We all know that Democrats can say certain things that Republicans can't, and that the national media are biased.

* We all know that Democrats can say certain things that Republicans can't, and that the national media are biased. But still, sometimes something occurs that can astonish. Al Gore, in (another) vein-bulging speech, said of President Bush: "He betrayed this country." And John Kerry said that, if president, he would "appoint a U.S. trade representative who is an American patriot." (The current trade rep is Bob Zoellick, that well-known traitor.) Now, conservatives are taught not to whine about the unfairness of life--and they encourage others not to whine about it either--but just take a moment to imagine that a leading Republican had said about a Democratic president, "He betrayed this country," or that the presumed Republican presidential nominee had said, "I will appoint a U.S. trade representative who is an American patriot." The air would be shaking with cries of McCarthyism--and those cries wouldn't necessarily be wrong.