Columns

"he news media are at their best when telling leaders what they don’t what to hear. But candidates for president rarely seem to be good listeners. On the contrary, the preoccupations with polls and focus groups are about searching for buzzwords and facile images."

"...in 2000, even with a Southerner at the top, the Democratic ticket did not get a single electoral vote from the South. So this year, in the South, how could a ticket headed by Kerry “do just fine”?"

"The result has been that the President's ratings are now back to their 2000 levels. Even though the capture of Saddam Hussein gave Bush a slight boost in national polls, a closer look reveals that those Americans who now approve of his Iraq war performance are largely those who live in "Red States". Meanwhile the President's ratings in the "Blue States" have not improved."

"The regime of George W. Bush has made a compelling case for an imperative: He must not return to the White House for another term in January 2005. And we have a responsibility to see that he doesn't."

"Canadians have been spared the ignominy of watching their armed forces take part in a war crime for the sake of oil and Greater Israel. This will doubtless be [Prime Minister Jean] Chrétien’s chief political legacy to the nation. What will become of it under his successor, former finance minister Paul Martin, is a matter of grave concern."

"In America, the fastest growing Christian denominations are the
“Evangelists / Fundamentalists / Pentecostals”, literal believers of the Bible, intolerant of other faiths, including other Christians, determined to eliminate the separation of church and state, and export their faith by force if necessary."

"In a short 20-year period, the community has grown in size, organization and recognition. It has become a key participant in the electoral process. The community has overcome the painful exclusion of the 1980s when candidates returned contributions and endorsements. Today they are actively being sought out and courted for their support."

"Words that George Will wrote 10 years ago now aptly describe his own stance: “It is a theoretical impossibility” that he behaved badly. “Good behavior” is whatever he does."