"Context" From Former Priest Contemptuous of the Pope
 

     Virginia Heffernan opens Tuesday's "Critic's Notebook" to check the coverage of the death of Pope John Paul II, accompanied by the helpful headline: "Pope John Paul Appraised As Pope, Not Rock Star." (Thanks for clearing that up, NYT.)

     But most of Heffernan's critique is devoted to a dissident from what Heffernan sees as favorable reflections on the pope's life: "But some programs have ventured to present John Paul II as, first and foremost, a Catholic, and one, furthermore, with grave reservations about American life. On Saturday, ABC's perceptive special, 'John Paul II, Legacy of a Pope,' featured an interview with James Carroll, a writer and onetime Catholic priest. While Americans have understandably found an anti-Communist ally in the pope during the cold war, Mr. Carroll suggested, they have sometimes failed to recognize that opposing totalitarianism does not always mean championing democracy or a free market. Mr. Carroll said, 'John Paul II has faithfully tried to preserve this medieval, absolutist notion of pope-centered Catholicism with everything going out from the Vatican.' This authoritarianism, Mr. Carroll said, has had dire consequences for Catholics in the United States, where criminal activity in the priesthood might have been brought to light earlier had the church not been so determined to close ranks. This rigorous assessment was striking amid the pomp, the sketchy biographies, and the make-news of other television coverage. And while Mr. Carroll's arguments need not supersede the tributes to the pope, they do provide context."

     Speaking of context: Nowhere in her several graphs on Carroll (which take up over half her piece) does Heffernan note Carroll's left-wing politics. He was against the war in Afghanistan as well as Iraq.

     Even clearer is Carroll's contempt for Pope John Paul II. Carroll has  described the late pope as a "disaster" who "disgraced the Church" and had become "the chief subjugator of women" As the linked article above points out, Carroll sees orthodox Catholicism as a social evil.

For Heffernan's story with Carroll's unchallenged left-wing "context," click here:

Is the Party Over for Republicans?
 

     Just months after Bush won re-election in resounding fashion, political reporter Adam Nagourney is already wondering if the Republicans are on the decline in a Sunday Week in Review piece, "Schiavo to Social Security -- Squabbles Under the Big Tent," which opens: "Could this be the same Republican Party that was on such triumphant display after President Bush's re-election just four months ago?

     Nagourney sees traps and problems around every corner for the GOP: "Republicans and conservatives are quarreling over Congress's intervention in the Terri Schiavo case, and the rising influence of Christian conservatives. Some Republicans in Washington and statehouses are balking at federal tax cuts in the face of deficits or spending cuts, while a few are worried that the war in Iraq will lead to more foreign entanglements. Republicans are beginning to whisper in the past tense as they discuss Mr. Bush's signature second-term measure, the revamping of Social Security. Conservative commentators and blogs are even warning that Republican divisions could turn into turmoil once President Bush begins his fade from power….Conflicts between social conservatives and limited-government conservatives had been academic simply because conservatives did not control the federal government. As it was, more than a few conservative Republicans had been uncomfortable with President Bush's push to amend the Constitution to bar gay marriage. Now, the influence of Christian conservatives has become a source of anguish for some Republicans, as they weigh the considerable contribution the Christian conservatives have made to Republican dominance against what some argue is a threat to party domination in the future."

For the rest of Nagourney on worried Republicans, click here:

Sen. Byrd = "Zeus From the Mountaintop"
 

     Sheryl Gay Stolberg lauds Sen. Robert Byrd in Sunday's "Master of Senate's Ways Still Parries in His Twilight."

     Congressional reporter Stolberg is often generous with Bush critics (usually moderate http://www.timeswatch.org/articles/2004/1004.asp#2 Republicans) but this time her subject is the Bush-hating Byrd: "Byrd's reputation as an authority on all things senatorial is under attack. Lawmakers return to Washington on Monday after a two-week recess, and the Senate is headed for a procedural showdown over a Republican-led drive to end the minority Democrats' use of the filibuster in blocking President Bush's judicial nominees. Mr. Byrd, the senior senator from West Virginia, is front and center in that fight, carrying the banner for his party and at the same time drawing the ire of conservatives outraged by his vocal defense of the filibuster."

     Though Stolberg does bring up Byrd's past (like his Klan membership), she doesn't dwell on the revelations and couches them as partisan attacks: "Christian conservatives and right-wing bloggers are unearthing his past as a one-time member of the Ku Klux Klan who filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1964. ('I've said time and time again that I was wrong about that and I apologize,' Mr. Byrd said.)….And Republicans are decrying a recent speech by Mr. Byrd, in which he invoked Hitler to assail the nuclear option."

     Then there's this unlikely-sounding detail, followed up by some more substantive reporting: "The crowd swooned like schoolgirls catching their first glimpse of the Beatles, and the senator seemed to relish every minute. But political analysts say getting the rock-star reception from the MoveOn set could backfire for Mr. Byrd in West Virginia, where President Bush won last November's election by 13 percentage points. At home, Mr. Byrd is sometimes called 'the prince of pork,' for the millions of dollars in federal aid he has brought back for public works projects, many of which bear his name."

     Stolberg concludes her profile of Byrd with flattery: "With his white hair, his polished wooden cane and hands that shake from what aides say is a benign tremor, Mr. Byrd cuts a seemingly frail figure in the Capitol, and some wonder if he would be up for a grueling campaign. His wife of nearly 68 years, Erma, has been ill, and he said she is very much on his mind. Yet as he sat in his chandeliered Capitol office last week, his cane resting by his side, Mr. Byrd seemed energized, casting thunderbolts like Zeus from the mountaintop."

For the rest of Stolberg on Byrd, click here:

Pulitzer Winner Bogdanich Loved by the Trial Lawyer Lobby
 

     Investigative reporter Walt Bogdanich won the Times' only 2005 Pulitzer Prize for "Death on the Tracks," which the awards committee "For National Reporting" praised for revealing "that some major railroad companies sidestepped responsibility for grade-crossing fatalities by destroying or losing evidence and failing to report hundreds of accidents, and also showed the ineffective oversight by government regulators."

     The paper toots its own horn in Tuesday's paper with a one-page ad: "Government agencies, which had done little to tame the railroads, were not eager to help Bogdanich's investigation."

     But there were some who appreciated Bogdanich's work. In the Winter 2005 issue of the Association of Trial Lawyers newsletter, editor Pamela R. O'Dwyer gushes: "Our tenacity paid off. After at least six years of sharing these stories, a writer gathered the body of evidence, refined the supporting documents, and unveiled the unsafe management practices and the discovery abuses. Every American who believes in justice should read the series of New York Times articles by Walt Bogdanich….They illustrate perfectly how our efforts in the courtroom are not the end of the road for the facts we gather."

To read Bogdanich's winning entries, click here: