by publius
Stay classy, Ann Althouse.
(I seem to remember that her line of argument worked well in third grade. Althouse, however, is foolishly ignoring other piercing weapons in the third-grade insult arsenal. For instance, never underestimate the power of a good "oh yeah, well you have cooties," or "oh yeah, well your mama [insert undesirable characteristic]."
Well, in keeping with the 3rd grade meme: He started it! ;)
Not to defend Althouse, but seriously – given a national pulpit this is how he uses it? 3rd grade is right.
Let’s say that NRO decides to hold a Golden Moonbat contest. They pluck one of your old posts out of your archives and present it to their readers as an example of Moonbat lunacy, one of the worst evah. Maybe you regret the post, maybe you stand behind it. But in any case you were blogging other stuff this week and that old post was the last thing on your mind. Now NRO sends 22,460 people to read your post and make fun of it for a few days. In the end 2,116 of them decide yours was the worst evah in all Moonbatia. Is that childish? Might you have a childish reaction?
OTOH of course you should never ever hit publish unless it’s something you are willing to stand behind. Lord knows even as just a commenter I’ve hit Post a little too quickly at times and been tempted to email the kitty and ask “Could you uhm, disappear that please?”
On the third hand – I should be thankful it’s such a slow news week/month that blogger pundits have nothing better to do.
Posted by: OCSteve | November 09, 2007 at 06:32 AM
John Cole nominated the post too. But he is classy enough to look into his own "worst posts" too and fullheartedly apologize for doing wrong. Kudo's.
Posted by: dutchmarbel | November 09, 2007 at 07:29 AM
Lighten up OCSteve.
First of all, Drum didn't come up with the quote, his readers did (unlike Cole who remembered it all on his lonesome.)
OTOH, perhaps his time could have been put to better uses.
On the thridh hand, however, there is a difference between noting something someone has said and attempting to deduce their physical characteristics from their BMI and demean them that way.
On the fourth hand, Althouse does have a tendency to focus on physical characteristics (see her post that started all this.)
On the fifth hand, her quote didn't win.
On the sixth hand, we can get too serious at times.
On the seventh hand, the winning post is something we all need to be reminded of, specifically that some people, even when it was becoming more obvious what this adminsitration was like, viewed Bush as the ultimate genius.
Posted by: john miller | November 09, 2007 at 07:55 AM
Lighten up OCSteve.
What? Not enough smileys in there? There was only one I admit… What’s the minimum to indicate that a comment is meant to be light-hearted and not that serious?
;) ;-) :-)
Posted by: OCSteve | November 09, 2007 at 08:20 AM
To riff off another thread - four.
Posted by: john miller | November 09, 2007 at 08:31 AM
Another good one- 'I know you are but what am I?'
The only way to "win" with Althouse is to ignore her altogether.
Posted by: John Cole | November 09, 2007 at 10:06 AM
Can someone PLEASE blow the whistle so we can go in from recess? I think the 3rd graders are about to rumble.
Posted by: Shinobi | November 09, 2007 at 11:22 AM
I assumed Althouse was being rhetorical when she asked if Kevin Drum was "doing the Clintons' bidding." But no, she actually sees Clintonista hit squads lurking behind the shrubbery! From the comments:
Well, keep in mind that my post was about a lunch with Bill Clinton and the bloggers, which was intended to get bloggers to think well of Hillary, and that the Clinton campaign hired Peter Daou (of Salon) to work on the relationship with the bloggers. I have no doubt that my post put me on Daou's radar and that he has a job to do. Is it really grandiose to think that destroying my reputation is on his to do list?
Ann Althouse is a person with some serious issues.
Posted by: Steve | November 09, 2007 at 11:54 AM
But are they the Sharks or the Jets?
Posted by: Anarch | November 09, 2007 at 12:14 PM
Nope, and the lack of smileys is proof positive that you are objectively pro-Althouse.
Sorry, but I've been wanting to use that one for a few years now.
Posted by: Davebo | November 09, 2007 at 12:14 PM
Start the countdown until Althouse starts posting about Vince Foster.
Posted by: KCinDC | November 09, 2007 at 01:05 PM
This has got to stop!
Yes, let's stop talking about two mediocre law professors whose only claim to fame is to have had a blog when barely anybody else did - and I'll throw in that guitar player with the Kenny G hair, the disgruntled househusband studying semiotics, the mystery crime writer who thinks he's Hollywood royalty and the bipolar alcoholic bored New York housewife. The paranoid trailer trash ex-telecom engineer has thankfully stopped writing on his own accord.
Seriously, why should we give those sad people the time of day? I guess it's kind of fun slumming, like reading Hello magazine only with Z-listers, but we really shouldn't.
Posted by: novakant | November 09, 2007 at 01:16 PM
Althouse has crossed the Jeff Goldstein line IMO. She is too pitiful to enjoy making fun of.
Posted by: Blue Neponset | November 09, 2007 at 01:28 PM
It's very, very sad that I recognized every one of novakant's descriptions.
I think I'll go take a walk now.
Posted by: Mary | November 09, 2007 at 02:02 PM
I recommend that Kevin Drum use the "I know you are but what am I?" counter. I fear, however, that Althouse will then reply with the mighty, "I'm rubber, you're glue, whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you." That would be game, set, match.
Posted by: JoshA | November 09, 2007 at 02:08 PM
the bipolar alcoholic bored New York housewife
What? No link? C’mon dude…
Posted by: OCSteve | November 09, 2007 at 03:24 PM
What? No link? C’mon dude…
Shrugs, walks away.
Posted by: Thomas Nephew | November 09, 2007 at 04:53 PM
I assume it refers to John Bolton's favorite Rand-y blogger.
Posted by: KCinDC | November 09, 2007 at 05:10 PM
I think I'll go take a walk now.
I'll join you, by lying down.
Posted by: Anarch | November 09, 2007 at 05:38 PM
Serenity now, serenity now. Don't make me pull this internet over and stop.
Posted by: George | November 09, 2007 at 06:57 PM
Shrugs, walks away.
Sure. After 57 comments on vagina teeth…
;);););)
4 smiley minimum per john miller ;)
Crap – I’m one over. Make sure I get credit for that…
;)
Damn. Now its 2 over…
Posted by: OCSteve | November 09, 2007 at 08:28 PM
Right now she is being so totally outclassed by a commenter named Law Fairy, she is fairly sputtering. And now insisting she will delete her in future because she's just "dumb." Yes, she actually used the words "you're dumb" as a response.
Posted by: Zuzu | November 10, 2007 at 06:10 AM
Right now she is being so totally outclassed by a commenter named Law Fairy, she is fairly sputtering. And now insisting she will delete her in future because she's just "dumb." Yes, she actually used the words "you're dumb" as a response.
Posted by: Zuzu | November 10, 2007 at 06:12 AM
Aw shucks, I just got deleted too. Guess she thinks if she plugs her ears and closes her eyes and chants lalalalala I can't hear you she doesn't look like a fool.
Why bother to control the message when it's so completely inane?
Posted by: Zuzu | November 10, 2007 at 11:24 PM