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Free Advice to GOP strategists

Courtesy of Howard Dean:

“[The Republicans] are going to have to figure out how to reach the moderate middle, and you don’t do that by calling people fascists and all this other kind of business.”

Certainly Mr Dean has the best interests of conservatism / classical liberalism at heart — after all, why wouldn’t he be looking to help the “evil,” “corrupt,” and “brain-dead” to regain power — but on this I must respectfully disagree with his counsel: because the fact is, if someone happens to be a fascist, or a socialist, or a Marxist, or a race-baiter, or an empty-suited hustler mau-mauing in front of a giant teleprompter while destroying the market economy, why wouldn’t you call him what he is, if in so doing you are both honest and able to promote your agenda in a way that is both forceful and effective?

Just so long as you, you know — pick your spots.

I mean, it sure as hell beats being accused of talking in code words — and as a point of comparison, it makes phrases like “man-made disaster” seem spineless, dishonest, and evasive.

Besides: HOWARD DEAN IS NOT THE BOSS OF ME!

Outlaw.

(h/t Mim)

115 Replies to “Free Advice to GOP strategists”

  1. The Monster says:

    Yes, but they mean well. They’re good people, who want the same things we want.

  2. Sdferr says:

    Is the Dean losing weight? So.

  3. Abe Froman says:

    Sure, sure. There’s no reason to call em’ fascists. We can just be cute and itemize what (pick an authoritarian nutbag) stood for and note the abundance of quirky coincidences.

  4. Big D says:

    Starting to smell the coffee, Pat?

  5. Channelling Patterico says:

    You. Are. So. Mean.

    This might be a death threat.

  6. Andy says:

    Dr. Dean obviously has a keen understanding of capitalism, as this advice is priced appropriately.

  7. The Pragamtic Republicans says:

    Howard Dean is the boss of me!

  8. Its kind of funny watching Olbermann squirm as he remembers calling Bush a fascist repeatedly in the past.

  9. Seth says:

    They are not good people. Good people bring pie, not take it.

  10. Seth says:

    Vinegar pie, to be sure…but pie nonetheless.

  11. FASCIST!!!!eleventy!!!

    oh, my abs hurt from laughing.

  12. Big D says:

    This might be a death threat

    Clearly. One roasts the beans, grinds them up, and pours boiling water over them. Violence was clearly intended. I denounce myself.

  13. Joe says:

    Dude. Just because Rush Limbaugh said that doesn’t mean every conservative believes. I don’t want Obama fail. I pray 4 Obama just like I did with Bush.

    terryannonline on March 26, 2009 at 11:19 PM

    So you support socialism and a larger centralized government? Getalife, we’ve got a live one here.

    True_King on March 26, 2009 at 11:24 PM

    People are getting it.

  14. Seth says:

    Of course, he probably prayed for Bush to fail…

  15. ccoffer says:

    “My what sharp elbows you have, Mr. Dean.”

    “I’ll rip yer fucking guts out of yer ass, you brain dead retard! Yaaaieeee!!!”

    “What do you mean by that, Mr. Dean?”

  16. Pablo says:

    Atlas Shrugged is #19 at Amazon. Mark Levin is #1 and sold out.

    America is reconsidering what it’s just done.

  17. Wm T Sherman says:

    Anybody here ever heard of the Beat Farmers?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J40rLaARx00&feature=related

    I find inspiration here, for some strange reason.

  18. Jeff G. says:

    Mark Levin is mean and consistently issues death threats.

    I read that somewhere. On Twitter, maybe.

  19. happyfeet says:

    Barack Obama is a fascist bastard and the worst tragedy to befall this little country ever ever. He is going to hurt so very many people. So much what could have been, irretrievably eclipsed. Also Howard Dean on MSNBC is a tautology.

  20. Jeff G. says:

    By the way, I wonder how many of the 21 people who gave Levin’b book a 1 star actually read it (and subsequently, how many of the 5 star votes are offered up as a way to counter yet again these attempts to silence critics of the left by any means possible)?

    I’m gonna have to save up some cash for this one. I think it’s time I put out something similar, too.

