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Times Watch for August 19, 2004

More Cheap Shots at Gun Owners from Kristof

     In his latest anti-gun screed "Who Needs Assault Weapons?" columnist Nicholas Kristof resorts to tiresome and cheap psychoanalyzing of shooters as self-doubting men who fire guns to make themselves feel more macho: "Still, assault weapons, while amounting to only 1 percent of America's 190 million privately owned guns, account for a hugely disproportionate share of gun violence precisely because of their macho appeal. Assault weapons aren't necessary for any kind of hunting or target shooting, but they're popular because they can transform a suburban Walter Mitty into Rambo, for a lot less money than a Hummer." (Never mind the term "assault weapons" is so vague that it's basically meaningless.)

     He throws in his pro-gun bona fides while lamenting the "special problem" of "assault weapons": "I grew up on an Oregon farm that bristled with guns to deal with the coyotes that dined on our sheep. Having fired everything from a pistol to a machine gun, I can testify that shooting can be a lot of fun. But consider the cost: 29,000 gun deaths in America each year. While gun statistics are as malleable as Play-Doh, they do underscore that assault weapons are a special problem in America."

     Note that Kristof provides no statistical backup for that "special problem" assertion. Perhaps he's a bit gun-shy?

     When Kristof's March 2002 column, "Chicks With Guns," was lambasted for inaccuracies by gun-rights supporters, Kristof responded petulantly in a related column, datelined Yemen and titled "Visiting N.R.A. Heaven." In it, Kristof sarcastically urged some of his more passionate critics to move to Yemen: "With you and everybody else carrying around an assault rifle, with armor-piercing rounds in your bandolier, with a couple of grenades in your pockets, you'll really feel safe. You'll love the freedom!"

     In his latest column, he makes a logical leap from gun deaths in general to those ill-defined "assault weapons" in particular, while making an odious comparison of annual gun deaths to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and war fatalities in Iraq: "The bottom line is that Mr. Bush's waffling on assault weapons will mean more dead Americans. About 100 times as many Americans are already dying from gunfire in the U.S. as in Iraq. As many Americans die from firearms every six weeks as died in the 9/11 attacks--yet the White House is paralyzed on this issue. Mr. Bush needs to live up to his campaign promise and push to keep the ban on assault weapons. Otherwise, we'll bring more of the Iraq-like carnage to our own shores, and his refusal to confront our gun problem will kill more Americans over time than Osama bin Laden ever could."

     With that comparison, Kristof lumps the deaths of gang members, drug dealers, thwarted muggers and suicides (as well as innocent victims of gun crime) together with those at the WTC and the Pentagon who perished on 9/11--innocents all.

For the rest of Kristof's column, click here.

• Assault Weapons | Columnists | Gun Control | Nicholas Kristof | Terrorism

Philip Shenon Steams Rice Over 9/11

     Intelligence reporter Philip Shenon puts Bush National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice on the hot plate again in his Thursday story on the testimony of former Bush lead weapons inspector David Kay: "Dr. Kay did not identify Ms. Rice by name in his often-impassioned testimony. But his remarks were clearly aimed at her performance and reflected a widespread view among intelligence specialists that Ms. Rice, perhaps Mr. Bush's most trusted aide, and the National Security Council have never been held sufficiently accountable for intelligence failures before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the Iraq war."

     As usual in Shenon's reporting, Bush critic Richard Clarke comes off as the voice of wisdom: "His criticism of the council, which is responsible for coordinating the work of national security agencies in the government, mirrored that made earlier this year by Richard A. Clarke, Ms. Rice's former top counterterrorism deputy, who accused her of paying little attention to dire intelligence threats throughout the spring and summer of 2001 that Al Qaeda was about to strike against the United States."

For the rest of Shenon on Kay, click here.

• Richard Clarke | Iraq War | David Kay | Condoleezza Rice | Philip Shenon | WMD

How Dare Anyone Cover Charges by Swift Boat Vets

     In apparent disbelief that anyone has the effrontery to question Kerry's Vietnam war history, the editorial page goes negative on the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth on Thursday: "It may seem outlandish to launch a campaign broadside by television ad and book flackery devoted to discrediting the respectable Vietnam War record of Senator John Kerry, who has five combat medals. But that is exactly what a Republican-financed group of partisans is doing in presenting itself as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and tattooing the Democratic presidential nominee with accusations of lying about his service and war wounds."

