Samantha Powers, charismatic with sparkling intellect

The LAT today describes Samantha Powers as "charismatic" and says she has a sparkling intellect. How smart could she be? Shooting one's mouth off isn't very smart. The LAT reports she once played basketball with George Clooney. No wonder she's considered a foreign policy expert.

Market down, buzzards circle

The stock market was down yesterday -- all week actually -- and there was bad news on the jobs front. Today, the LAT's buzzards, Gosselin and Petruno, circle overhead waiting to pick the decaying flesh from the dying body of the U.S. economy. They may yet be disappointed.

Lexington analyzes Democrats

In the March 6th edition of The Economist, the Lexington columnist analyzes the two wings of the Democratic Party represented by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and guesses at the impact the contest between them for the presidential nomination could have on the party. The logic of the analysis seems reasonable and the guesses seem plausible. Is there a new columnist?

LAT says 2000 election "undemocratic"

In an editorial today, the LAT says George W. Bush "was awarded the presidency" after the 2000 election. According to the LAT, that election was "undemocratic." Though Al Gore won the popular vote he didn't become president because he lost the vote in the electoral college.

Liberals will never forgive George W. Bush for getting more votes than Gore in the electoral college. In their minds, he's illegitimate, not a real president. They can legitimately ignore him or call him any name they choose. He deserves no respect, they think.

But both candidates in the 2000 election (as in all presidential elections) knew the rules: The popular vote doesn't matter, electoral college voting does. Arguments of people who deny that deserve no respect.

Bush hatred colors LAT's judgment

A LAT editorial today properly argues that the new sanctions on Iran just passed by the U.N. Security Council will help dissuade Iran from continuing its enrichment activities. Then it argues that the Bush administration should get no credit because the U.S. didn't sponsor the Security Council resolution and besides the administration may overreact and behave in such a way that Iran may claim it's a victim of the Great Satan (something Iran will claim in any event.) Besides, the LAT says, Bush is now so weak that other Security Council members no longer fear him, as if they ever did. Now, if Bush would stop threatening Iran, the LAT says, all the other countries of the world would form a peace pact with Iran that would solve the world's problems and Ahmadenijad would turn to writing poetry and Iran's mullahs would invite the pope to say mass on a soccer field in Tehran. OK, the LAT didn't mention a peace pact, poetry or the pope. It did suggest that everything is Bush's fault, a recurring theme.

Lexington eulogizes Buckley

In the February 28th issue of The Economist, the Lexington columnist writes of William F. Buckley in a fairly balanced way, which is surprising for such a liberal columnist. Near the end of the column, however, Lexington returns to form, arguing that conservatism is lost without Buckley. Lexington isn't the first to make such an argument -- the thought is a fond hope of liberals everywhere. But repetition does not render a poor argument convincing.

LAT scoops itself

The LAT finally reports today on something it has known for two weeks or more, which is that there are sufficient votes in the House to pass the legislation that renews the Protect America Act but that Nancy Pelosi has blocked consideration of the legislation. The Speaker is blocking legislation that otherwise would already have passed and would now be law. There can only be one explanation, which is that Pelosi is protecting trial lawyers who hope to reap a bonanza suing telecoms for cooperating with the Bush administration in the terrorist surveillance program. To Pelosi, trial lawyers must be more important than protecting Americans from terrorists.

The LAT, which claims to have high standards, has shielded Pelosi from criticism by failing to report the news fully and accurately. Today, the LAT buried the news it must have felt it could no longer sit on. It's buried in a piece by Greg Miller on page A14.