Yachting With Grover
NEW YORK--After publishing yesterday's column we cooked a light dinner, then made a beeline for the New York Yacht Club, where Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform was throwing a bash. We should've known better than to come on a half-full stomach (though an optimist would say it was half-empty), for the food was excellent, though at one point the bar ran out of club soda: another brush with dehydration.

We saw lots of familiar faces: Myrna Blyth, Elizabeth Crowley, Jim Lucier, Brendan Miniter, Joel Mowbray, Deroy Murdock, David Robinson, Bob Tyrrell and his wife, Jean. If you have a tip, please write us at . . . oh wait, sorry, that's a different list. We ran into seven people who'd seen our stand-up comedy act the preceding night. All seven said we were funny, and only one agreed with the organizer's complaint that we went too long. That certainly made us feel better.

We met Rep. Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, and offered our sympathy for the cruel fate of sharing a name with that lunatic who has the "secret agent" wife. We also met Dalton Tanonaka, who's challenging Rep. Neil Abercrombie for Hawaii's First Congressional District. Tanonaka said Hawaii is in the midst of a Republican resurgence, having in 2002 elected a GOP governor, Linda Lingle. (Lingle is probably the most accomplished graduate of the Cal State Northridge journalism program.)

On the other hand, Hawaii is such a Democratic state that it even voted for Jimmy Carter in 1980. Perhaps the tropical climate and beautiful beaches act as an antidote to malaise. In any case, in the last presidential election Al Gore outpolled George W. Bush in the First District, 55% to 39%, only slightly narrower than Gore's statewide margin of victory.

We spent some time chatting with Bill Federer of Missouri, the Republican candidate for the seat currently held by Dick "Miserable Failure" Gephardt. Federer challenged Gephardt in 2000 and lost, 58% to 40%, but Gephardt is now retiring after his own miserable failure of a presidential campaign. Federer told us his opponent is Russ Carnahan, "the son of the governor who was killed in a plane crash."

"If he was killed in a plane crash, how can he be running for Congress?" we asked.

It turns out the subordinate clause referred to the governor; this son was not on board the plane when it crashed. But it occurred to us that we were silly to ask the question anyway. After all, if the son who did die in the plane crash were to be elected in Congress, he would only follow in the footsteps of his dad, who won his 2000 Senate race three weeks after his death. In fact, Missouri hasn't elected a live Democrat to the Senate since 1980, so a pulse may well be a political liability.

Gephardt is a fairly moderate Democrat, at least by the standards of today's far-left House party. His district leans Democratic, but not overwhelmingly so; Gore beat Bush 54% to 43%. And Federer thinks Carnahan is vulnerable on the issue of same-sex marriage. An initiative on Missouri's Aug. 3 primary ballot prohibits the redefinition of marriage to include same-sex couples; it passed with more than 70% of the vote. On July 27 Carnahan, a state representative, wrote a letter to the Friends of PrideFest, a gay-rights group, boasting: "This year I was one of the few to vote against House Joint Resolution 47, which put the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage on the ballot."

Federer hands a copy of the letter to anyone who's interested, and he says Democrats in the district, many of whom are socially conservative, are usually persuaded to vote for Federer after reading it. That this is such a radioactive issue in a Democratic-leaning district in the ultimate bellwether state illustrates why John Kerry, in his nomination speech last month, referred only in code to his opposition to the Federal Marriage Amendment. In fact, we mentioned that reference to Federer, who obviously closely follows this issue, and he said it escaped him.

At least Russ Carnahan stood up and took an unpopular position on principle. Agree with it or not, you have to admire him for having the courage John Kerry lacks.

Out of Touch
After the ATR gala, we put in a brief appearance at a nearby barroom gathering of Young Republicans. Outside were four protesters. Try to comprehend just how pathetic these people are: They think that other people meeting for drinks at a bar is an occasion for protest.

And they don't seem to realize that they're only helping President Bush's re-election effort. We don't mean just in the obvious way, either. Consider this: If these people would stop protesting and spend the next two months looking for work instead, the unemployment rate would rise.

As we walked toward the bar, we passed one of the protesters and we thought we'd say something provocative to see her reaction. We tapped her on the shoulder and said, "You know, assent is more patriotic than dissent."

We were surprised at what she said: "Don't touch me! You don't know me! That's very rude!" Mind you, we tapped her on the shoulder; it's not as if we gave her the Bill Clinton treatment. But there's no way of knowing if it was the tactile contact or the challenge to her political prejudices that made her feel so threatened.

Meanwhile, some of her fellow protesters have been doing more than just touching. "Police are bracing for more confrontations with protesters after a violent march to Madison Square Garden in which a plainclothes detective was pushed from his scooter and pummeled by a protester," the Associated Press reports:

"People started tugging at his bike and pushing him around," said Rob Raney, a 22-year-old Ohio college student. "Finally they just pushed him off his bike."

Hundreds of police in riot gear and on horses swept in to disperse the crowd, shouting, "Move!" Less than a dozen arrests were made as protesters yelled back, "Whose streets? Our streets!"

Reuters, meanwhile, reports that "dozens of demonstrators heckled and jeered Broadway theatergoers on Sunday, seeking confrontations with Republican delegates who arrived in New York City to back President Bush's reelection bid":

Individual protesters kept tensions high, some of them hissing or cursing at well-heeled couples heading to popular Broadway musicals like "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and "Fiddler on the Roof."

"Republican murderers go home and kill your babies!" one young man yelled at theatergoers. . . . A second protester shoved a middle-aged woman in a black cocktail dress, shouting: "Bitch, go home! We don't want you here!"

Imagine if some right-wing wackos were treating black Democrats this way. The cries of "intimidation" and "voter suppression" would be deafening.

A "news" story in the New York Times makes this claim about the big rally on Sunday: "The faces appeared to be a cross-section of the American experience." Obviously reporter Robert McFadden has never set foot outside the East Village.

Then there's this clueless Associated Press headline: "New York City Is Quiet Despite Increased Security." Despite? Duh, why are so many people in prison when the crime rate is falling?

Homelessness Rediscovery Watch
John McCain gave a good speech last night, emphasizing the need for resoluteness and unity in winning the war on terror. But an odd thing happened at one point in the speech: He said something about a "disingenuous filmmaker," whereupon the audience erupted in boos--and indeed, who wouldn't boo disingenuous filmmakers?

What's odd is that as this was going on, the TV cameras (we were watching at home) focused in on a fat, disheveled-looking man with several days' growth of beard, who apparently was sitting in the hall somewhere. The man looked dazed and confused; he was smiling as everyone else booed.

Apparently the GOP is issuing convention credentials to homeless guys. Isn't that taking the "compassionate conservatism" thing a little far?

Incidentally, we got another hilariously incompetent e-mail from the Kerry campaign last night. The subject line read "Another liar," and the first sentence of the text was, "Tonight, Senator John McCain is set to address the Republican National Convention." The subject line's "liar" turns out to be someone else, but the way these guys put together the e-mail, a casual reader would think Kerry, who by the way served in Vietnam, had declared war on McCain.

Rudy Steals the Show
The star of the evening was Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, whose performance inspired in us a touch of self-loathing for having voted in favor of the city's term-limits measure back in 1993. His speech was full of heart and intelligence and humor; our favorite section was a brief history of terrorism:

Terrorism did not start on September 11, 2001. It started a long time ago. And it had been festering for many years. And the world had created a response to it that allowed it to succeed.

The attack on the Israeli team at the Munich Olympics was in 1972. That's a long time ago. That's not yesterday. And the pattern began early. The three surviving terrorists were arrested. And then within just three months, the terrorists who slaughtered the Israeli athletes were released by the German government--set free.

Action like this became the rule, not the exception. Terrorists came to learn time after time that they could attack, that they could slaughter innocent people and not face any consequences.

In 1985, terrorists attacked the Achille Lauro. And they murdered an American citizen who was in a wheelchair, Leon Klinghoffer. They marked him for murder solely because he was Jewish. Some of those terrorist were released, and some of the remaining terrorists--they were allowed to escape by the Italian government because of fear of reprisals from the terrorists.