    Cowboy?

  21. Darleen says:

    America is reconsidering what it’s just done.

    Wonder if Pat or Charles will wake up or just fight it.

    I never engaged in any swearing or anything more than disagreement on the LGF thread yesterday … but I just found out when I tried to log on that my seven year account there is now blocked.

    I got banned for daring to stick up for not letting the Left steal the language.

    This fight is far from over.

  22. cranky-d says:

    The Beat Farmers were a pretty cool band. Country Dick Montana did a few other weird songs when on stage.

  23. Pablo says:

    By the way, I wonder how many of the 21 people who gave Levin’b book a 1 star actually read it (and subsequently, how many of the 5 star votes are offered up as a way to counter yet again these attempts to silence critics of the left by any means possible)?

    Very, very few, I’d guess.

    I think it’s time I put out something similar, too.

    Duh.

    Write. The. Fucking. Book. Already.

  24. Jeff G. says:

    Welcome to the ban club, Darleen!

    One star reviews for Levin’s book. Instructive, these.

    You’d think the idiots who write these things would throw in a 2 or 3 star review once in a while, just to keep from looking so completely dishonest.

  25. cranky-d says:

    Mark went to law school. Just warning you.

  26. Pablo says:

    Country Dick Montana did a few other weird songs when on stage.

    And he died onstage, which, how Rock and Roll is that?

  27. SarahW says:

    “I just found out when I tried to log on that my seven year account there is now blocked.”

    For reals, Darleen? I wonder what the magic words were. I have an account about the same age. I want to see if I could manage the same trick.

  28. cranky-d says:

    A few of the one-star people might have read it, but most of then are delusional. One thinks that the founders were liberals, as in liberals like they are. They know nothing. NOTHING!!

  29. Darleen says:

    JeffG

    If some “reviewer” gives Levin’s book a “1star” review with the excuse that his bookcover is illegal because it features an illustration of the American flag then some people are scared to death of this book.

    I need to go buy it.

  30. cranky-d says:

    I greatly regret I didn’t see them many more times. I lived in San Diego, and only saw them once.

  31. Big D says:

    Write the book, Jeff. I mean in between ruining reputations and all, you should write the book. As long as you still have time to destroy other people’s honor, what do you have to lose?

  32. Darleen says:

    SarahW

    I reposted a comment of Charles’ here and said it was “unbelievable”. Charles whined in his thread that I was over here at PW “trashing” him. !!!!

    Now I’m banned.

    Wow.

  33. Big D says:

    Did I just issue a death threat? I’ll ban myself now. At least for as long as it takes to go get another beer I’m banned.

  34. cranky-d says:

    Charles is kind of a pussy, I guess. Just sayin.’ I don’t have an account at LGF, and I have no reason to get one.

  35. cranky-d says:

    BTW, I’m sure I’ve issued a death threat somewhere in this thread, so maybe I should ban myself too for at least 45 minutes. Besides, I want to watch last night’s Red Eye.

  36. Besides, I want to watch last night’s Red Eye.

    oh, it was funny. and the Gregalogue was, um, timely.

  37. SarahW says:

    SInce when is he so thin skinned? Amazing.

  38. David Brooks says:

    Goldstein, stop embarrassing the upper crust Republicans with your Neanderthal rants. If you don’t stop this, I’ve been warned that I’m off the invite list for the DC cocktail party circuit. Do you know what that means?

    DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?!?

    Now, if you don’t mind, I have a Twitter engagement with Meghan McCain that I absolutely must attend to.

  39. The Pragamtic Republicans says:

    Hey Brooks, this journolist thing… you been sending any panic-stricken and sweaty emails begging Kaus to back off? Just asking…

  40. Joe says:

    Darleen, you are a good person. What is with Patterico and Little Green Footballs banning people? It is so chicken shit.

    I thought Jeff was a bit over the top with Patterico, but when I saw him turn personal and twist every arguemnt in a very misleading and dishonest way, I realized Jeff was right (he recognized what was going on sooner). But as Rush Limbaugh said, things like this show you a lot about people around you.

