CORRESPONDENCE
CORRESPONDENCE Flying First Class I was on a plane for three hours yesterday, which gave me the opportunity to read the entirety of your June issue. It was remarkable. In particular, the...
...In retrospect, the biggest disservice the media rendered Kerry was in ignoring that first press conference...
...Kerry was electable...
...Why are Americans bringing about the end of their own country...
...Perhaps in his next contribution, Taranto can fill us in...
...The greedy unpatriotic internationalist capitalists are now destroying the energy security of the country by working to sell Unocal to the Chinese Communists...
...Finally, the radical liberal, pro-Communist, anti-American Clinton lovers can speak the truth...
...I prefer, in the manner of the Eagles, "brutally handsome...
...THREE RIVERS PRESS A member of the Crown Publishing Group CORRESPONDENCE confirms what I have believed for some time now that the Democratic and Republican parties, in an unholy alliance, are bringing this country to ruination and destruction...
...and I am thinking of Hillary here...
...I only then became aware of the bias of the media...
...In fact, when asked what the secret to his longevity was, George replied, "Cigars and martinis...
...Whatever his shortcomings, John Kerry is an adult, and unlike Howard Dean, it is possible to imagine him as president...
...Our country is becoming bilingual, which I am totally opposed to...
...Pangloss of our modern "best of all possible worlds" (he never wants to say anything bad about anyone), but should she be the Democratic choice she will move a lot closer to Dean's style than Dean will ever move toward what she has chosen as her style at the moment...
...JIM BURNLEY Washington, D.C...
...Enemy Centt l J Shawn Macomber' and o Directed b CORRESPONDENCE Cure Ail Usually, I thoroughly enjoy Tom Bethell's articles...
...Taranto wrote: "What were the Democrats thinking...
...And he's cute too...
...Until then, the golden goose is just too alive and well...
...He almost gave all of us a bad name...
...He is going to go far...
...BERNIE SMITH Troy, Michigan Cigar Man's Burden I enjoyed Jed Babbin's article, "Cigar Symphony," which appeared in the July/August 2005 issue...
...I believe that cancer research is one area where both Japan and Europe are way ahead of us, and what they are finding is that the most promising things are nutritional in nature, promising very little profit to the industry...
...Media bias is indeed a twoedged sword...
...In fact, the Swift Boat Veterans held their first conference on May 4 when they issued an open letter calling Kerry unfit to be Commander in Chief, signed by virtually all of Kerry's commanders in Vietnam...
...Kipling was inspired by a newspaper article in which was described a breach of promise case whereby the husband had agreed to cease smoking cigars once married...
...What were Democrats thinking in nominating John Kerry in 2004...
...I only wish to point out that, on the issue of cancer and other medical research, he and all others seem to miss the elephant in the room...
...Every day...
...When he did not comply, she brought him to court...
...Congratulations...
...NANCY ANN HOLTZ Beverly, Massachusetts OCTOBER 2005 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR 7 Regular appearances by Jed Babbin • Lawrence Henry • Marina Malenic • Tabin • David Hogberg llins • Paul Beston...
...STEPHEN M. NAGY, JR., M.D...
...They [the Democrats] may yet find their feet and nominate someone smart enough to see that patriotism is a good thing...
...Warm regards, JOSEPH C. AVAKOFF San Jose, California P.S...
...Howard Dean will probably choke on that foot he keeps putting in his mouth, but I like the guy because he says what he thinks and feels...
...Given the current sources of research funding, primarily from government and charitable nonprofits, there is very much more money to be made in looking for a cure than there is to be made by having one...
...Sacramento, California La Vie en Rosen Having just read JR's column on the President's ranch in Crawford ("Covering Crawford" by James Rosen, TAS, July/August 2005), I must tell you that you have a talented young man writing for you...
...Although Mark Twain probably repeated it, it first occurs in Kipling's poem "The Betrothed" (1885...
...Exit polls showed that Democratic primary voters backed him because he was 'electable:" It's too bad Taranto didn't recall that not just Democratic primary voters felt Mr...
...I suspect no one reads Kipling now...
...My contention, however, is that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth would not even have been necessary had the press been honest and industrious enough to take a critical look at Kerry's "war hero" narrative and his actual antiwar history in the first place...
...True, Ben Stein is the Dr...
...First, the quote "A woman is just a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke" comes from Rudyard Kipling, not Mark Twain...
...Discover why "Nothing too extreme can be said about liberals...
...Jed Babbin's attribution of the oft-quoted phrase, "A woman is just a woman, but a cigar is a smoke," oft quoted in my generation, is incorrect...
...This was what gave the subsequent Swift Boat Veterans ads and book, Unfit for Command, much of their impact...
