Torchsong Trilogy

Good morning. Several new items today.

• The CBS Evening News lent 90 seconds of air time to Brian Rohrbough, father of one of the murdered students at Columbine High School. Rohrbough went on to lecture the audience about God's absence from schools, the evils of abortion and suicide, and a lost generation of kids. Free speech at its best--as long as CBS informed the viewer about Rohrbough's background. CBS didn't. See "Evangelical Taliban Does CBS Evening News."
  

• The Tuesday Column: Ex-presidents’ lives offer a retrospective lesson in contrasts. Since World War II, Democrats have usually distinguished themselves as public servants. Republicans have distinguished themselves — when they have distinguished themselves at all — as servants of their shareholders or of themselves, or as amiable irrelevancies. The contrast goes to the heart of the philosophy of the two parties. So why is it, like ex-presidents, equally ignored? See "The Difference Between Democrats and Republicans"
  

• Taliban Redux: What were US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Florida Senator Mel Martinez doing, cozying up to America's alleged arch-enemies in Afghanistan? See "Bill and Mel's Excellent Adventure"

As always, thanks for reading and for your comments.pt

States of Denial

Good Monday Morning. A few new items today.

• How else not to begin with Bob Woodward? But the news isn't Bush's state of denial. That's been obvious even since before Woodward wrote "Bush At War" five years ago. The more catastrophic state of denial that Woodward unwittingly reveals is his own, and the press corps' in general. See "Woodward At War."
  

• Osama bin Laden's best ambassadors were in Washington last week for a dinner date with President Bush. See "Enemies, a Love Story."

• Misunderestimating intelligence is a specialty of the White House. The latest National Intelligence Estimates retreated an old question in Washington, Bush's insistence on having read "three Shakespeares" notwithstanding: Can the president read? See "It Is Iraq, Stupid" (with apologies to James Carville).

Candide's Latest should be updated by early morning Monday. Thanks for reading.pt