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Dec. 2, 2008

Melanie Phillips: The Mumbai atrocity is a wake-up call for a frighteningly unprepared world

Stratfor Geopolitical Intelligence Report: Strategic Motivations for the Mumbai Attack

Dec. 1, 2008

Max Freidlander, as told to Jacklyn C. Wadler: India Inkings

Mark Steyn: Whodunit!?

Nov. 28, 2008

Rabbi Ahron Rapps: An evil seed that didn't have to be

Melanie Phillips: Carpe diem --- or can we all relax now?

Nov. 26, 2008

Michael Feldberg: Meet the Orthodox Jew who laid groundwork for scientific development of ordnance that undergirds America's current world leadership

Andrea Simantov: Shades of life

Nov. 25, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Getting Emotional For Influence

The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman : Thanksiving feast!

Nov. 24, 2008

Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg: 'I just Became a grandchild!'

Barry Rubin: Don't flatter your enemies, protect your friends

Nov. 21, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Money matters?

Caroline B. Glick: Civilization walks the plank

Nov. 20, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Bronfman's blindness

The Kosher Gourmet By Linda Gassenheimer: Portobellos add a hearty flavor to pasta with pesto

Nov, 19, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Spread the wealth? Jewish tradition and income equality

Elliot B. Gertel: 'Mad Men': Tackling prejudices or reinforcing them?

Nov, 18, 2008

Dr. Debby Schwarz Hirschhorn: The End of the Age of Reason

Jonathan Tobin: Does Barack + Bibi = Disaster?

Nov, 17, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The End of the Age of Reason

Diana West: Gulling Americans into making terror legit?

Nov, 14, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: The Power of Spiritual Inertia

Caroline B. Glick: The perils ahead

Nov, 13, 2008

Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: How Bush and Obama together could change the Middle East dynamic

The Kosher Gourmet by JeanMarie Brownson: Sweet and savory, crispy and meltingly tender bestilla

Nov, 12, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Tyrannical Co-Workers

Michael Doyle: High Court to consider today donated monuments that may have religious messages in public parks

Nov, 11, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Will Obama stop government officials considering institutionalizing financial jihad?

Jonathan Tobin: They Will Decide Their Own Fate

Nov, 10, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: $8 billion, modern-day Tower of Babel being built?

Barry Rubin: A letter to the president-elect from a Middle East realist

Nov, 7, 2008

Rabbi Francis Nataf: Of Children and Immortality

Caroline B. Glick: Livni's Obama strategy

Nov, 6, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: How I tricked a classroom of apathetic students into grasping the fallacy of moral relativism

The Kosher Gourmet By Gina Kim: Tips for making the perfect soup --- includes recipes

Nov, 5, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Destitute Debtors

Bruce Weinstein: 'Religulos': Bad title,even worse movie

Nov, 4, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Treasury Dept. submits to Shariah law

Frida Ghitis: A surprise for Obama in the Middle East

Nov, 3, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Who says Jews are Smart?

Jonathan Tobin: Was He Wrong About Everything?

March 22, 2007

J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review May 15, 2008 / 10 Iyar 5768

Campaigning on Ignorance

By Bob Tyrrell


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Readers of this column will recall that from time to time in covering an election cycle, I have referred to a voting bloc that political analysts of more delicate sensibilities would rather not mention, to wit, the moron vote. It is a constituency composed of politically ignorant citizens who nonetheless feel very intensely about political issues once their respective demagogues have notified them of the issues, suitably transmogrified. The moron vote's rank and file might, in point of fact, not be morons at all. Some might be marine biologists or interior decorators or professors of Romance languages, and in their chosen fields, they might be very knowledgeable. Yet when it comes to politics, they are in the dark. They are very angry but still in the dark.


We all can feel superior to these poor souls, if we are bereft of charity, but we also might feel a twinge of compassion for them. After all, they are not totally to blame for their ignorance. Most have been misled by their political messiahs — or should I say by their seducers? The fact is that in many elections, clever politicians shamelessly prey on their supporters' insecurities and the gaps in their political knowledge.


As Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has demonstrated in her last-gasp effort to wrest the Democratic nomination from Sen. Barack H. Obama, the moron vote can be very important. Once she is out of the race and seething back in Chappaqua, N.Y. (where life for Boy Clinton is going to be dreadful), the moron vote will continue to be very influential. As the race has gone thus far, almost no politician has made an effort to inform the electorate. On four key issues, the Democrats have only exploited the ignorance of the voters. On one issue, even the Republican candidate, Sen. John McCain, has been of no help in educating voters.


First, consider the Democrats' cruel exploitation of their supporters' hopes and fears regarding rising gasoline prices. Both Clinton and Obama have talked as though those prices can be lowered. Clinton specifically talks of lowering federal gas taxes during the summer. That will do it, but only for the summer. The problem is that oil demand worldwide has exceeded supply. As legendary oilman Boone Pickens has been warning for several years, the world can produce about 85 million barrels of oil a day, and demand — thanks to growing prosperity in developing nations — now exceeds that production level. Even if somehow the world could produce more than 85 million barrels daily, we do not have refinery capacity to turn the oil into gasoline. Environmentalists oppose increasing refinery capacity. Doing so will take years. America needs to develop alternative energy sources, and market pressure will ensure this development more effectively than demagoguery.


Likewise, the candidates are deceiving their supporters when they promise to make the country "independent of foreign oil." We shall not be independent of foreign oil for years to come, whatever progress we make with alternative sources of energy. Drilling into known oil reservoirs in this country and developing nuclear, solar and wind power will relieve our dependence on foreign oil, but 62 percent of our oil consumption is from foreign oil. Oil production here peaked in 1970, and what domestic oil is left will not markedly relieve our need for foreign oil for years. Again, alternative sources of energy are needed.


Or consider the Democrats' promise to pay for their new or expanded programs by eliminating the Bush tax cuts for the rich. Though neither the Obama campaign nor the Clinton campaign is forthcoming with the costs of its promises, the National Taxpayers Union estimates that the Obama platform will increase federal spending by $307.3 billion. The Clinton platform's price tag is $226.1 billion. No rollback of the Bush tax cuts would cover that kind of wanton spending increase. The Heritage Foundation puts the figure at less than $60 billion annually. Amazed by the dishonesty of the presidential candidates, The Washington Post's economics columnist lamented this week that "the candidates dissemble because they believe that Americans don't want the truth. It would be too upsetting."


That brings us to the candidates' empty boasts on global warming. Here all three remaining presidential candidates dwell in error. They promise to moderate global warming by reducing carbon emissions, but it is not clear how culpable carbon emissions are for global warming. In an enlightening new book on climate change, "An Appeal to Reason," Nigel Lawson, former chancellor of the exchequer and British secretary of energy, explains that for the past seven years, there has been no global warming. During the last quarter of the 20th century, there was a modest increase in the Earth's temperature of a half-degree Celsius; but in the three decades prior to that, the Earth was cooling. Moreover, though carbon emissions have continued to increase through our years of cooling, warming and now temperature stability, the consequences of carbon emissions remain unclear. Worse, Lawson argues, there are no foolproof policies to limit carbon in the atmosphere.


There you have it: four public issues on which the presidential candidates spread only hot air. At least McCain is only wrong on one.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Bob Tyrrell is editor in chief of The American Spectator. Comment by clicking here.

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