Fla. - Federal law requires slaughterhouses to render cattle and pigs insensible to pain before they are slaughtered. Yet on a daily basis, still-conscious cattle and pigs are carved, gutted and skinned by workers told not to pause for the suffering of animals that are still alive when they meet the saws and knives. This courtroom has a disconcerting decorative duality, like a person dressed only from the waist down. The lower half of the cavernous room has glowing wood wainscoting, and the well is set off by a surround of ornamental spindles. But above, the walls are flat and characterless, as though the money ran out, or the interest.
Smart presidents play off the failures of their predecessors.
Very smart presidents know this strategy can come back to bite them. Such should be the lesson for the Bush administration, now that the 100-day anniversary outpouring of good reporting and apologia is mercifully wrapping up. Subtly, but unmistakably, George W. Bush is still running against Bill Clinton. He should know it won't work much longer. That delightful story would be more so, but for Wright's age.