Connect The Dots

Richard John Neuhaus remarks on the New York Times and their keen grasp of the obvious at FIRST THINGS:

There they all are, all forty-three of them. Their pictures take up the better part of the front page of this Sunday's "Week in Review" section of the New York Times. Underneath the pictures is the headline of the story by Adam Nagourney, "The Pattern May Change, if..." Aha, so there's a pattern we're supposed to detect. The Times regularly reminds us that its readership is highly educated, and I like to think that I'm no slouch when it comes to detecting patterns, so I study the pictures carefully.

Pattern, pattern, what's the pattern? Well, all forty-three were, and one still is, president of the United States. Most are middle-aged or older. The more recent ones are smiling for their picture. But I have the sense I'm not getting the pattern that the Times wants me to get. And then there it is, right before my eyes. Recognizing that even highly educated readers may need some help, the editors put the clue to the pattern under each and every picture: "White Male." Is it really possible? I go back and study the pictures again and, sure enough, every one of them is a person of pallor and every one is a man. There does indeed seem to be a pattern here.

Read the whole post to find out what the shocking revelation of this pattern means for the 2008 election.

UPDATE-- Jonathan also knows how to connect les dots:

I did some digging on Wikipedia and discovered the exact same pattern in another country.

France.

Go here and then click on each President (they are near the bottom of the page, so scroll, please -ed) going back to Napoleon Bonaparte himself and the pattern is the same. Somehow, I doubt that Adam Nagourney would categorize them the same way.

Well, it is liberté, égalité, and fraternité after all.