Dems vs. Free Speech
The Democratic National Committee is attempting to use the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law to suppress a documentary critical of John Kerry. Sinclair Broadcasting, which owns 62 TV stations nationwide, plans next week to air "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal," which features interviews with former prisoners of war who feel betrayed by Kerry's antiwar activism. The Washington Post reports:

Sinclair's decision . . . is drawing political fire--not least from the Democratic National Committee, which plans to file a federal complaint today accusing the company of election-law violations. "Sinclair's owners aren't interested in news, they're interested in pro-Bush propaganda," said DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe, whose complaint will accuse the firm of making an in-kind contribution to the Bush campaign.

If this is an in-kind contribution, what is "Fahrenheit 9/11"? How about Bruce Springsteen's pro-Kerry concerts, or for that matter newspaper editorials endorsing one candidate or another?

All these things of course are constitutionally protected free speech, as is "Stolen Honor." McAuliffe's complaint is frivolous, though it does underscore the absurdity of campaign finance laws that attempt to silence some political speech while carving out an exception for the media.

As well, it underscores the authoritarian nature of the political left when it comes to political speech. Liberals are quick to cry "censorship" when others merely criticize far-left or anti-American speech (remember the Dixie Chicks?), but they are eager to use the force of government to silence those with whom they disagree.

'Verbal Shorthand'
Former Enron adviser Paul Krugman offers a list of "lies or distortions you'll hear" from President Bush at tomorrow's debate. He concludes with this sort-of testimonial to John Kerry's honesty:

Mr. Kerry sometimes uses verbal shorthand that offers nitpickers things to complain about. He talks of 1.6 million lost jobs; that's the private-sector loss, partly offset by increased government employment. But the job record is indeed awful. He talks of the $200 billion cost of the Iraq war; actual spending is only $120 billion so far. But nobody doubts that the war will cost at least another $80 billion. The point is that Mr. Kerry can, at most, be accused of using loose language; the thrust of his statements is correct.

Mr. Bush's statements, on the other hand, are fundamentally dishonest. He is insisting that black is white, and that failure is success. Journalists who play it safe by spending equal time exposing his lies and parsing Mr. Kerry's choice of words are betraying their readers.

So you see, when someone on Krugman's side says something that isn't true, it's just "verbal shorthand" and those who point it out are "nitpickers." In other words, fake but accurate. The other side, however, is "fundamentally dishonest."

The Drudge Report notes this quote from John Edwards yesterday: "When John Kerry is president, people like Christopher Reeve are going to walk. Get up out of that wheelchair and walk again." Is this Krugman's idea of fundamentally honest verbal shorthand?

Albright: Clinton Lied
The Associated Press has a story about a bizarre political rally in Portland, Maine, featuring Madeleine Albright, President Clinton's secretary of state:

"Its a very simple issue. Bill Clinton lied, but nobody died," Albright said when asked, during a rally for Democratic candidate John Kerry, about her support for Clinton during his impeachment.

No one died in Watergate either; does Albright think Richard Nixon should not have been forced to resign as president? And what does it say about the Democratic Party that its members are proud to declare their erstwhile leader a liar?

The Baghdad Opera House Debate
London's Sunday Observer offers a fascinating historical aside on the site of tomorrow night's presidential debate:

In his fading years, the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright embarked on a final grand project. Invited in 1957 by King Faisal of Iraq to design a new opera house, Wright expanded the brief into a plan for Baghdad complete with museums, parks, university and authentic bazaar. Dispensing with his "prairie style," he peppered the scheme with domes, spires and ziggurats.

The 1958 revolution meant that none of it was built. But the ever-resourceful Wright simply offered the design to a new client. And today, the Baghdad opera house is the Grady Gammage Memorial Auditorium at Arizona State University: an example of Wright's versatility and the forum for next week's presidential debate. Under the arches of a lost Iraqi skyline, George W Bush and John Kerry will meet in debate for the final time.

For more on Wright's Baghdad plans, see Adam Cohen's August 2003 Wall Street Journal piece.

Homer Nods
It seems we erred in an item yesterday in which we described Australia as the fourth-biggest member of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, after the U.S., Britain and Missouri. According to GlobalSecurity.org, Australia actually has only about 250 men in Iraq, and another 600 in the theater. This ranks it 13th among national contingents within Iraq (GlobalStrategy apparently includes the Missouri figures as part of the U.S.) and seventh in the overall theater. That's OK, we still love the Aussies.

Those of you who were mystified by our reference to Missouri must have been watching baseball on Friday night, when John Kerry declared in the debate: "Just given the number of people from Missouri who are in the military over there today, were a country, it would be the third largest country in the coalition, behind Great Britain and the United States. That's not a grand coalition."

Hey Sen. Kerry, way to put a swing state in its place!

Abolitionists for Upholding Dred Scott
Yesterday's New York Times featured a very odd op-ed article by Mark Roche, a dean at Notre Dame, arguing that pro-life Catholics should vote for John Kerry:

Politics is the art of the possible. During the eight years of the Reagan presidency, the number of legal abortions increased by more than 5 percent; during the eight years of the Clinton presidency, the number dropped by 36 percent. The overall abortion rate (calculated as the number of abortions per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44) was more or less stable during the Reagan years, but during the Clinton presidency it dropped by 11 percent.

