Obama oratory

Dems and Repubs alike rave about Barack Obama's speechmaking. People ought not get carried away because it's dangerous. Nearly every despot in the last half century is or was a spellbinding speaker, from Hugo Chavez to Fidel Castro to Benito Mussolini to Adolph Hitler.

LAT tries to resurrect looney healthcare plan

In an editorial labeled "Never say die" the LAT tries to keep the California healthcare pot boiling, praying that the proposal dropped by the California senate this week be resurrected. Never try to confuse the LAT with facts, such as the people don't want it, there's no way to pay for it, etc.

Marines work to save sick child

The LAT's Tony Perry, who regularly covers Marines, writes today about attempts by Marines in Iraq to save the life of a two-year old Iraqi girl who was born with a heart ailment that would have killed her within a year. Marine Sgt. Bryan Velazques took an interest in saving the girl and others helped with the result that she is to have life-saving heart surgery at Vanderbilt University. It's a wonderful story and shouldn't be missed.

LAT on earmarks

The LAT editorializes this morning on earmarks, almost agreeing with President Bush's decisions, announced in the SOU, to veto spending bills that don't reduce earmarks and to instruct administration officials to ignore earmarks that are not in the legislation that Congress passes and he signs -- in other words to ignore earmarks that appear only in committee reports. But then the LAT pulls back, as if it's out of their nature to agree with President Bush on anything.

LAT's two themes

The LAT's news coverage lately seems to have two themes, neither of which is accurate. The first is that the Republican party is divided. It is, but no more so than Democrats. The second is that the economy is in terrible shape. There's no evidence it is, only that growth has slowed. So far as the stock market is concerned, it's down, but only to the level it was at in April 2007. Do reporters sit around newsrooms discussing these things and concluding they are "facts" without hearing dissenting opinions?

Waterboarding

According to the LAT, AG Michael Mukasey has told the Senate Judiciary Committee, or its chairman, that "I do not believe it is advisable to address difficult legal questions, about which reasonable minds can differ, in the absence of concrete facts and circumstances." It seems reasonable. He's saying, essentially, that he doesn't want to answer a hypothetical. The chairman is being unreasonable to demand an unequivocal answer to a hypothetical question.

Lexington disappointed with Bill

The Economist's Lexington columnist this week seems surprised, puzzled and disappointed by the behavior of Bill Clinton on the campaign trail. Disappointed yes, but why surprised or puzzled? This is what should have been expected of Bill Clinton. His behavior in the White House revealed him to be amoral, unprincipled and absorbed by self-interest.