Lawyer-Wearing-Yarmulka

From today's Daily News:

There is a disturbing phenomenon creeping into the public debate about all things 9/11. Increasingly, Sept. 11 is compared to hurricanes, bridge collapses and other mechanical disasters or criminal acts that result in loss of life, with "body count" being the primary factor that keeps it in the top spot of "worst in the nation's history."

Misremembering is as dangerous as forgetting. If we must know one thing, it is that the Sept. 11 attacks were neither a natural disaster, nor the unfortunate result of human error. 9/11 wasn't the catastrophic equivalent of a 3,000-car pileup.

The attacks were not a random actof violence or insanity. They were a deliberate and brutal act ofwar committed by religious fanatics engaged in Islamic jihad against the United States, all non-Muslim people and any Muslim who wishes to live in a secular society. Worse, the people who perpetrated the attacks have explicitly told us that they are not done.

Sept. 11 is a date that comes and goes once a year, but "9/11" is with us every day. The body count keeps rising - Bali, Riyadh, Istanbul, Madrid, Beslan, London, Amman.

We now clearly know that the 1993 World Trade Center bombing was part of the holy war against America. When we previously dismissed this as a random attack by crazy men and declared ourselves lucky that "only six lives were lost," we effectively disarmed ourselves. Eight years later, six became 3,000. While the comparison to other "tragedies" may help us cope with what has befallen us, we must resist being glib and intellectually careless.

Our fellow human beings were not "lost" in 1993 or on 9/11. They were torn to pieces. We must not give the enemy any quarter. We must confront the reality of their acts.

James Taranto weighs in:

New York's WCBS-TV reports that New York's Gov. David Paterson is "accusing the McCain campaign of veiled racism":

At the Crain's Business Forum [yesterday] morning, Paterson drew attention to a phrase used numerous times by speakers at the Republican National Convention to describe Barack Obama's leadership experience: community organizer.

"I think the Republican Party is too smart to call Barack Obama 'black' in a sense that it would be a negative. But you can take something about his life, which I noticed they did at the Republican Convention – a 'community organizer.' They kept saying it, they kept laughing," he said. . . .

Paterson sees the repeated use of the words "community organizer" as Republican code for "black."

"I think where there are overtones is when there are uses of language that are designed to inhibit other people's progress with a subtle reference to their race," he said.

Just one problem: As we noted last month in Denver, it was the Democrats who first "spent four days touting Obama's experience as a 'community organizer' as a central qualification" for the presidency. "Even after listening to those speeches," we wrote, "we're still not sure what a 'community organizer' is."

If Paterson is right, the Democrats were subtly arguing that Obama is qualified to be president because he is black.

Governor Paterson thinks the term "Community Organizer" is code for "Black".

There are overtones of potential racial coding in the campaign.....the Republican party is too smart to call Barack Obama 'black' in a sense that it would be a negative," Paterson said. "But you can take something about his life, which I noticed they did at the Republican convention. A 'community organizer,' they kept saying it, they kept laughing, like what does this mean?

Now as I type this, I'm thumbing through the September 2008 issue of Code Words for Minorities which is published by the GOP and only available to those who take a blood oath not to reveal its contents. And let me tell you, "Community Organizer" is definitely not in it. Maybe Paterson has an advance copy of the October issue, or maybe Paterson's just a partisan hack who realizes that Obama may not win this thing and is already prepping the excuses.

The choice of Sarah Palin IS a Hail Mary pass, the pass the guy who thinks he has a good arm makes to the receiver he hopes is gifted.

Most Hail Mary passes don't work.

But when they do they're a thing of beauty and a joy forever.

- Peggy Noonan