So terrorists learned they could intimidate the world community and too often the response, particularly in Europe, would be accommodation, appeasement and compromise. And worse--and worse--they also learned that their cause would be taken more seriously almost in direct proportion to the horror of their attack.

Terrorist acts became like a ticket to the international bargaining table. How else to explain Yasser Arafat winning the Nobel Peace Prize while he was supporting a plague of terrorism in the Middle East and undermining any chance of peace?

Just one quibble: He forgot to say "in 1994."

Giuliani also made a powerful case against John Kerry, though he began by saluting his military service (though forgetting to say "by the way" and "in Vietnam"):

President Bush sees world terrorism for the evil that it is. John Kerry has no such clear, precise and consistent vision. This is not a personal criticism of John Kerry. I respect him for his service to our nation.

And Brutus is an honorable man. But the audience--consisting of people who are strongly committed to defeating John Kerry--applauded Kerry's service. That's because Republicans genuinely revere military service, in contrast with Democrats, who see it as (to borrow a phrase from the late Pat Moynihan) boob bait for bubbas, and who can't understand why the bubbas aren't impressed with Kerry's faux-macho my-war-record-is-bigger-than-yours posturing.

Anyway, Giuliani went on:

It is important and critical to see the contrast in approach between the two men: President Bush, a leader who is willing to stick with difficult decisions even as public opinion shifts and goes back and forth; and John Kerry, whose record in elected office suggests a man who changes his position often, even on important issues.

Now, when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, John Kerry voted against the Persian Gulf War. [Audience boos.] Ah, but he must have heard your booing, because--because later he said he actually supported the war.

Then in 2002, as he was calculating his run for the presidency, he voted for the war in Iraq. And then just nine months later, he voted against an $87 billion supplemental budget to fund the war and support our troops.

He even, at one point, declared himself as an anti-war candidate. And now he says he's pro-war candidate. At this rate, with 64 days left, he still has time to change his position four or five more times.

My point about John Kerry being inconsistent is best described in his own words, not mine. I quote John Kerry, "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it."

Maybe this explains John Edwards's need for two Americas. One where John Kerry can vote for something and another where he can vote against exactly the same thing.

Yes, people in public office at times change their minds, or they realized they're wrong. I have, others have, or circumstances change. But John Kerry has made it the rule to change his position, rather than the exception.

In October of 2003 he told an Arab-American Institute in Detroit that a security barrier separating Israel from the Palestinian Territories was a "barrier to peace." OK.

Then a few months later, he took exactly the opposite position. In an interview with the Jerusalem Post he said, "Israel's security fence is a legitimate act of self defense."

The contrasts are dramatic. They involve very different views of how to deal with terrorism. President Bush will make certain that we are combating terrorism at the source, beyond our shores, so we don't have to confront it, or we reduce of confronting it here in New York City, or in Chicago or in Los Angeles or in Miami or in the rural areas of America. That's what it means to play offense with terrorism, and not just defense.

John Kerry's record of inconsistent positions on combating terrorism gives us no confidence that he'll pursue such a determined, difficult course.

President Bush would not allow countries that appear to have ignored the lessons of history and failed for over 30 years to stand up to terrorists, he wouldn't allow them to stop us from doing what is necessary in the defense of our country. He's not going to let them set the agenda. Under President Bush, America will lead, not follow.

Remember, just a few months ago, John Kerry kind of leaked out that claim that certain foreign leaders who opposed our removal of Saddam Hussein prefer him. Well, to me, that raises the risk that he might well accommodate his position to their viewpoint.

After enduring four days last month of strongerathomerespectedintheworld pabulum in Boston, it's so refreshing to hear a convention speaker who isn't an outspoken ketchup heiress and philanthropist (though Giuliani is, according to the New York Times, a "backer with relish") say something blunt and real.

Kerry: I Am the Troops!
CNN reports that some Republican delegates are making fun of Kerry "by sporting adhesive bandages with small purple hearts on them":

According to CNN, "Kerry's campaign quickly responded to the purple heart bandages, saying the Republicans are 'mocking our troops.' "

So Kerry thinks he's "our troops." The man reaches new heights of haughtiness every day.

