Much Ado (NYT)

In this case, his or her facts are wrong.

by Stanley Fish
More than a half century later, “McCarthyism” was joined in the lexicon by “Swiftboating,” the art of the smear campaign mounted with the intention not of documenting a wrong, but of covering the victim with slime enough to cast doubt on his or her integrity.

Is Trade the Problem? (NYT)

I am astounded to find the NYT on the right side of trade.

But ``solutions'' to what isn't a problem shows that everything goes down the same hole sooner or later on the left.

That means expanding the social safety net to help workers displaced by trade. But a lot more must be done, since the problem far transcends shuttered factories. The government has to invest more in education to help produce better-prepared, better-paid graduates. To help American companies compete, it must invest in better roads and ports and address the country’s health care crisis. And it must move toward more progressive taxation to help redistribute the spoils of growth.

The Low Road to Victory (NYT)

negative editorial

It is past time for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to acknowledge that the campaign’s negativity, for which she is mostly responsible, does nothing but harm to her, her opponent, her party and the 2008 election.

Shoddy! Tawdry! A Televised Train Wreck! (NYT)

not intuiting the problem

by Frank Rich

Ludicrous as the whole spectacle was, ABC would not have been so widely pilloried had it not tapped into a larger national discontent with news media fatuousness.

Road Map to Defeat (NYT)

kindergarten candidate threatened

by Bob Herbert
The Clintons are running around with flamethrowers, gleefully trying to incinerate the prospects of the party’s leading candidate, Barack Obama.

The Unfinished Reforms of 9/11 (NYT)

who better than NYT staff

If there is to be better oversight of the intelligence agencies, the people who control the purse strings must have knowledge, expertise and clear responsibility.

Carter Offers to Be Hamas Go-Between... (Drudge)

Why not hostage?

A Rider Off the Rails (NYT)

whose ax is gored

The Long Island Rail Road’s etiquette bully has walked — again. John Clifford, notorious for loudly and aggressively harassing fellow riders to make them behave better, was acquitted on Tuesday of assault, disorderly conduct and other charges stemming from an ugly encounter on the Long Beach line last year. Judge Larry Stephen of Manhattan Criminal Court said most of the witnesses had “an ax to grind,” and threw the case out.

More Time for More of the Same? (NYT)

winning

It is clear that Gen. David Petraeus and President Bush don’t have a strategy for ending America’s disastrous involvement in Iraq.

A Thousand Words for Snow

Does Arabic have a thousand words for shithead?