Jonah Goldberg looks at some of the controversies John Edwards has found himself in lately. Here's a piece I rather enjoyed:
A few years ago, when it was reported that "virtuecrat" Bill Bennett, the former Education secretary, liked to gamble in Las Vegas, columnist Michael Kinsley spoke for much of establishment liberalism when he declared, "Bennett has been exposed as a humbug artist who ought to be pelted off the public stage." I thought this was unfair, as Bennett never inveighed against gambling, nor did his church consider it a sin. Edwards, who gets choked up and misty-eyed from his own relentlessly recounted stump speech about "two Americas," is more of a humbug artist than Bennett ever was. You would think that when Edwards looks in the mirror in one of his new, 28,000-square-foot house's six bathrooms, inspecting whether it's time for another $400 haircut, he might feel the slightest twinge of conscience about his us-versus-them shtick.Thomas Sowell writes about how the use of words work in the political arena. It's an interesting piece that could complement Frank Luntz's book Words that Work.
Finally, Rich Lowry has a piece up about Americans and their love of cars. Lowry has several interesting statistics in his piece. We hear about how raising fuel standards will help, however for every 10% increase in fuel economy, people drive 2% more. Most interesting though are his comments about Europe. Cars make up 88% of travel in the US. Europe isn't that far behind, with cars making up 78% of travel, and driving per capita is increasing more that twice as fast as the US. Just as interesting was what Lowry said about the cost of mass transit. Gas would have to be $15 a gallon in order for driving to be more expensive than flying or taking the train or bus. In fact, while the working population has increased since 1960, the number of people using mass transportation has dropped.
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