     Later the Times attacks alternative media outlets for having the gall to actually report on the story: "The assault is gaining attention, with Internet and cable television zealots debating combat minutiae and even whether Mr. Kerry enacted wartime events with his political future in mind or held secret meetings with Communists." That's an odd position for the paper of record to take--as if reporting a potentially anti-Kerry news story is somehow beneath contempt.

     Though the charges from the Swift Boat veterans may be gaining attention via the Web and talk radio, the Times has studiously tried to ignore the story, its paltry contributions focused on the political controversy, rather than the actual charges the group is raising against Kerry--one of which ("Christmas in Cambodia") has already resulted in a retraction from the Kerry camp.

     From the security of its First Amendment protection, the paper's editorial page bellows that some speech should be curtailed, (though to be fair, they also talk on the leftwing group MoveOn.org): "Voters should also know that the group is one of the new 'shadow party' efforts of supposedly independent (but, in truth, transparently partisan) activist groups that have been set up to evade campaign laws and take advantage of nonprofits' tax breaks. One of the more prominent of these groups, the leftist MoveOn.org, is running ads attacking President Bush's Air National Guard service. We have denounced the Democrats for pioneering and financing these efforts--which the Federal Election Commission, ever the snoozing watchdog of American politics, has done nothing to rein in."

For the full editorial, click here.

• Campaign 2004 | Campaign Finance | Editorial | Sen. John Kerry | Swift Boat Veterans | Vietnam

Excusing Kerry's Unenthusiastic VFW Reception

     Jodi Wilgoren watches John Kerry's performance at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Cincinnati, noting "About half the veterans in the front part of the auditorium remained seated during ovations after Mr. Kerry's introduction and conclusion, a contrast to the warm reception Mr. Bush received in the same hall two days before."

     Later, however, Wilgoren provides a little Kerry spin: "But as some denounced Mr. Kerry's criticism of the Vietnam War, others in the audience saluted his service in it, responding favorably to his repeated reminders that he had worn the same uniform that they did. Even Mr. Kerry's mixed reception as he criticized the Iraq war was notable because the V.F.W. typically tilts Republican and tends to stand behind an incumbent commander in chief."

For the rest of Wilgoren's take on Kerry in front of the V.F.W., click here.

• Campaign 2004 | Sen. John Kerry | Veterans of Foreign Wars | Jodi Wilgoren

The Kerry Campaign, at Home in the Times

     The Times issues another celebratory, non-cynical look at Kerry's "front-porch campaign" tactic, this one from contributing writer Jocelyn Hazelwood Donlon in a feature nestled in the cozy confines of the paper's House & Home section.

     Donlon begins "Stoops to Conquer in America," a history of front porches, this way: "Over the last two months, Senator John Kerry has taken his campaign to the front porches of America. At a dozen carefully planned 'porch visits,' he and his running mate, Senator John Edwards, have fielded questions from small-town hosts and a genial gathering of invited neighbors. The objective, of course, is to exploit the porch as an evocative backdrop, a Norman Rockwell podium from which to address middle-class America. The Kerry strategists have shrewdly discerned that porches are more than shady spots for sipping iced tea; they occupy a potent place in the American imagination." So this is no cynical political tactic, but pure Americana!

     After outlining the history of front porches on the campaign trail, Donlon concludes by sounding tickled about a hypothetical visit from Kerry: "I for one, like the attention politicians are bringing to front porches, even if I am being manipulated. I'd like to invite Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards to my own porch in Spanish Town to discuss my concerns about war, education, the environment and other issues. And I'd be glad to listen to their proposed solutions. I'll even serve iced tea--with lemon and sugar, if they wish."

For the rest of Donlon's article on the history of the front porch, click here.

• Campaign 2004 | Jocelyn Hazelwood Donlon | Sen. John Kerry

E-mail TimesWatch Director, Clay Waters, with TimesWatch feedback at cwaters@mediaresearch.org