Opinion: Best of the Web Today: Pravda on the Hudson

The New York Times's Jackie Calmes bravely speaks truth to power:

Inside the White House and out, advisers and associates have noted subtle but palpable changes in [President] Obama since his re-election. "He even carries himself a little bit differently," said one confidant who, like others, asked not to be identified discussing the president. He is relaxed, more voluble and even more confident than usual, these people say, freer to drop profanities or dismiss others' ideas--enough that even some supporters fear the potential for hubris.�.�.�.As the president prepares to outline his second-term agenda, it is clear from these personal accounts as well as his public acts, like his bold Inaugural Address, that he has shown an assertiveness, self-possession, even cockiness that contrasts with the caution, compromise and reserve that he showed for much of his first term.

As a formal matter, this article is "balanced": Calmes allows that, however awesomely impressive the president may be, future political successes are not assured (although "so far Mr. Obama has carried the day"). If you read far enough into the piece--though why you'd want to is anyone's guess--you'll even get to the obligatory quotes from Republicans.

Still the overall tone, exemplified by the quoted passage, which consists of the second and fourth paragraphs, is of a paean to the great leader. It's almost like reading official "news" from the (North) Korean Central News Agency or (for you old-timers) the old Soviet-era Pravda.

Pope Benedict XVI announced yesterday that he'll resign the papacy at the end of the month, and the Times's story looking ahead to the choice of a successor is weird in a different way. Reporters Rachel Donadio and Elisabetta Povoledo make the following assertion:

The resignation sets up a struggle between the staunchest conservatives, in Benedict's mold, who advocate a smaller church of more fervent believers, and those who believe that the church can broaden its appeal in small but significant ways, like allowing divorced Catholics who remarry without an annulment to receive communion or loosening restrictions on condom use in an effort to prevent AIDS. There are no plausible candidates who would move on issues like ending celibacy for priests, or the ordination of women.

There's no reporting to back up the prediction of a "struggle" (or a "battle," as the story's lead paragraph has it) between "conservatives" and--well, actually, the reporters don't give us a noun to describe the conservatives' putative opponents, so let's just call them people whose views are more in line with those of the Times's editorial page.

The closest we get to an elaboration on the claim is a reference to one possible contender, Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouelett, whom the reporters describe as "a dogmatic theologian." Imagine that! According to Donadio and Povoledo, "critics in his native Quebec said that he was out of step with the province's more progressive bishops, but that is not necessarily a drawback in today's church."

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Obama and Benedict in 2009

Left out are who these critics are, why the other bishops are "more progressive," and how he's "out of step." About the only thing we know about his critics is where they are, although given that he's from Quebec and was archbishop of Quebec for several years, it's not surprising that his critics would be in Quebec.

Despite being based in Rome, the reporters don't seem to have a deep familiarity with the Catholic Church. They even quote a fellow journalist, from the Kansas City-based National Catholic Reporter, as an expert. What's really striking about the Times story, though, is its ideological perspective--one that views the Catholic Church through the distorting lens of contemporary American liberalism as that weird religion that discriminates against women and has some sort of hang-up about condoms. Again, it reminds us of the way totalitarian propaganda outfits "report" on enemy states.

If you think "enemy states" is overwrought, check out the Times op-ed page. In a piece titled "Farewell to an Uninspiring Pope," playwright John Patrick Shanley rants against the church:

Priests cannot marry. Why? I will tell you why. Priests cannot marry because they would have to marry women. Women cannot be priests.Why? Women cannot become priests because of a bunch of old men. These old men justify their beliefs with a brace of ridiculous arguments that Jesus would have overturned in a minute. .�.�. I have little reason to hope that the Church of Rome will suddenly realize that without women, the Catholic Church is doomed, and should be doomed.

Wait, hasn't he heard of nuns? Why yes he has. He continues: "I think of those good nuns who educated me, of their lifelong devotion and sacrifice. They have been treated like cattle by a crowd of domineering fools."

To be sure, this is an opinion piece, not a news story. Even the Times editorialists, although they may share Shanley's views, would never express them anywhere near as vividly. Still, it's hard to imagine the Times op-ed page publishing such a rant about, say, Islam--or, for that matter, about President Obama's leadership. And while the Shanley piece may strike some readers as edgy and adventuresome, our impression of the Times is colored more by Calmes's feather-soft coverage of the most powerful man in the world.

