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Thursday, September 23, 2004
Press Review
From today's edition of NORMAN'S SPECTATOR (where the articles are hotlinked).
In the US , tax cuts are all the rage, as are ballooning deficits. A new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll has the presidential candidates running neck-and-neck.
In France , the finance minister handed down a deficit-fighting budget, amidst another form of leadership challenge. In the UK , all papers lead with a British hostage in Iraq pleading with Tony Blair for his life.
The New York Times’ editorial board pans President Bush’s plans for Social Security, and backs California ’s to boost stem cell research.
The Washington Post’s editorial board looks at the two candidates’ education policies; on tobacco, the Post says Bush prefers lawsuits to genuine leadership.
The Post serves up Jessica Matthews on Iraq , George Will on Iran and Jim Hoagland on the presidential candidates’ worldviews.
The Los Angeles Times’ editorial board looks at e-voting, and sensitive teachers. Max Boot says history can offer Bush hope; Andy Borowitz takes a light-hearted look at the Cat Stevens terrorism threat.
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board writes, “Americans horrified at the latest hostage beheadings in Iraq might be interested to know that there's at least a debate among their captors about how to kill infidels. Some within the Islamofascist community believe that bullets, rather than knives, are Allah's preferred method. About the propriety of killing innocents, there is no debate.”
In commentary, Victor Davis Hanson asks who cares about the UN. Paul Martin, that’s who, judging from yesterday's speech .
The Prime Minister receives front-page treatment in the National Post, La Presse and the Toronto Star but, interestingly, the Globe and Mail stuffs Martin’s words, consistent with international coverage, which is non-existent. (Here’s the CP dispatch.)
The Post also fronts Mark Steyn’s George Jonas’ take on the Martin speech. Inside, Barry Cooper wades in with the latest in Alberta alienation, which could turn into asymmetry if he gets his way.
John Ivison leads his column with a nice turn of phrase on the health agreement:
” It is becoming more clear by the day that last week's health accord was a very Canadian deal -- the opposition meekly agreed that it was a masterly work of statesmanship by the Prime Minister, while his own side is now demanding a recount.” (Here’s my take in today’s Le Devoir and in Monday’s Globe.)
William Watson says athletes deserve every buck they get and that “In the end, bargaining strength, not right and wrong, will decide [the hockey] dispute. Adam Radwanski advises John Tory to be true blue to his Red Tory self.
The editorial board supports the single judge who claims she’s suffering discrimination. Bill Curry reports that Buzz Hargrove is displeased with the CLC’s softening position on free trade. Terence Corcoran didn’t like Ken Georgetti’s speech either, though from the opposite direction.
In a semi-rowback on yesterday’s Post front pager, we learn from Curry, “In dispute is the paper's statement that "it is time to acknowledge that the free trade era as a whole, contrary to some of our most pessimistic predictions, has not been an economic disaster." CLC president Ken Georgetti clarified his position yesterday, stating the Congress continues to oppose free trade, but is proposing ways to work with the deal because there is no political will to do away with the North American Free Trade Agreement or the Free Trade Agreement.” (Here’s the Globe’s report.)
Elsewhere in the CanWest corral, the Ottawa Citizen fronts Bill Graham getting off the fence on missile defence (here’s the Globe’s report), and the latest from the Gomery Commission.
The editorial board praises the GG for visiting Vancouver ’s Downtown East Side (in the Vancouver Sun, we learn she bought her suit at Holt Renfrew); another editorial pans Paul Martin’s speech and our foreign and defence policies to boot.
The Citizen wins easily today’s award for best correction: “A file photograph on this page on July 21 misidentified the person shown with former external affairs minister Lester Pearson as former Canadian diplomat Herbert Norman. The photo in fact shows Mr. Pearson with A. D. P. Heeney, another former Canadian diplomat.”
(The Globe is a close runner-up, since the bulky bulldozer is a hard guy to miss: “A story Wednesday said incorrectly that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon waded into a hostile audience at the Likud Party convention surrounded by bodyguards. The bodyguards waded in; Mr. Sharon remained on a stage, separated from the crowd by barriers.”)
The Montréal Gazette stuffs Martin and fronts wire copy from Haiti . Inside, uppity patients want to sue the hospitals that made them sicker. The editorial board says Ken Georgetti is talking sense on free trade.
The Toronto Star fronts a report from its own reporter in Haiti and a US firm bringing private medicine to Ontario. Mitch Potter reports on the latest suicide bombing in Jerusalem . (Here’s the Globe’s report.) We learn about the CBC’s new schedule.
The Prime Minister thanked Colin Powell for freeing a Canadian hostage in Iraq . (The story leads in today’s Calgary Herald and Calgary Sun, as well as in the chain’s Toronto paper; here’s the Globe and the National Post reports.)
Inside the Star, Bill Graham is sounding defensive about talking missile defence. Peter Calamai gives us the latest on global warming.
The editorial board calls for a truce in the hospital war and reviews (favourably) the PM’s speech to the UN. Haroon Siddiqui finds moderation in the Muslim world.
Antonia Zerbisias thinks that, unlike CanWest, most papers give straight news; anyone who reads this daily press review and has the time to compare the coverage can see with their own eyes that they all have their biases.
Jim Travers says Canada ’s international influence is at a nadir and heaps praise on a former diplomat (who helped bring it there, in my humble opinion. And here’s the Sun’s Greg Weston on less-than-stellar performance by bureaucrats at home.)
The Globe and Mail fronts the latest from the Gomery Commission. Stuffed inside, the young reporter who started all the trouble on sponsorships, reports where the buck stopped.
Barrie McKenna informs us that Canada benefits from the off-shoring of jobs. Commentary editor Patrick Martin reminisces about meeting Cat Stevens.
The editorial board looks at Ariel Sharon and likes what it sees: “reviled now by both Palestinian and Israeli radicals, but respected by the moderate majority. This puts him precisely where a statesman should be.” Yikes.
Ralph Goodale, on the other hand, is being overly optimistic in his fiscal projections; got that one right. A third editorialist says the mutual fund industry needs stricter oversight. Two out of three ain’t bad.
Margaret Wente unloads on the UN, and sideswipes Paul Martin in the process. John Ibbitson writes about all the good jobs he has open in Ottawa , including at the CBC. Lawrence Martin says Stephen Harper may be another Robert Stanfield—the losing side of this outstanding man—and the Grits could be in for another majority.
Meanwhile, Jane Taber reports the plotting has begun against the new crowd (who would have thunk it), as she serves up today's
TOP STORY
Liberals quietly fashioning shadow campaigns
The Globe and Mail’s JANE TABER reports:
“Two former Jean Chrétien cabinet ministers, including one who was once a staunch Paul Martin loyalist, are beginning to put together leadership teams to replace the Prime Minister, according to Liberal sources.”
Posted by Norman Spector on September 23, 2004 | Permalink
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