    Charles did a lot of good in the past, I hope this is a temporary deviation. I liked Patterico, I thought his site was pretty decent.

    But being a conservative (or classical liberalism) must at its core be about free exchange of ideas. I frankly welcome their arguments, I welcome them challenging me. But I do not welcome cowards. And that is what this banning is about. The Daily Kos does that.

  41. geoffb says:

    “DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?!?”

    He gets to sleep on the couch in the basement.

  42. Meghan McCain says:

    David,

    Don’t forget you can Tweet me at NiceModRepub@IHeartBarack. I can’t wait for your next NY Times column! Any chance you could give me a mention? OMG ROTFLMAO! I can’t believe I just asked you that!

  43. Tman says:

    It’s too bad about Charles. I can’t understand why he thinks it’s so bad to want Obama to fail to bring in us in to a post-prosperity age.

    I want Obama to fail just as bad as Carter did. Because if he doesn’t, then there is no way the rest of the country will wake up enough to boot him out in four years. This isn’t a fight to “win the center”. It’s a fight to take back the truth and everything this country stands for. If the center is just another version of “Obama-lite” (see: McCain) than I want them to fail too.

    I think Charles is just tired of trying to keep the nutjobs from tainting his site, and he’s lost sight of land.

  44. Big D says:

    Goldstein, stop embarrassing the upper crust Republicans with your Neanderthal rants. If you don’t stop this, I’ve been warned that I’m off the invite list for the DC cocktail party circuit. Do you know what that means?

    Oh, please! I’m so upset by this I’m down to a three goal handicap. Think that will get me invited to the polo fields at Palm Springs? You people have no idea!

  45. Jeff G. says:

    Okay, somebody make me a photoshop template of a twitter page. Between this journolist thing and Meghan McCain tweeting, I think I finally have enough material to package up with the Martha Stewart chronicles and and sell it as a coffee table book.

  46. Big D says:

    Crap. And so ends my career in sockpuppetry.

  47. Phil says:

    I do miss Charles a bit. I honestly don’t think anybody on either side really gives a shit about creationism bills proposed for the Louisiana 39th parish school board election right now. But that has become the primary focus of his site.

    You do have to realize that I don’t think Charles ever referred to himself as a conservative, but rather an anti-idiotarian. I believe he construes that as opposing radical fundamentalism in all its forms, with the primary focus (rightly of course) on radical Islam.

    So I give him credit for being consistent at least. Creationism is just not an issue I really give one, let alone, two shits about and my significantly reduced reading of his blog reflects that accordingly.

    It’s actually a pretty bizarre thing to obsess about right now, but hey, I think Charles is one of the good guys in the big picture. He’s just never really been all that conservative other than the GWOT.

  48. Jeff G. says:

    Tman —

    I should think seven years would buy you some graciousness.

    Ironically, when Patterico was running around the blogosphere after I made my first Limbaugh post accusing me of “misrepresenting him” and “attacking his reputation” and “honor,” I let it go. I didn’t point out that by running around the blogosphere accusing me of bad faith, he was in fact acting in bad faith and ascribing to me motives that, because I’ve been around so long, I should have thought wouldn’t have been so easily applied to me.

    I argued in good faith, frustrated from time to time by Patterico’s many attempts to walk back his argument while repeatedly trying to ding mine with a host of extraneous nuisance posts and demands for answers to unrelated questions.

    For all that, though, I just kept repeating that he wasn’t understanding my argument — and that what he wanted me to answer wasn’t relevant.

    I take shit all the time. What I don’t do is ban people trying to argue in good faith and then have people on my site savage them.

    I have little left in the way of forgiveness for such behavior. But that’s just me. And Charles has fallen into that way of behaving.

  49. Glenn Greewald says:

    Leave sockpuppetry to the professionals, son.

  50. dicentra says:

    A one-star reviewer writes:

    But of course a fair number of the Founders were slave holders, and the author seems unaware of this.

    Yes, Mark Levin just landed on this planet and is trying desperately to catch up on U.S. History. But it’s so hard to find any information on slavery in the U.S. you can’t really blame him for not having got to that part.

