If one assumes that a majority of voters possess relatively centrist political beliefs, how can the current make-up of Congress (on both sides of the aisle) be explained? Is this (essentially) binary system a byproduct of existing campaign finance methodology, or are we as a voting public just that easily duped?
Brian Felton
St. Louis, Miss.

JOE KLEIN: Because the hotheads on the left and right are more reliable sources of funds and campaign workers than the average folks in the center, and so both parties swan to their extremes. Sad, but true.

From reading some of your responses to other questions, it appears that you are not, in fact, a power-worshipping, sycophantic Bush lover. Why do you tone your views down in the columns you actually write, so that you're always making excuses for Bush and the right wing and always stretching to find something to criticize about the Democrats?
Ed Szewczyk
Granite City, Ill.

JOE KLEIN: Whew. Glad i've been cleared of that charge. But, as I responded to another reader, if you look carefully at my columns over the past few years, I've been plenty tough on Bush--especially when it comes to the historic, scandalous debacle in Iraq, and on his domestic priorities. As for the Democrats, it would be really nice if we had an opposition party that focused on the big things--fighting terrorism (cooperatively, with other countries, and regaining our honor in the world); ensuring the progressivity of the tax code, which is being eroded by tax cuts for those who don't need them; thinking big about the future--proposing a major energy independence plan and national health insuranc (but not a health plan that puts a mandate on business or functions as a top-down bureaucracy). But we don't have that party. We have a cowardly mess, fighting--and losing--peripheral battles. So count me among the politically homeless. I suspect I have some company in that regard.

Do you believe this administration is criminal? Do you agree that Rove should be fired?
Mike Grossman
Los Angeles, CA

JOE KLEIN: Criminal criminal? No. Metaphorically criminal? Absolutely. Criminally arrogant abroad. Criminally malfeasant in Iraq. Criminally negligent at home--as in, "You're doing a great job, Brownie." Karl Rove is doing a great job, too--a great job of politicizing issues like national security that could easily be made bipartisan, and always have been in the past when the United States was behaving intelligently in the world. Which is why he won't be fired.

Who would have imagined the war on terrorism?
Jordan Ernest-Nyembe
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

JOE KLEIN: Osama Bin Laden imagined it. He clearly hoped for a careless and overwrought American response--and, to the extent that the U.S. response has been careless, he has been able to win propaganda victories in the more extreme corners of the Islamic world. He has paid a serious price as well, with much of his original organization dead or captured--and extremists like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi making more enemies than friends among Muslims with his wanton murder of innocent Iraqis. Indeed, the wanton murder of innocents throughout the world has stained Islam, in perpetuity, in the minds of many non-Muslims throughout the world.

Why does the media keep pretending everything is so good when we all know this country has shipped so many jobs out of the United States, and is continuing to do so every day? The news media tries to make everything Bush does look good. I feel like Hillary Clinton does: this administration is the most corrupt one we have ever had. It seems like it is to be able to cover up every wrong it does and acts as if it is the right thing to do when all it really does is deceive the American people. I would like to see one honest person say what he thinks about the Bush administration and stick by what he says, like say what he means and mean what he says. I’m so sick of dishonest people. It is so sad for our country.
Dorothy Williams
Greencastle, Ind.

JOE KLEIN: The "media" is plural. I'm sure Lou Dobbs at CNN, for example, agrees with you. The jobs issue is a difficult one--manufacturing jobs were leaving the U.S. during the Clinton presidency, too. And I think Clinton had the proper response: our task here is to create better educated and more sophisticated workers who'll compete successfully in the global economy. That will take a major commitment from the government--which Clinton began, through massive college scholarship support and which George W. Bush has neglected. This is a huge transition we're having, from he industrial age to the informationa age, and it will take smart, aggressive leaders--people who care about average folks--to get us through it. My sense is the Bush Administration isn't at all interested in doing what needs to be done.

Joe, Bush and Abramoff posed for photos five times, the magazine reports. Why doesn't Time print the pictures? It's apropos of the old cliché, "A picture is worth a thousand words." In this case, it adds up to 5,000 words.
Carl Black
Provincetown, Mass.

JOE KLEIN: I'm not sure, but I don't think we controlled the photos. They were shown to us by a source, who--I'd guess--is going to make a pretty penny off them.

Joe, I am really miffed upon hearing the terms right, left, conservative, liberal, Republican and Democrat at every turn. I wish we could just be Americans and work out our problems. I truly believe that if we don't soon work toward this, the United States is going to implode. Do you have any thoughts on this?
Randolph Campbell
Great Falls, S.C.