Digging the Dirt
The worms at DemocraticUnderground.com are disheartened to learn that moles also dwell beneath the surface. Someone pointed out to them our item yesterday in which we quoted a post from one "saracat" of Phoenix about his/her/its discovery, during an attempted voter-canvassing drive, that many Democrats plan to vote for President Bush. Saracat is upset:

OMG! Can they do that without my permission? I thought it would be "safe" to recount my experience on a Dem Board. I don't think it is right to use my experience, which I posted in an effort to gain knowledge, against the Campaign. Can I protest this misuse of my statement? Anybody know? Moderators? I have been high jacked!

Another user points out that our quoting of the original post is protected by the fair-use provisions of copyright law. Then "demwing2" weighs in with an effort to buck up saracat:

When I sold door to door, we had an adage that only 1 in 10 would buy. When I got 9 doors slammed in my face I was at my happiest, because I knew I was set for a sale. If I had 18 slams, I knew that I had two sales on the way. It's averages, always averages.

By this standard, the Kerry campaign will have succeeded if it manages to exceed 10% of the popular vote. We've never been bullish on Kerry, but even we think he'll do at least that well.

This Just In
A report from Agence France-Presse suggests it would be a mistake for Republicans to get too complacent:

Democrats were hoping that two critical reports this week on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal will erode George W. Bush's "war president" status. . . . The reports on Iraqi prisoner abuse gave opposition Democrats new ammunition to blast the president's handling of Iraq, with presidential challenger John Kerry calling for an independent commission probe.

We looked into this, and here's what we found: It turns out there was a kerfuffle, or possibly even a brouhaha, awhile back because some soldiers in Iraq abused some prisoners. So now we get it. This could really help the Dems--if only the media would give it some coverage.

What Would We Do Without Experts?
" 'It Just Kept Falling,' Expert Says of Rain"--headline, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Aug. 31

Not Too Brite--CLXI
"A Georgia man who drove home with a friend's headless body after a truck accident then went to bed while the remains dangled out the window faces charges including vehicular homicide and drunk driving," Reuters reports from Atlanta.

Oddly Enough!

(For an explanation of the "Not Too Brite" series, click here.)

Frigging Away in Reuterville
The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz (second item) picks up a story originally broken on National Review Online:

After sending out a routine press release on abortion, the National Right to Life Committee received a stinging e-mail from Todd Eastham, a Reuters editor in Washington:

"What's your plan for parenting & educating all the unwanted children you people want to bring into the world? Who will pay for policing our streets & maintaining the prisons needed to contain them when you, their parents & the system fail them? Oh, sorry. All that money has been earmarked to pay off the Bush deficit. Give me a frigging break, will you?"

NRO notes that the press release was actually on partial-birth abortion, a fairly rare and extremely gruesome procedure. Suddenly we understand why Reuters reports with such glee when people die horribly (see above item and the previous CLX in the series), and why the "news" service goes out of its way to be "fair" to Osama bin Laden. Todd Eastham and his colleagues love anything that keeps the population down.

(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Mara Gold, George Shea, Janice Lyons, Herschel Hamner, Naftali Friedman, Chris Fountain, Michael Segal, Nicholas Kerr, Samuel Walker, Julie Walker, Alan Ridgeway, Christopher Arfaa, David Tolan, Erik Andresen, Barak Moore, Pete Drum, Reid Davis, Tammy Mosley, Mark Schulze, Julie Beck, Dave Johns, Martin Mix, Kirk Teutschbein, Paul Burns, David Wheeler, Tim Hughes, Aaron Dickey, Chris Bergman, Michael Lehr, Todd Eberle, John Sulima, Thomas Mayer, M. Gilbertson, Kathy Judson, Roger Condgon, Erin Payton, Diego Ruiz, Matthew Kaufman, Ethel Fenig, Daniel Olohan, Clark Landry, Nathan Mower, Fred Worth and David Farkas. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)

Today on OpinionJournal:

• Review & Outlook: Are Republicans still the party of ideas?
• Brendan Miniter: Dog owners bite Kerry.
• Ned Crabb: A respite from politics, hunting large-mouth bass in Maine.