Today's Columns: On Rove, Blair and Oprah

WaPo: Robert Novak explains why Democrats may be disappointed by the pending testimony from Karl Rove's former executive assistant, Susan Ralston, who also used to work for disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. According to Ralston's friends, Novak reports, "she has nothing to say that would cause problems for Rove."

Plus ... George Will on Democrats' gas-pump posturing ... David Broder on the trade issues now facing the Democratic Congress.

WSJ: Will Marshall argues that Tony Blair's legacy will not be tainted by the war in Iraq. "One of Britain's longest-serving prime ministers -- and the first ever to win three straight elections -- Mr. Blair leaves an imposing legacy of political modernization and policy innovation that will stand long after the Iraq controversy fades," he argues.

Plus ... David Henderson and Charles Hooper on the "lawless" Food and Drug Administration.

LAT: Osagie Obasogie slams Oprah Winfrey for lending credibility last week to the "dubious theory known as the 'slavery hypothesis,'" which suggests that African-Americans have high blood pressure because those who survived the slave trade's Middle Passage could hold more salt in their bodies than those who died. Obasogie writes that what's "so pernicious about this 'bad gene' theory is that it attributes current health disparities to actions taken nearly four centuries ago, when the more relevant issue may very well be what is happening today" ... Colin Carter and Henry Miller argue that it would be smarter for the United States to begin importing ethanol from Brazil than to increase production of it within the United States.

Plus ... Patt Morrison on Los Angeles's current drought.

NYT: Michael O'Hanlon argues that the military benefits offered from U.S. plans to install a new ballistic missile defense site in Poland and the Czech Republic are "not worth the worsening of relations with Russia that it has already engendered" ...Nicholas Kristof argues that as "Paul Wolfowitz is to the World Bank, the U.S. is becoming to the world." He adds that we "should look at the battle unfolding at the World Bank not as the story of one man falling to earth, but as a moral tale of the risks the U.S. faces unless the Bush administration spends more time rebuilding bridges it has burned all over the world"

Plus ... Atul Gawande on the pharmaceutical industry's obligation to the poor ... Judith Pascoe on the souvenir version of Napoleon's penis.

By Rob Anderson |  May 17, 2007; 9:24 AM ET
Previous: Today's Editorials: The Dems' Iraq Failure | Next: Today's Hot Topic: A Surveillance Coverup?

Comments

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whko cares what robert novak thinks. He is a liar and a traitor to this country.

Posted by: d pence | May 17, 2007 10:25 AM

As per Pascoe's article, it refreshing to see the modern image of huge penis=socio-economic power has its reflex in this all to silly analogy. In fact testosterone addiction is what is behind wars and competition in general, and should be outlawed for a year or so so that those who are able can clear their heads, and the rest can retire to beer and sports until peace returns to earth.

Posted by: | May 17, 2007 10:56 AM

I'm no doctor, but unlike Oprah, I don't play one on TV. Her implication that blacks are predisposed to hypertension as a result of the slave trade is, coming from a woman of proven intelligence and a demonstrated sense of objective thought, simply empty-headed nonsense. She surely must know that we all do and say foolish things, particulary when we are in the public eye on a daily basis. Oprah's an honorable person, I do believe, and has openly admitted a few gaffes and errors she's made in the past. Regarding this subject, she might want to re-think and clarify her recent remarks. Blacks have many valid reasons for stress, but ancestral slavery is a sugar pill for a modern day illness that needs meaningful medical research.

Posted by: John Foland | May 17, 2007 11:39 AM

I'm no doctor, but unlike Oprah, I don't play one on TV. Her implication that blacks are predisposed to hypertension as a result of the slave trade is, coming from a woman of proven intelligence and a demonstrated sense of objective thought, simply empty-headed nonsense. She surely must know that we all do and say foolish things, particulary when we are in the public eye on a daily basis. Oprah's an honorable person, I do believe, and has openly admitted a few gaffes and errors she's made in the past. Regarding this subject, she might want to re-think and clarify her recent remarks. Blacks have many valid reasons for stress, but ancestral slavery is a sugar pill for a modern day illness that needs meaningful medical research.

Posted by: John Foland | May 17, 2007 11:39 AM

Novak is the apologist of record for your rag as well as the insider who knows beforehand whom will tell the truth or not. Like Bush , this morning saying the wold bank helps the poor. It is the same as tax code in America: they take as much as humanly possible from the poorto float their plutocentric greed, then reverse the polarity on the reference to it. The world bank rapes the poor, please read- "Confessions of an Economic HIt Man", and the US govt. takes the last coin form the poor while a trifling from the wealthy and entitled. This is the obviously the outer limits of evolution, known only after you've been initiated into wealth. Novak of course agrees that this is as it should be and god is inscrutible in his blessing: liars, cheaters, war mongers and arms dealers get wealthy, while the people who use the arms and live inthe neighborhoods where they are made die horrible deaths!

Posted by: bebeyond49 | May 17, 2007 02:16 PM

Novak is the apologist of record for your rag as well as the insider who knows beforehand whom will tell the truth or not. Like Bush, this morning saying the wold bank helps the poor. It is the same as tax code in America: they take as much as humanly possible from the poor, to float their plutocentric greed, then reverse the polarity on the reference to it. The world bank rapes the poor, please read- "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man", and the US govt. takes the last coin form the poor, while a trifling from the wealthy and entitled. This is the obviously the outer limits of evolution, known only after you've been initiated into wealth. Novak, of course, agrees that this is as it should be, and god is inscrutible in his blessing: liars, cheaters, war mongers and arms dealers get wealthy, while the people who use the arms and live in the neighborhoods where they are made, die horrible deaths!

Posted by: bebeyond49 | May 17, 2007 02:19 PM

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