JOE KLEIN: I don't think we're going to implode. But there are a whole lot of extremist blowhards out there who make good money exploiting our differences. I wish there were more fame and fortune for pundits--and politicians--who live in the sane center. Unfortunately, the public seems to like the show put on by the ranters.

Joe, Why is the Democratic Party bent on self-destruction? A rhetorical question perhaps? Howard Dean has got to be replaced - can a coup de etat be arranged for this purpose? Bloodless of course. He is not heard from when he should be, and his gums are flapping when silence would be the better part of valor. I am a registered Democrat but vote largely as an Independent. I am not very fond of Mr. Bush and a lot of his policies but, one of the reasons he is so successful is that he WILL TAKE A STAND. You may not like, you may not like the rational behind it and you may not agree with it but, by God, he draws a line in the sand. The Democratic party seems to draw a line in the water, e.g. undetected and meaningless. The Democratic party is on the way to oblivion and it makes me sad. I fear they are becoming moral cowards...save for a few stalwarts. Thank you I am a big fan of your work. I spent the better part of my adult life overseas in the employ of the CIA and it sadd! ens me to see the polorization that has taken place in our body politic. I fear for the future of this wondeful land.
Rich Scanlan
Baltimore, MD

JOE KLEIN: Amen, brother. The Democrats have been in trouble for a long time. I wrote my first "Democrats in Disarray" piece in 1981 for Rolling Stone Magazine, and it could run--word for word--today. And you're right about Bush, the ultimate political minimalist. When you think about it, the 2004 presidential campaign was a one-sentence contest on both sides. John Kerry: "I voted for it before I voted against it." George Bush: "You may not agree with me, but you know where I stand." How pathetic that, at a moment of national peril, a presidential campaign should be a choice between someone you don't agree with and someone who can't seem to get his story straight.

Could you please tell me what you think? Its on record Samuel Alito said he disagreed with Roe vs. Wade so, how could he ever change that decision, as the Constitution stands plainly written today, without an amendment? Why did no one in Congress dare ask Samuel Alito ( or even John Roberts) that big constitutional question?

The 1973 Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision that the unborn generally gain rights only upon birth is the only conclusion the Constitution allows, there is no room for other interpretation. For the anti women rights, anti choice opposition to legally enforce any other alternative conclusion would require the disenfranchisement of women as citizens by constitutional amendment.

What does the Constitution have to say? I refer you first to Article XIV under the AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION it states: All persons born (not about to be born) are citizens of the United States. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens( people who are born) .nor shall any State deprive any person (born) of life, liberty, or property.nor deny the equal protection of the laws. Now take a look at the Preamble to the Constitution. We the people (breathing, walking talking people, not the unborn) of the United States in order topromote the general welfare(of the people and certainly women qualify) and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves ( again women qualify) and our posterity (those who will inherit constitutional rights equal to their mothers only after being born) do establish the CONSTITUTION for the United States of America.

Clearly, the whole absurd idea of rights of the unborn being separate from and superceding womens rights as citizens is not a constitutional notion.

Thank you
Grant Simons
Utah

JOE KLEIN: Well, that's one interpretation. There are others. Abortion is not mentioned in the Constitution, and so interpretations are all we have. One way to solve this--perhaps the best way--is to put abortion to a vote, as a constitutional amendment or on a state-by-state basis. Issues this important should be decided democratically, don't you think?

Here's something I'd like answered, Mr. Klein. Why do you not hold Republicans to the same standard you hold Democrats? The latter are "ungracious," "weak-kneed," or most recently "indignant." By contrast, any utterance out of Bush's mouth is statesman-like and worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize (!!). I'm sick of so-called "journalists" whose idea of "balance" is to grill every Democrat like they were mafioso before a judge, and then just act as conduits for every lie that comes out of Scott McClellan and Karl Rove, with nary a question. When are you going to start doing your jobs? Or are those checks from the RNC just too attractive?
R. Dale Webb
Salt Lake City, Utah

JOE KLEIN: I think if you look back over my columns during the past few years, you'll find that I've been very tough on the Bush administration on a range of issues--particularly its careless and arrogant foreign policy. But the Democrats haven't been very inspiring, either. And Paul Hackett was far more "indignant" than he was "informed" when I went out to Ohio to watch his Senate candidacy last week...I'm a so-called journalist who views his job as doing the legwork and then calling them as I see them. And I'm tired of civilians of the left and the right who, in their infinite wisdom, spew vituperative nonsense instead of asking substantive questions when they have the opportunity.

Your questions for Joe

Comments:
Name:
E-Mail:
City, State: