The Best Policy
The Washington Post leads with a commendable follow-up to a
story that it broke Sept. 29, 1999.
Eighteen-year-old Jesse Gelsinger, who suffered from a rare liver disorder,
died from a blood reaction caused during a gene therapy experiment administered
by the University of Pennsylvania's Institute for Human Gene Therapy. "There's
little question that Gelsinger was a willing and eager participant" and his
father remains supportive of the Penn team. But the Post 's investigation reveals a number of
variables--Institute head James Wilson had financial interests in seeing the
therapy succeed; "the Penn study experimented with the healthiest rather than
the sickest" patients, and more--that raise serious questions about whether the
experiment should have occurred.
The New York
Times lead, Post off-lead and an Los Angeles
Times front piece all reflect on what the 106th Republican Congress has
accomplished in a year which began with Senate acquittal of Clinton. The
Post notes the 106th "was notable more for what it
did not do than for what it did"; NYT and LAT concur. Failures include the inability to
restructure Medicare and Social Security and pass gun control legislation or
the $792 billion tax cut; and the rejection of the Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty. The Post and NYT cite the overhaul of Depression-era laws limiting the
interaction of banks, securities firms and insurance companies as the 106th's
most significant feat. The LAT notes it, but says "the GOP's most striking
accomplishment" was promising "to end the long-standing practice of using
Social Security revenues to finance other parts of government." The Democrats
backed them up on their pledge. NYT emphasizes the congressional Republicans'
post-impeachment resentment of Clinton, an idea echoed by the LAT . The
NYT piece points
out that "Despite their minority status, Democrats have largely set the agenda
for this Congress." The Post piece anticipates that, although House Speaker Dennis
Hastert is less divisive than ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich, the 106th might have a
tough time resolving unfinished business as it heads into an election year.
The LAT lead reports Clinton acknowledged "the U.S.
government's support for the widely despised military junta that ruled Greece
more than 25 years ago" during a speech to Greek business and community
leaders. In recent years, the president has readily owned up to "mistakes--even
horrors--in official American conduct." This latest admission should help his
efforts to get Greece and Turkey to resolve their differences over Cyprus.
NYT off-leads a
piece about Republican pesidential hopeful John McCain's 1989-91 "14-month
Senate ethics investigation that ended with his exoneration." (Today's Papers
wishes the NYT web
site had links to related articles from that time.) McCain was accused, with
four other senators, of having attempted to improperly influence federal
banking regulators on behalf of Charles Keating, from whom they'd accepted
legal but large campaign contributions. Politicos and McCain's friends say the
ordeal made him into a "crusader for changing campaign finance and ... a Senate
maverick." NYT
says his "strategy for surviving ... was candor, especially with the press"
which "gained him admirers in the news media, if not among his Senate
colleagues."
Michael Lewis also praises McCain's honesty--and his bravery--in a
refreshing NYT
Magazine piece that bemoans the dominance of
adversarial political journalism.
In her piece, NYT Op-Ed writer Maureen Dowd lets McCain stick up for
himself against "whispered insinuations from Republicans, including some George
W. Bush supporters, that his years in Vietcong dungeons, which included two
suicide attempts, drove him cuckoo." He says his years spent in solitary gave
him confidence, self-knowledge, and prepared him for life's difficulties. Dowd
notes that wannabe presidents are now getting "questioned for serving, not
dodging" and thinks that some candidates might be worried about how they'll
compare to "inspiring war hero" McCain.
Inside, the Post runs news that the "Republican Governors' Association
(RGA) offered an institutional endorsement" of Texas Gov. George W. Bush,
symbolizing their willingness "to use their muscle and prestige to help him win
the nomination."
Under the fold, the Post calls a foul on Bill Bradley for reneging on his
promise to play a chivalrous campaign game; the Democratic hopeful has taken
verbal jabs at his competitor Al Gore recently. Though Bradley's camp has
emphasized his disdain for campaign tactics like opponent-bashing and building
platforms around focus group research, he seems to be increasingly relying on
such conventions as the New Hampshire primary approaches; it's about 10 weeks
away.
An LAT poll shows Gore up only one percentage point over
Bradley in New Hampshire though he's got an 18-point advantage nationally.
Similarly, Bush has four times the support McCain does nationally, but only
leads him by 8 points in N.H. The poll also shows voters prefer Bush to Gore by
55 percent to 40 percent. Voters would still choose Bush over Bradley, but by a
smaller margin: 50 percent to 41 percent.
Leaning on anecdotal evidence, the LAT says in a
front piece that California's most severely ill mental patients get sufficient
care only after actual or near catastrophes. One example: A paranoid
schizophrenic who had been briefly hospitalized at least 15 times killed a
25-year-old woman.
