Saturday, July 10, 2004
(10:49 AM) | Adam Kotsko:
Nicholas Kristof: Still a Waste of Time, After All These Years
Now he's giving tips to Bush. It sounds serious when he's recommending that Bush drop Cheney from the ticket, but then he drops in these gems:
As for issues, Mr. President, you need some. The main election themes now are Iraq and the economy, neither of which is shaping up in your favor. You need a good wedge issue, one that can be used to paint John Kerry as a Massachusetts liberal. The trick is to turn the election focus so it's about values, not issues."Funny" stuff, Mr. Kristof! Now here's some advice for you: You have more credibility on issues of global poverty and the AIDS crisis than almost any reporter in America. How about instead of writing throw-away pieces, you actually write about global poverty and the AIDS crisis?
The Confederate flag issue worked wonders in Southern battleground states in the past and could perhaps be revived. Gay marriage is a possibility nationally, although you'll have to approach it carefully. Most voters are against gay marriage, but they're also against anti-gay bigotry.
The best potential wedge is the Ten Commandments, and if you boldly seize this issue, you can win in November. You could encourage local governments to put up versions of the Ten Commandments in offices in the South and Midwest, and then paint Mr. Kerry as anti-God if he demurs.
Can you imagine what it would represent for the New York Times to have a biweekly column on its editorial page about those issues? You could actually be making a difference, raising consciousness, forcing people to come to terms with an unpleasant issue they'd rather not think about -- listing charities people could donate to, progams they could join up with, policies you think might help, politicians who might implement those policies -- but instead, you feed us bullshit week after week after week.
