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And now the most telling two minutes in television, the latest from the political grapevine:

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White Guys Stupid and Cowardly?
Michael Moore, the liberal gadfly whose latest book is called Stupid White Men, apparently believes that white people are not just stupid, they are also cowardly. An article in the British paper The Independent says that in his one-man show at a London theater over the holidays, Moore says the reason so many passengers died in the hijacked planes on 9/11 is that they were white. If more of the passengers had been black men, he said, the terrorists with their skinny bodies and small knives would have been physically overwhelmed. Moore, by the way, has since stormed out of Britain after a feud with theater management over money that led to one performance being an hour late and the scheduled last performance being canceled.

Secret Weapon: Senior Citizens
There appears to be a good reason why the White House keeps emphasizing the benefit to senior citizens of ending the tax on stock dividends. It strongly affects how people view the plan. A Scott Rasmussen poll found that initial reaction was only 33 percent approval for the plan, with 39 percent of those surveyed opposed to it. But when those surveyed were told that seniors earn nearly half of all dividend income in the United States, 43 percent backed the plan, with 32 percent opposed. As for the Democrats' complaint that the Bush plan is for the stock market, not the job market, Rasmussen found 65 percent of the public thinks a rising market helps the economy and benefits all.

Pulled Off Prime Political Ploy
A couple of Miami radio personalities appear to have pulled off one of the great political hoaxes of our time. The two host a morning Spanish language program called -- in English -- The Morning Hijinks. Armed with recorded snippets of Fidel Castro's voice, they placed a call to the Presidential Palace in Venezuela and said the Cuban president was calling to speak to President Hugo Chavez. They were given his private number, and got Chavez on the phone. Using their recorded Castro snippets, they managed to get a conversation started before Chavez realized he was being had and fell silent. The Miami guys then denounced him and hung up.