Though the Washington Post doesn't discuss any of the Top 5 issues facing America, it shows more passion and idealism today.
The first editorial is on a local issue - slot machines in Maryland. The second blasts Dubya and his administration on Haiti - "the Bush administration, neglecting the historical U.S. role in responding to trouble in this hemisphere, still tries to minimize its engagement and leave the hard work to others." It then puts Haiti into context, "The fecklessness of the administration's behavior is in keeping with a foreign policy that has disengaged the United States from large parts of the world over the past three years -- most notably Latin America." Good piece.
The third continues punditom's fascination with Gibson's "Passion". The Post slams the movie for giving an overall impression that "[t]he Jews conned unwilling Roman authorities into killing Jesus."
The summary of the signed opinion pieces is below.
David Broder has a
piece on Dubya could use Nader candidacy's to minimize the number of one-on-one debates with the Democratic nominee.
I am going to go a little off topic, as there is a point on Nader that I have never seen discussed. If Nader campaigns on the issues he brought up when announcing his campaign - on "corporate subsidies", "energy", the "Medicare bill", "the Patriot Act", "big brother and surveillance", "Congress increasing their pay regularly", "softness on corporate crime", "the Enron thing" and "deficits that are growing" - then it will benefit the Democratic party to have an independent voice denouncing the Republican behavior that is so dangerous to our country. However, I don't think Ralph is going to campaign on that. Why? Because if he admits that Dubya has done far more damage to the country that Gore would have done, then he is saying his whole 2000 campaign was wrong, that there is a difference between the two parties. So, if Nader does denounce the policies of Dubya and the Republican party, he has to then say the Democrats would do the exact same thing if they were in power. If Ralph was serious about addressing the problems he listed, it would be as a supporter of the Democratic nominee, not as a competitor.
Jim Hoagland has a piece on how European police and security forces are getting more repressive. He ignores that the American police and security forces are getting more repressive.
Harold Meyerson writes "This is the way that Bushes run for president when they fall behind: They plunge us into culture wars." He hammers Dubya AND his dad - "Like father, like son; like Atwater, like Rove; no one spreads sewage quite like the Bushes." I wonder if the effect of Dubya going down will be to take his dad's reputation with him? Meyerson then demolishes all of Dubya's arguments in favor of proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage.
Bob Graham, Democratic senator from Florida, demands that the US do something about Haiti now.
I will do a summary of the NY Times this evening.