...However, Taranto omits some of the most telling support for his own theory...
...The media's blackout of the story encouraged the Kerry campaign to believe they were home free on the issue of his Vietnam service and to make that service the centerpiece of his nomination...
...It was obvious to me that many hundreds of his former comrades coming forward to say that he lied about his record in Vietnam and that he was unfit to be President would be important information for Americans...
...TOM CASTLE Dayton, Ohio James Taranto replies: Ms...
...Didn't John Kerry have 'loser' written all over him...
...However, I would like to politely make two points...
...And, in fact, it is around the edge of my cigar ashtray...
...Challenging Conventional Wisdom" (TAS, July/August 2005) was no exception...
...EDWARD I. SANCHEZ White Plains, New York Gentle Ben I couldn't believe it...
...Good question...
...Do not expect a cure to anything other than symptoms to come from an American research facility, until the medical and pharmaceutical professions provide most of this funding and demand results...
...Clearly what Stein is saying is that Hillary is not a dingbat, and we all know that...
...But that the Demos would be finding their feet to nominate her...
...Find out what the Washington Prowler has uncovered...
...Isaac's point is well taken, and I am professionally obliged to add that my employer, the Wall Street Journal, published an op-ed by John O'Neill on May 4, the day of the press conference, setting forth the case against Kerry...
...This from an old lady in Wisconsin...
...Hang on to him...
...Second, any mention of famous cigar smokers must include George Burns, who allegedly smoked a dozen cigars a day (and consumed five martinis a day) for most of his life...
...Finally, neither Stein nor any other writer ever asks the $64,000 question...
...or they may continue to let an actual dingbat, Howard Dean, set the pace...
...EILEEN LACANNE Wisconsin James Rosen replies: Children and chihuahas, madam, are cute...
...Had the media then probed Kerry on his Vietnam service, he would not have dared make it the focus of his nomination...
...Not Too Swift I believe James Taranto ("Kerry's Quagmire," TAS, July/August 2005) is correct in arguing that the media's failure to explore the problems surrounding Kerry's Vietnam service (and anti-war activities) helped to re-elect President Bush...
...See what daily insight from George Neumayr gets quoted by the who's who in Washington and talk radio...
...Will enough American males go out and vote for a woman to be president (a harridan at that) for "those people" to get back into the White House...
...Thanks for your kind words and I'll see you at our usual spot...
...From his article one would think the Swift Boat Veterans first emerged a month following the Democratic Convention...
...He died...
...Under Siege Glynn Custred's article ("Where Are My Juice and Crackers...
...He also may be saying that Hillary will probably feign patriotism to get elected...
...8 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR OCTOBER 2005...
...Commenting on Iowa caucus results in his January 20, 2004 Wall Street Journal online column (in which Kerry prevailed and became the de facto Democratic nominee), Taranto wrote, "All this may mean that the Democratic Party isn't as far gone as some of us thought it was...
...In particular, the articles about Pope John Paul II and Intelligent Design were among the best I have ever read on any subject...
...We couldn't believe it...
...I read what Ben Stein had written ("Doing God's Work," TAS, July/August 2005) over and over to be sure I understood him...
...I see big things ahead for this guy...
...RAEL JEAN ISAAC Irvington, New York I was surprised to read James Taranto's rehash of John Kerry's nomination and subsequent loss in the 2004 presidential election...
...Forgive me for mentioning "Clinton" in the same letter with the word "cigar...
...They just might say, "See, George Burns smoked all of those cigars and look what happened to him...
...The current administration is spending billions of dollars defending Iraq instead of our own nation's borders...
...The story fell flat because it was ignored by the media...
...And if, early on, he had issued the semi-apology which Taranto suggests would have cleared the air, given his performance in the debates, he might now be President...
...Hillary will stay far from the talk show hosts lest they bring up some of her lesser criminal acts (i.e., cattle futures, Travelgate, looting the White House), thus exposing her outrageous hypocrisy...
...John O'Neill, who emerged as spokesman for the Swift Boat Veterans, has described the group's reaction (Interview, American Enterprise, April/May 2005): "We were shocked...
...TAS, July/August 2005) only 6 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR OCTOBER 2005 NATIONAL BESTSELLER NOW IN PAPERBACK Find out what everyone's talking about T E INSTANT NEW YORK TINES BESTSELLER HOW To 1°A LK To A Li aERAL (rF you "sr) FULLY UPDATED FOR 2005 Includes never-before-published pieces that squeamish editors rejected and a brand-new chapter on "gigolos, document forgers, food throwers, and other distinguished liberals...
Vol. 38 • October 2005 • No. 8
