April 9,
2004
April Fools Was Last Week, Guys
"John Kerry, Fiscal Conservative"
- headline of an April 8 editorial
Communism: Good for Beggars?
"But in the past six months, the number of beggars in Beijing and other Chinese cities has exploded. Their presence is another reminder of the growing divide between rich and poor in China as it rapidly switches to a market economy."
- Jim Yardley, April 7.
John Kerry, Fiscal Conservative
"Together, the two speeches-and Mr. Kerry's long record of voting in favor of deficit-control packages-place him in the mainstream of Democratic Party orthodoxy and align him with conservatives who say Mr. Bush has allowed the deficit to spin out of control."
- Katherine Seelye, April 8.
Send Them No Flowers
The "administrationseemed to believe its own talk about American soldiers' being greeted with flowers as an army of liberation."
- March 19 editorial marking the one-year anniversary of the Iraq war.
Reality Check:
"Almost a year ago, the Shiites of Sadr City were throwing flowers at American tanks that rumbled into Baghdad ending the rule of their longtime oppressor, Saddam Hussein."
- Christine Hauser, April 6.
Condi Not Contrite Enough
"She did not acknowledge failingsShe also did not concede that the newly arrived Bush administration was part of that problem, or that it, too, underestimated what it confronted or was distracted by other issues like tax cuts, China and missile defense. Moreover, her tone-as controlled as her delivery at one of her Stanford seminars-left many panel members wondering if she was defending a position that several of them have publicly said is indefensible."
- David Sanger on National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice's testimony before the 9-11 commission, April 9.
Finding Bin Laden Won't Help Bush
"And what if the capture of Mr. bin Laden brings with it disclosures that the United States had missed opportunities to seize him earlier, a finding that might lend some heft to Mr. Clarke's criticisms. Mr. Clarke said that Mr. Bush's focus on Iraq diverted him from hunting down Mr. bin Laden. Along those lines, Republicans and Democrats are alert to the possibility that Al Qaeda would respond to the capture of Mr. bin Laden with an attack to show that it was not dependent on him, an event that certainly would blunt the significance of his apprehension."
- Campaign reporter Adam Nagourney, April 4.
Frank Rich's Ill Humor
"A nation of viewers that had watched a public servant mourn the unnecessary loss of American life on 9/11 now saw the president make light of the rationale that necessitated the sacrifice of an additional 500-plus Americans (so far) in the war fought in 9/11's name."
- editor Frank Rich on Bush's WMD jokes at a correspondents dinner, April 4.
