
Orange poppy dances in the new sun
For my shame and delight.

Vide.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 03/30/04 07:29:16 AM
Categorized as Literary.