James Taranto - Opinion Journal

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If lawmakers can pass laws without knowing their contents, how can any of us be expected to obey them?
James Taranto

"If you think about everyday life, people are more likely to take responsibility when no one else is helping them or propping them up," John Edwards told Larry King the other night.
Wow, this is news. Is Edwards abandoning his class-warfare rhetoric about "two Americas" and embracing an ethos of personal responsibility?
Well, not quite, as evidenced by the next words out of his mouth: "It's time for the Iraqis to do this."
James Taranto

These stories seem written to conform to a media stereotype of Iraq as a futile struggle. Even in success stories, what's emphasized is the struggle, with the success being only an incidental detail.
James Taranto

So, let's sum this up: Here we have a major American politician who is calling for policies that would impose huge costs on society but appears to be profiting handsomely himself; who is leading an extravagant lifestyle while demanding sacrifices from ordinary people; and who is calling on the media to suppress the views of those with whom he disagrees, while at the same time urging more government regulation in the name of "fairness" to his partisan and ideological allies.
James Taranto on Al Gore

Political correctness is not really about sensitivity and courtesy, which require mutual respect. Rather, political correctness entails intolerance for some prejudices but impunity for others.
James Taranto

"Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton launched a drive on Tuesday to mobilize women voters to help her break the 'hardest and highest' glass ceiling by winning the White House," Reuters reports from Washington.
In any case, there's something odd and pathetic about this whole exercise. Did Margaret Thatcher campaign on the claim that as a woman she had a unique understanding of "the reality of women's lives"? Did Golda Meir or Indira Gandhi?
James Taranto

Today's Saudi ingratitude is of a piece with Western European ingratitude during and after the Cold War. It's human nature, at least among those who are not mature enough to take responsibility for themselves, to resent those on whom one depends. Ask any parent of teenagers.
James Taranto