  51. David Brooks says:

    Goldstein,

    I’ve just received an email from Ezra Klein letting me know I’ve been officially UN-invited from the weekly Monday Bender in Foggy Bottom as of today. It turns out he didn’t like the “tone” of some conservative bloggers and that I hadn’t put you in your proper place.

    LOOK WHAT YOU’VE WROUGHT! WHERE IS YOUR DECENCY SIR?!?

  52. Tman says:

    Jeff-

    That’s what sucks so bad about Charles. He never backed down when people called him out about his comments section, and he was always the first to defend the “nuke mecca” crowd as long as they weren’t too crazy.

    Now he’s reduced to banning people like Darleen (Darleen? Really?) because they want to debate intellectually why people want Obama to fail. It’s too bad.

    Pat and Charles are acting like it’s fucking high school all over again, and this is not the time to retreat in to internet cliques.

    Please don’t bail on us Jeff. We need your voice and this site now more than ever.

    OUTLAW.

  53. J."Trashman" Peden says:

    “[The Republicans] are going to have to figure out how to reach the moderate middle, and you don’t do that by calling people fascists and all this other kind of business.”

    Yeah, because that only works when it isn’t true.

  54. Meghan McCain says:

    OMG! David I’m so sorry to hear that! I heart you David. Send me a Tweet and we can chat in private.

    PS Did you catch my latest screed on Anne Coulter in Rolling Stone? OMG That woman is so mean and nasty! I’m crying inside at what my dad’s party has become. Barry Greenwater is rolling in his grave right now.

  55. Stephen M says:

    LGF is more a proprietorship than a blog.
    Because of the silken Pajamas.

  56. Big D says:

    I, for one, am touched by Howard’s concern for the Republican party.

  57. dicentra says:

    because they want to debate intellectually why people want Obama to fail.

    Charles also wants Obama to fail, he just doesn’t think the GOP should bang that drum in public. Same argument as Patt and Ace and AP.

  58. happyfeet says:

    I don’t know why we can’t just blow the whole thing up. Charlie and the Pajama peoples and the lot of them. What so so many of them do is they bore me. Except that Althouse one might could be a keeper, being that she is smart and pretty and a lot of the right people hate hate hate her, and the Mr. Reynolds maybe. Do it. Make yourself a blogroll. A discerning little blogroll. Voices what people don’t hear. The Jimmy guy what has a shack and… maybe that Mr. McCain person. Your call. I don’t care. I don’t really know all that many of them. You never wanted to do the tedious blogroll thing I would guess but that was a different time and you were living in a different country what had a different future. It’s a good tool. There are thems what aren’t really feeling that we are in a certain place in time, and they are informally asserting themselves as… thems what have a certain tone. But also there are thems what know and feel the truth of this and the gravity of this and reject the primacy of having a certain tone. They need to become a they.

  59. Peggy Noonan says:

    Oh pish posh, young lady. Stop trying to step on my turf. I’ve been trying to be accomodating since before you were born. Did I mention I worked for Ronny? Cause I did.

  60. happyfeet says:

    That was very serious, huh? That tone what I went with there.

  61. happyfeet says:

    oh. Hi Peggy! Die.

  62. that can’t be Peggy… no sighing.

  63. happyfeet says:

    oh. Good call. Phony Peggy, you may live.

  64. Meghan McCain says:

    Peggy,

    Donald Reagan was no Barry Greenwater! Ask my dad, he knows lots of stuff you hussy bitch. This is slightly awkward with us arguing and all, but could you Tweet me who stencils your picture for your Wall Street Journal articles? I SO want my own profile stencil for my Rolling Stone column! OMG That would be HAWT ^2 !!!11!

  65. ccoffer says:

    I was banned a long time ago from Tiny Little Balls. Twas but a tweak, but that’s all it took.

    I want Tiny Little Balls and Patty O’Rico to miserably fail. And Brakabama too.

  66. Peggy Noonan says:

    OK Meghan. It’s on. Oh, look. Cookies! Go get ’em.

  67. Phil says:

    I want Tiny Little Balls and Patty O’Rico to miserably fail. And Brakabama too.

    How dare you you racist, low down, no good, piece of shit, miserable fucking excuse for a human being! I hope your mother rots for that little snide remark.

    WHERE IS YOUR DECENCY SIR?!?

  68. happyfeet says:

    You could have two blogrolls even. One for outlaw people. Like a posse. And then you could even have a blogroll for them ones that are sort of not transitioning very well to the whole it’s 2009 and you’re living in a dirty socialist hell thing. That would make a nice foil I think for your cool outlaw posse blogroll.

  69. Meghan McCain says:

    Cookies?! Where?!? I’ve had more than my fair share already (this ass didn’t fill itself you know), but I heartZ cookies!

  70. Peggy Noonan says:

    How’s this for tomorrow’s column?

    Striding into the east room with a grace not seen since John and Jackie, he took command of all present. A perfect cross between MBA and NBA, he is as comfortable in front of the Supreme Court as he is on the basketball court.

    Pardon me, I’ve had a little accident. I need to go change.

  71. Chris Matthews says:

    How’s this for tomorrow’s column?

    Striding into the east room with a grace not seen since John and Jackie, he took command of all present. A perfect cross between MBA and NBA, he is as comfortable in front of the Supreme Court as he is on the basketball court.

    Pardon me, I’ve had a little accident. I need to go change.

    Ah Christ, I just got the tingle again. Looks like I’ll need a change as well.

  72. Thomas Jackson says:

    Listening to John Dean lecture anyone on proper conduct is like listening to Barney Frank talking about romantic love.

  73. Tapiocarico says:

    Peggy, you should be careful about references to the NBA. It could be taken out of context and that wouldn’t play with the moderates.

  74. Jeff G. says:

    I had a blogroll and it used to keep the site from loading, so I always had to go in and comment it out and I don’t like doing that. Plus, I always felt bad leaving people off and it became political and now I just don’t have one and I’m much happier.

  75. Peggy Noonan says:

    You’re right, of course. How’s this?

    A respectful hush befell the room as he entered, deigning to grace us with his presence. To gaze upon his visage…

    Oh, shoot. I’ve done it again. I’ll be back.

  76. Larry The Cable Guy says:

    That’s funny right there. I don’t care who you are, that’s funny right there.

  77. Merovign says:

    It’s all funny until someone loses an eye.

    Darnit, now I have to ban myself.

    But before I do, let me tell Mr. Pink I would like to subscribe to his newsletter, right after I go buy a crapload of tequila.

  78. Peggy Noonan says:

    Tequila? How…quaint.

  79. brian says:

    Darleen – I got the banhammer over there too. Even got told to “go fuck [my]self” by one of the long-timers.

    It’s an echo chamber. The comment section over there is nothing but Charles’ Amen Chorus.

    All he knows is he hates him some creationists, and since the Republicans don’t, well, maybe he can’t support them any more.

    Like he’s gonna vote Democrat in the near future.

  80. donald says:

    I love the Beat Farmers, I hate Peggy Noonan. I’m a man!

  81. Carin says:

    It is a hoot, being criticized by the left for our failure to accept differing opinions. Want to start a fight? Get your black voters together with the feminists and bring up abortion.

    OR, I know, get some UAW guys and some greenies and talk about the future of the auto industry.

  82. John Bradley says:

    Saw this in a post by Andy McCarthy over on NRO. Seemed apropos.

    Saul Alinsky, Obama’s community-organizing inspiration, wrote at length about words in Rules for Radicals, about their power to inspire and to enervate. “In communication as in thought, we must ever strive toward simplicity” when it is our purpose to inspire. Such a purpose calls for “a determination not to detour around reality.” An opposite purpose, Alinsky writes, calls for an opposite approach. Avoid the “force, vigor, and simplicity” of the right word, and “we soon become averse to thinking in vigorous, simple, honest terms.” Instead, “We strive to invent sterilized synonyms.” Such “new words,” Alinsky taught, “mean something different, so that they tranquilize us, begin to shepherd our mental processes off the main, conflict-ridden, grimy, and realistic power-paved highway of life.”

