During the coverage of Yasser Arafat's funeral, I watched a
poor Palestinian woman from one of the refugee camps weeping in
grief at the loss of her leader. I found that scene amazing, in
that news reports were indicating that Arafat's widow, Suha,
would be getting $2 million a month to keep her in the Parisian
style she's been enjoying these past few years. Is it possible
that the poor, malnourished refugees don't know that while
they've been starving, Arafat's squirreled away billions in Swiss
banks? Where is that fortune that Suha Arafat will receive coming
from, and why isn't it going to the refugees? Why isn't it clear
to these people that they've been had?
In much the same way, I find it hard to understand how so many
Democrats from minority groups, especially those in the black
community, fail to see that their leaders rarely practice what
they preach.
Just about every Democratic politician who rails about how the
Republicans cater to the needs of their rich buddies has very
little to do anymore with the poor man on the street. Most are
millionaires, or at least very well off, who travel in comfort to
rallies in the inner cities only during election years. How does
one explain the hubris, the complete lack of integrity, of those
who support or form the backbone of the liberal wing of the
party?
Sunday's Page Six gossip column in the New York Post reported
that the Wollman Skating Rink at Central Park was closed to the
public so that Democratic supporter Steven Spielberg and eight
family members and friends, along with superstar Tom Cruise,
could skate in private for three hours. We're told that Mr.
Cruise is a very fine skater. How nice.
It's not unusual for stores to shut their doors to the public so
that uber-celebrities can shop undisturbed. But I've never heard
of a public facility shuttered to entertain one. The rink is one
of the few places where city kids can skate for a reasonable fee.
Imagine their disappointment when they were refused entry to the
public rink because the stars needed their privacy.
These are the Hollywood super-heavyweights who throw fund-raising
parties for politicians and rail against the Republican
tax-cutters socking it to the middle class. Apparently, mingling
with the cherished middle class on an ice rink is taboo for
exalted Hollywood celebs.
Somehow I don't recall any Republican tycoon pulling such an
aristocratic snub.
President Bush has just nominated Condoleezza Rice to replace the
departing Secretary of State Powell. She is the most powerful
black woman in the world, yet Garry Trudeau felt free to draw a
"Doonesbury" comic strip showing Mr. Bush calling her
"brown sugar."
The most powerful black man and woman in America have achieved
their prominence within the Republican Party - the party of
Abraham Lincoln. Clearly, Mr. Bush has not used blacks as token
appointments and there is no glass ceiling in his administration
where women are concerned.
In a column I wrote about the chairman of Core, Roy Innis, I
mentioned the Bush family's longtime connection with the United
Negro College Fund. Many readers had never heard of this, and I,
in turn, was surprised to learn from one reader the identity of
the family friend pictured sharing the glow of Mr. Bush's
re-election victory with his family at the White House. Lois
Betts is the wife of Bush's Yale roommate, Roland Betts, chairman
of Chelsea Piers, and a Democrat. The interracial couple have
been longtime friends of the Bushes but have never been trotted
out by Mr. Bush to exploit a political point.
Yet the Democrats think nothing of blurring the lines between
church and state by holding political rallies in black churches.
Time and time again, the blacks and other minority groups give
their votes to the Democratic Party, even though it's done
nothing but block legislation that would provide positive change
for these communities. Vouchers, tax cuts, bans on gay marriage -
these all are things that resonate with blacks but are offered by
a GOP that has been demonized by a complicit liberal press.
In an attempt to defend his cousin Michael Skakel, Robert Kennedy
Jr., son of the slain New York senator, tried to implicate two
black strangers who were in the vicinity of the place where
Martha Moxley was murdered in Connecticut. I didn't hear a word
of complaint from Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Nor did the New
York Times suggest this accusation was unseemly.
Looks like the Palestinians and American minorities get their
news from the same sources.