My Pet Conservative The University of Colorado's Boulder campus is trying a bold experiment, the local paper, the Daily Camera, reports. It's going to hire a conservative:

CU originally unveiled grand plans in 2007 to establish a visiting chair in conservative thought and policy, which would have required $7 million to $9 million to fund. But school officials have said the sluggish economy caused them to scale back plans and instead run a pilot program to bring visiting scholars to Boulder.CU has raised $1 million in donations for its visiting scholar in conservative thought and policy, a position that is funded for at least three years.As part of the selection process, each finalist will visit the campus for a day and meet privately with the search committee, chancellor, provost and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Each will also teach a class.Since last summer, an advisory committee made up of faculty and community members has been searching for candidates. The committee has sought a "highly visible" scholar who is "deeply engaged in either the analytical scholarship or practice of conservative thinking and policymaking or both."

The three finalists, Steven Hayward, Ron Haskins and Linda Chavez, all sound worthy, but the whole enterprise is an excellent example of the exception proving the rule. Such brazen tokenism wouldn't be necessary if CU--and higher education in general--weren't such a leftist monoculture.

Meanwhile, here's the latest whopper from former Enron adviser Paul Krugman:

Many conservatives, including old-line relatively moderate conservatives, were outraged by the political thesis of my book The Conscience of a Liberal (first published before the 2008 election)--which was that extreme movement conservatives took over the GOP a long time ago, were able to win elections by exploiting white resentment, but were on the verge of losing their grip thanks to demographic change.But that's pretty much exactly what Sam Tanenhaus, the Times book review editor and a long-time conservative, is now saying.

We know Tanenhaus, and he's no conservative. Much of his criticism of conservatism, including his New Republic piece to which Krugman alludes, is wrongheaded in our view. So why would Krugman mistake him for a conservative? Because he is sometimes respectful of conservative thought. He published a well-regarded biography of Whittaker Chambers and is supposedly writing an authorized biography of William F. Buckley. In contrast, for Krugman conservatives are a hate object and nothing more.

Gays Without Irony London's Guardian reports on the latest kerfuffle over same-sex marriage:

Comic giant DC has commissioned Orson Scott Card, author of the award-winning and best-selling Ender's Game sci-fi series, to write for DC's Adventures of Superman series. The digital comic is set to be published in April.The news has sparked a furious backlash from Card's critics. Card is a long-time critic of homosexuality and has called gay marriage "the end of democracy in America." In 2009 he became a board member of the National Organization for Marriage, a group that campaigns against same-sex marriage."Superman stands for truth, justice and the American way. Orson Scott Card does not stand for any idea of truth, justice or the American way that I can subscribe to," said Jono Jarrett of Geeks Out, a gay fan group. "It's a deeply disappointing and frankly weird choice."

Same-sex-marriage advocates would have more credibility in objecting to Card's warning about "the end of democracy in America" if they weren't trying to get him fired simply for expressing his opinion.

Other Than That, the Story Was Accurate

• "CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post incorrectly reported that Sarah Palin had signed on as a contributor to the Al Jazeera America news network. The blogger cited a report on the Daily Currant Web site as the basis for that information without realizing that the piece was satirical."--Washington Post website, Feb.�12
• "This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief. It is with great regret that readers are notified of the retraction of 3 Experimental and Clinical Transplantation papers from the laboratory of Dr. Maroun M. Abou-Jaoude, of the Department of Surgery, Sacr�-Coeur Hospital, Baabda-Hazmieh, Lebanon. The same retraction notice is being applied to 3 papers. The journal of Experimental and Clinical Transplantation was notified of several cases of ethical misconduct by Dr. Abou-Jaoude with regard to the use of unrelated living donors in his clinical practice, who constitute a large proportion of the patient population examined in the 3 articles mentioned. This is in direct violation of the Declaration of Istanbul on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism endorsed by this Journal and the Middle East Society for Organ Transplantation."--Experimental and Clinical Transplantation, via RetractionWatch.com, Feb.�12

Out on a Limb

• "Krauthammer: 'State of the Union Will Be Extremely Aggressive and Partisan'"--headline, National Review Online, Feb.�12
• "Trump May Have Trouble Collecting on $5 Million Orangutan Bet"--headline, Reuters, Feb.�11

We Blame George W. Bush "Who's to Blame for the New Watered-Down Maker's Mark? Japan, Beam Inc., and Yourself"--headline, TheAtlantic.com, Feb.�11

Mission Accomplished "Obama: Job of Debt Reduction Nearly Done"--headline, Washington Post, Feb.�12

Longest Books Ever Written

• "How Obama Wins the Day and America Gets the Shaft"--headline, NationalJournal.com, Feb.�11
• "The Unscientific Hypocrisy of Paul Krugman"--headline, RealClearScience.com, Feb. 12