There are many reasons for this shift. Yet surely the traditional Democratic concern with the social safety net makes it easier for pregnant women to make responsible decisions and for young life to flourish; among the most economically disadvantaged, abortion rates have always been and remain the highest. The world's lowest abortion rates are in Belgium and the Netherlands, where abortion is legal but where the welfare state is strong. Latin America, where almost all abortions are illegal, has one of the highest rates in the world.

None of this is to argue that abortion should be acceptable. History will judge our society's support of abortion in much the same way we view earlier generations' support of torture and slavery--it will be universally condemned. The moral condemnation of abortion, however, need not lead to the conclusion that criminal prosecution is the best way to limit the number of abortions. Those who view abortion as the most significant issue in this campaign may well want to supplement their abstract desire for moral rectitude with a more realistic focus on how best to ensure that fewer abortions take place.

Now first of all, when did Clinton become a champion of "the traditional Democratic concern with the social safety net"? We thought he ended welfare as we knew it. Second, if abortion rates declined during the Clinton years, it was probably in substantial part because of a Roe effect corollary: If you aborted your child, chances are she won't abort hers.

Most of all, as Robert George and Gerard Bradley suggest, how can anyone who believes abortion is the moral equivalent of slavery (as we do not, but Roche claims to) vote for someone who is determined to uphold Roe v. Wade? This is the equivalent of someone professing to be an abolitionist yet voting for a president committed to preserving Dred Scott.

The World's Smallest Violin
Human Rights Watch is weighing in on behalf of Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, who was captured in Pakistan last year, Agence France-Presse reports:

" 'Disappearances' were a trademark abuse of Latin American military dictatorships in their 'dirty war' on alleged subversion," said Human Rights Watch special counsel Reed Brody.

"Now they have become a United States tactic in its conflict with Al-Qaeda," Brody said.

Of course, the reason KSM and his cohorts are being held incommunicado is to prevent future terrorist attacks, like the one that led to the disappearance of some 3,000 people in one day.

Spell Check Strikes Again
Blogger Kevin Whited has an image of the lead editorial in today's Houston Chronicle, on the Afghan election: "Exit polling and international observers predicted that Interim President Hamid Crazy would win election with more than 51 percent of the vote," it says. Later it refers to "Asama bin Laden." Oh well, poor Jiang Zemin of China used to get spell-checked into "Jingo Semen" on Microsoft Word, though Word 2002 suggests "Kiang Zelman."

Yes, but on Which Side?
"France, Algeria to Cooperate in War on Terrorism"--headline, Jerusalem Post, Oct. 11

The IDF Nods
"The Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman admitted Tuesday that the IDF was wrong to accuse the UNRWA of using its ambulances to transport Qassam rockets," Ha'aretz reports. UNRWA is the U.N. agency in charge of Palestinian Arab "refugees"; we noted the allegation last week.

What Would We Do Without Medical Experts?
"Medical Experts: Coffee Causes Caffeine Addiction"--headline, WPXI Web site (Pittsburgh), Oct. 11

Write Early and Often--IV
We got bored with tallying the publication of boilerplate Democratic letters on the presidential and vice presidential debate, and the phenomenon seems to be fading anyway. Ned Crabb, The Wall Street Journal's letters editor, tells us he received but 550 prefab letters on the second presidential debate, a decline of more than 80% from the first debate.

Still, we were tickled by this letter from one Richard Ross of Chino Hills, Calif., that appeared in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (last letter):

During the first presidential debate, I was hoping to hear two things.

First, I wanted to hear John Kerry lay out his plans for Iraq and for winning the war on terror. I wasn't disappointed. Kerry staked out a strong plan to bring peace to Iraq and to refocus our efforts to fight terrorists around the world.

Second, I wanted to hear President Bush tell the truth about Iraq, but he refused. While his own intelligence services, military advisers, Republican colleagues, and even his secretary of state have said that Iraq is in chaos, Bush still presents a version of Iraq seen through rose-colored glasses.

This debate made it clear: John Kerry is a leader we can trust to tell us the truth when it comes to our nation's security. George Bush has had his chance; I'm ready for a new direction. Bush is a Vietnam coward.

This is all boilerplate except for that non sequitur of a last sentence, "Bush is a Vietnam coward." What's that all about? Is Ross trying to insinuate that John Kerry served in Vietnam?

(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Ethel Fenig, Jim Orheim, Allen O'Donnell, Thomas Dillon, Darryl May, David Beebe, Jim Fehrle, Stuart LeVine, Edward Schulze, Michael Zukerman, Steve Klein, David Calhoun, Reid Matthews, S.E. Brenner, Andrew Sacks, Jon Sanders, Ed Lasky, Doug Payton, Michael Benn, Drew Anderson, Bryan Tyson, Barak Moore, Tom Elia, Michael Segal, Mario Romano, Peter Prange, Anne Linehan, Daniel Foty, Pete Drum, C.E. Dobkin and John Sanders. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)

Today on OpinionJournal:

• William Weld: The Kerry style won't overcome the Bush substance.
• Brendan Miniter: Bush's big-government conservatism may be a political winner.
• Roger Kimball: Jacques Derrida is dead, but his baneful ideas live on.