  83. Carin says:

    Progressive is the their sterilized synonym for socialism. I know it has a history, but most people don’t know it. Even Meghan McCain is using it now.

    That’s PROGRESS!

  84. LTC John says:

    “I think it’s time I put out something similar, too.”

    And I think that rather a lot of us have been hoping for that for quite some time. Please. Do.

  85. Joe says:

    I disagree with creationists. So what. I do not hate them. In the world of things to be upset about, that is pretty far down my list. Most schools do not teach it as science and if they did, I would have my kids go to a different school (or teach them myself after school).

    By creationists I mean dogmatics who believe the world is 6000 years old.

    If you mean people who accept science and just happen to believe the hand of God was involved somehow in the process of a singularity less in size than an atom exploding into the universe and deveoloping to what we have today…well they are Creationists only if they vote Republican. Why don’t they follow some accepted progressive faith like Trinity United or Wiccan environmentalism? Well see the paragraph below.

    While I disagree the world is 6000 years old, my kids are in far more danger of going to school and being fed total bullshit on a host of other issues I disagree with from the left. The most pervasive and damaing is the feminization of boys, followed by global warming extremism, followed by other scientific “realities” about the environment, how white people ruined the world, no American history or alternative versions of American history, that Huck Finn is bad or racist, that radical Islam is a religion of peace, etc. And there are not enough hours in a day to unravel that bullshit from my kids’ brains.

    So Charles, if you go over to Patterico’s place, daleycocks will suck both of you off and you can have your echo chamber. Sorry to see you turned so inflexible yourself, but we can’t use anymore you if you do not believe in freedom of thought and discussion (even if you disagree). It is a prerequisite for discussion.

  86. Seth says:

    Yes, Jeff. Do must. Put out a tome. I’ll buy two: one for me and one to leave at the local coffeehouse. Time to get the word out.

  87. Andrew the Noisy says:

    Dean: We have always been at war with Eurasia.

    Oh, sorry, I’m off-topic, ain’t I?

  88. apotheosis says:

    Maybe what PW needs is a bitchin’-groovy comment-rating system.

  89. Seth says:

    OUTLAWS don’t need no stinkin’ grades, apotheosis.

  90. easyliving1 says:

    James Taranto at Opinion Journal in 2005.

    “Just Give Me That Old Time Derision

    As chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean has been casting about for a way of appealing to traditionalist Christian voters. The results are cringe-inducing, as was most recently clear in Dean’s “Meet the Press” appearance with Tim Russert Sunday. Russert asked Dean about a fund-raising appearance at which he mocked Rush Limbaugh’s drug addiction:

    Russert: Is it appropriate for a physician to mock somebody who has gone into therapy and the abuse for drug addiction?

    Dean: . . . The problem is not that these folks have problems. They do, and they have problems in the case of a drug addiction. That’s a medical problem. And I respect those who clearly, in my profession, who are trying to overcome their problems.

    The problem is it is galling to Democrats, 48 percent of us who did not support the president, it is galling to be lectured to about moral values by folks who have their own problems. Hypocrisy is a value that I think has been embraced by the Republican Party. We get lectured by people all day long about moral values by people who have their own moral shortcomings. I don’t think we ought to give a whole lot of lectures to people–I think the Bible says something to the effect that be careful when you talk about the shortcomings of somebody else when you haven’t removed the mote from your own eye. And I don’t think we ought to be lectured to by Republicans who have got all these problems themselves. . . . We ought not to lecture each other about our ethical shortcomings.

    Russert: But should you jump in the fray and be mocking those kind of people?

    Dean: I will use whatever position I have in order to root out hypocrisy. I’m not going to be lectured as a Democrat–we’ve got some pretty strong moral values in my party, and maybe we ought to do a better job standing up and fighting for them. Our moral values, in contradiction to the Republicans’, is we don’t think kids ought to go to bed hungry at night.”

  91. Obstrperous Infidel says:

    I’ll second, third, fourth, etc…the idea of a book by Jeff.

