The NASA high command spoke of mounting a fresh set of robotic missions, aimed at bringing back samples from the nearby planet. Word that NASA scientists may have found an unearthly living thing moved President Clinton to place himself in political sync with his early mentor, John F. Kennedy, who had vowed in 1961 to send astronauts to the moon by the end of that decade. Solely in terms of its news value, such a discovery is somewhat akin to finding an Esperanto-speaking champion of world government on the podium of a Christian Right rally at the Republican National Convention. But, clearly, that is not the case. In our time, however, being opposed to all abortions and being opposed to spending public funds on the inevitable consequences of such a policy doesn't pose a political problem.
Truth be told, irony is no stranger to politics.
William Jennings Bryan, the reformer who first sought the presidency as a Democrat 100 years ago, wound up as a preacher, proving beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury in a sweltering Tennessee courtroom that the human race had not descended from chimps. Andrew J. Glass is Washington bureau chief for the Cox Newspapers.