Southern Ireland's No Picnic Either

• "Crisis Awaits Kerry in Northern Ireland"--headline, Times Union (Albany, N.Y.), Jan.�30
• "Dublin Rule Like Kings Over Paltry Kerry"--headline, Irish Times, Feb.�11

Check Your Rack, Secretary Kerry "Harry Reid: I Still Have My 'Tree Farm' Hat"--headline, TheWeeklyStandard.com, Feb.�12

'The World According to TARP' "Geithner Plans Book on Battling Financial Crisis"--headline, Denver Post, Feb.�10

With DNC in Mind, City Bans Carrying Urine, Feces "Waste Is Seen in Program to Give Internet Access to Rural U.S."--headline, New York Times, Feb.�12

Quango Unchained "Independent Scotland Would Need to Quadruple Quangos"--headline, Scotsman, Feb.�11

Life Imitates the Onion

• "Beloved Minister Dies Just as He Lived--of a Heart Attack"--headline, Onion, Feb.�5, 1997
• "Heart Attack Grill Spokesman Dies of Apparent Heart Attack"--headline, Yahoo! News, Feb.�12, 2013

So Much for the War on Drugs "Crack and Joint Maintenance to Begin Today"--headline, Salina (Kan.) Journal, Feb.�12

The Place to Go for a Fake ID "University of Colorado-Denver Celebrates 40 Years of Forging Identity"--headline, Denver Post, Feb.�12

He Never Got to Phoenix "Coroner: Neither Fight nor Hypothermia Killed Frozen Glen Campbell Man"--headline, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Feb.�12

To Serve Mensch "Recession Bites as Jewish Educators Downsized"--headline, Forward.com, Feb.�11

Questions Nobody Is Asking "Is the NBA Becoming Gay Friendly?"--headline, Salon.com, Feb.�12

Answers to Questions Nobody Is Asking

• "Why Obama Should Ignore the Deficit in his SOTU"--headline, Washington Post website, Feb.�11
• "Why Microscope Slides Should Hang in the Louvre"--headline, Gizmodo.com, Feb.�11

Look Out Below!

• "Teen Births Plummet to Record Low"--headline, Today.com, Feb.�10
• "Wrestling Dropped From Olympics"--headline, WSJ.com, Feb.�12

It's Always in the Last Place You Look "Why Even Radiologists Can Miss a Gorilla Hiding In Plain Sight"--headline, NPR.org, Feb.�11

News of the Tautological

• "Rising Premiums to Blame for Insurance Cost Jumps"--headline, BenefitsPro.com, Feb.�8
• "Mice are poor stand-ins for people in experiments on some types of inflammation, a new study concludes. But some scientists say that critique discounts the value of mouse studies, many of which simply couldn't be done without the animals."--ScienceNews.com, Feb.�11

News You Can Use "Editorial: A Sensible Approach to Driving While Stoned"--headline, Seattle Times, Feb.�9

Bottom Story of the Day "Alec Baldwin, Morgan Freeman press Obama to fight climate change"--headline, TheHill.com, Feb.�11

Potshots From Boston The Boston Globe's James Carroll, one of America's most insufferably pompous columnists, decides to speak ill of the dead:

As Chris Kyle, author of the book "American Sniper," was laid to rest last week, the sad glow of a lost hero's aura surrounded his passing. In light of his generous effort to help a deranged fellow veteran who is now accused of murdering him, the burial honors seemed especially fitting. And yet the obituaries and remembrances were universally striking for the way they avoided what had made him famous. As a Navy SEAL, Kyle had been a professional killer, described in the subtitle of his autobiography as the "most lethal sniper in U.S. military history."In four combat deployments to Iraq, Kyle killed a confirmed 160 people; by his reckoning, there were nearly 100 more. In sniper fashion, he shot them from secure positions across various distances; he killed one of his victims, he said, from more than a mile away.

Kyle's position probably wasn't as secure as Carroll's, on a chair somewhere in Boston.

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(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web Today. Thanks to Eric Jensen, Irene DeBlasio, Chris Papouras, Grant Slade, Aaron Davidson, Greg Masone, Brian Warner, Michele Schiesser, Aaron Thompson, Tom Dziubek, Miguel Rakiewicz, Bruce Goldman, Ethel Fenig, John Williamson, Mark Gray, John Sanders, Jeryl Bier, James Schnabel, Fred Thorne, Kevin Stover, Tom Knight, Eugene Zora, Ray Hendel, Edward Himmelfarb, Gregg Geil, Zack Russ, Keith Kemper, William Thode, Hillel Markowitz, Charles Gregory, Bernard Levine and Bill Kelly. If you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com, and please include the URL.)