  92. Joe says:

    When I see Howard Dean on TV, I want to just punch him in the face.

    Oh oh. Death Threat. I must denounce myself.

  93. Carin says:

    Righteous rant, Joe up there. Good enough to see again:

    While I disagree the world is 6000 years old, my kids are in far more danger of going to school and being fed total bullshit on a host of other issues I disagree with from the left. The most pervasive and damaing is the feminization of boys, followed by global warming extremism, followed by other scientific “realities” about the environment, how white people ruined the world, no American history or alternative versions of American history, that Huck Finn is bad or racist, that radical Islam is a religion of peace, etc. And there are not enough hours in a day to unravel that bullshit from my kids’ brains.

    Ever look through their textbooks? The math ones are usually the most amusing.

  94. Mary Louise says:

    Regarding a book; maybe you could do it in dialogue form. It would be a ton of fun, and you could let fly ironically.

    Insulted sensibilities and offended tastes would abound; Oh, the humanity!

    Off topic, but not really:

    CHITESTER: Changing to a somewhat different approach, what kinds of people — How would you describe an individual whom you have the greatest difficulty dealing with, in terms of personality or attitude?

    HAYEK: May I give a personal example?

    CHITESTER: Please do.

    HAYEK: I don’t think there could ever be any communication between Mr. [John Kenneth] Galbraith and myself. I don’t know why, but it’s a way of thinking which I think is wholly irresponsible and which he thinks is the supreme height of intellectual effort. I think it’s extremely shallow. I go so far as that when in this recent plan, which had to be postponed, of challenging an opposite group of socialist intellectuals, he was one of three whom I would exclude. I won’t use the exact phrase, which would be libelous and which I don’t want to be recorded, but he and two others I on principle excuse because they think in a way with which I could not communicate.

    CHITESTER: Can you give us a better sense of what the characteristics of this are?

    HAYEK: I don’t want to be offensive, but it’s a certain attribute which is common to journalists of judging opinions by their likely appeal to the public.

    CHITESTER: In other words, you in this instance, would feel that Galbraith is more of a journalistic type.

    HAYEK: Yes, very much so.

    CHITESTER: Do you find journalism generally to be superficial?

    HAYEK: It’s always dangerous to generalize because there are some exceedingly good men among them to whom it does not apply. But in terms of numbers, yes.

    CHITESTER: And the basic corrupting element is, as you said, the desire to appeal, to try to second-guess what’s going to be accepted or not.

    HAYEK: And it’s a necessity to pretend to be competent on every subject, some of which they really do not understand. They are under that necessity, I regret; I’m sorry for them. But to pretend to understand all the things you write about, and habitually to write about things you do not understand, is a very corrupting thing.

    [H/T Jonah and NRO.]

    P.S. Let your son inspire you. Children have the best bullshit buffers in the world. Being a child myself, I would know that. :)

  95. #

    Comment by Meghan McCain on 3/26 @ 11:57 pm #

    Cookies?! Where?!? I’ve had more than my fair share already (this ass didn’t fill itself you know), but I heartZ cookies!

    WHOO-HOO! I’ma gittin’ LAID!

  96. mojo says:

    Nice, they want. Polite, after eight years of spittle-flecked attack-dog screeching. Yeah, sure pal. You fuckin’ betcha.

  97. Plus, ‘nova stomped the shit outta Duke for the first time since the dinosaurs visited Jesus. I might sober up sometime Monday morning.

  98. Mr. Pink says:

    79.

    Sometimes Yager works too.

  99. malaclypse the tertiary says:

    Posting this from my phone, so onerous to include a link, but Patterico has a post this morning (7am) that demonstrates Jeff’s prediction that Pat would track increasingly closer to the intentionalist position without acknowledging as much.

  100. happyfeet says:

    oh. that’s a lot of link.

  101. Obstreperous Infidel says:

    I think this is the perfect time to say, “Physician, heal thyself”.

  102. cranky-d says:

    Or “Lawyer, convict thyself.”

  103. Spiny Norman says:

    Darleen,

    I never engaged in any swearing or anything more than disagreement on the LGF thread yesterday … but I just found out when I tried to log on that my seven year account there is now blocked.

    I got banned for daring to stick up for not letting the Left steal the language.

    Good grief, that’s just ridiculous. Now I fully understand that Little Green Footballs is Charles Johnson’s website and he can do as he pleases, but he has become as thin-skinned as Markos Moulitsas (Daily Kos is the only website I’ve ever been banned from, btw). My account at LGF isn’t blocked at this moment, but it doesn’t matter because I won’t be using it again.

  104. Daryl Herbert says:

    All the things that worked for the Dems during the past 8 years–they are on the table for us. We are not going to unilaterally disarm. Especially in the face of an uphill battle w/r/t media bias.

    And ESPECIALLY not in the face of incipient fascism and fascist-like rhetoric from that bumbling idiot in the White House.

  105. Sdferr says:

    Much, much better advice from Sarah Palin via John Ziegler. Gov. Palin seems to be an instinctive linguistic Outlaw of the sort who simply insists, as long as is necessary, that her intent not be taken from her.

    Ziegler: The reason I felt that way initially, was that after several days of the news media cherry picking snippets from my interview with her in an out of context way that appeared designed to make Palin seem whiny and weak (the exact opposite of what she actually was during the interview), she had a couple of choices. Basically she could try to pretend the interview and the issue of how the media lied to destroy her candidacy didn’t really exist, lick her wounds, mitigate whatever perceived political damage there might have been (though with her base the interview was CLEARLY a huge hit) and never speak of the topic again, or she could continue the fight for the truth regardless of the potential consequences. […] Governor Palin plainly stated the obvious reality (as proven beyond a doubt in “Media Malpractice”) that there was an “unprecedented level of media slant” against her during the campaign. She also verified a personal theory of mine as to why Palin, in her own words, was “naïve” about how the news media would treat her.

    She declared, “Some in the media actually participated in not so much the ‘who-what-where-when-why’ objective reporting on candidates and positions, those five W’s that I learned when I had a journalism degree so many years ago in college, when the world of journalism was quite different than it is today.” […]

    “No, things have changed,” she said. “But complaining? Or whining? Absolutely not. But I am going to call it like I see it. It doesn’t do any good to whine about any of this. But I can call it like I see it. Sometimes it gets me in a lot of trouble when I speak candidly, and I speak from the heart and I do such a thing. But I am going to.”

    She gets it.

  106. The Pragmatic Republicans says:

    Sdferr,

    That’s why we hate and fear her.

  107. Obstreperous Infidel says:

    COr, “politician, kill thyself”. Not a death threat, per se. No denunciation necessary, just a suggestion.

  108. Jeff G. says:

    Posting this from my phone, so onerous to include a link, but Patterico has a post this morning (7am) that demonstrates Jeff’s prediction that Pat would track increasingly closer to the intentionalist position without acknowledging as much.

    But that’s where he’s been all along!

    HOW DARE YOU ATTACK HIS HONOR THAT WAY?

    Pretty soon, without me around to say differently, he’ll pretend these were all his ideas. And he’ll have an archive of these recent posts to “prove” it.

    Because he has no honor, Patrick Frey doesn’t. In my opinion.

    Your,
    Jeff the Banned Death Threater and Practitioner of the School of “Nose Down Intentionalism,” which doesn’t make a lick of sense.

  109. mojo says:

    We should be clear on our terms.

    Fascism and Socialism are both totalitarian ideologies. The main difference is that where the Socialists want the government to own everything, the Fascists don’t care who owns it as long as they obey government orders.

    Communists? They’re just nuts. Like the man said: “Communism? Great idea. Wrong species.”

  110. Swen Swenson says:

    I think it’s time I put out something similar, too.

    A book? Would there be a reception with the esteemed author signing copies and everyone sipping champagne and nibbling toast points.. Or slamming double shots of that tequila that comes in 10 liter jugs down in Mexico and you could fuel your car with while ripping into half-raw turkey legs?

    Sign me up!

  111. Jeff G. says:

    I think there’d be no one in attendance except maybe a few hecklers.

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