I think I just shot my writing time firing off a thousand-word memo to the students staffing GrossePointeToday.com. It started off as a general guide to covering small city councils, and, as usual, became something else. When something starts with “be on time” and ends with a little story about how I overcame my fear of the New York City subway system, I know I’ve lost the thread. Ah, well. Someday, kids, I’ll be famous, and that memo will be worth something. If I can stop writing memos long enough to get anything else done, that is.
I’ve got about a million things on my mind at the moment, so let’s fall back on that time-tested trick of lazy columnists everywhere — the three-dotter. I called it Items in Search of a Column when I was doing that sort of thing, but I’m repudiating all ties with my former employer, having learned yesterday that they laid off the last remaining full-time staff photographer, along with two other people, late last week. (What’s more, they called the guy in from his vacation to fire him.) A newspaper without photographers, yes. Reporters now carry point-and-shoot cameras and take their own pictures, the standard bush-league model. When I joined that outfit, it was a year off of winning a Pulitzer Prize and, needless to say, writers wrote and photographers photographed. But that was a long time ago.
I’m changing my resume, anyway. New item: 1984-2004: In a coma. It would be less embarrassing.
…For the record, while I only heard it from an adjacent room, it sounded like the Who sucked eggs at the Super Bowl. If nothing else, it inspired my daughter to ask, “Why do only old people perform at halftime?” Alan: “Because the last time they let young people do it, Janet Jackson showed her boobie.” She did like the laser light show, but for the love of Mike, can we book someone other than the Motown All-Stars or some other geezer outfit for 2011? Just a thought.
…More bad news from my hometown: Casa d’Angelo on Fairfield is closing its doors. “Declining revenue,” etc. Today’s story says it’s a domino effect following the closing of a nearby hospital SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO, and the emphasis should tell you what I think of that one. Well, it’s their business, they can do what they want. But it’s a loss for the neighborhood that will no doubt be cheered on by the knuckle-draggers, who have been trashing Fort Wayne’s south side as long as I can remember. They think it’s unsafe, which struck me as ridiculous then and even more so now that my bad-neighborhood meter has been recalibrated to Detroit standards. I used to despair that Hoosiers would rather buy a new house in a subdivision exactly like every other one than a craftsman bungalow for half the price in my neighborhood. Looks like nothing has changed.
…Does anything ever change? Sometimes I wonder.
…My cheer at the Saints victory, which was previously predicated on the simple thrill of seeing a feisty underdog defeat their smug betters, escalated to joy upon watching this video. The fact it irks knuckle-draggers who resent the conflating of a football team with the social upheaval of Hurricane Katrina is just the whipped cream on my sundae.
…I hate the new Facebook, whatever it is at the moment. Someone asked the other day if I’d pay for Facebook. Most days, I’d pay to be forcibly disconnected from it. Even as I continue to use it, yes.
…Jezebel on unretouched Madonna. Thanks, LAMary. I find these photos as impossible to resist as chocolate cream pie in the refrigerator, something Madonna doubtless hasn’t tasted in decades.
And with that, it’s into the shower with me. Sorry for the scrambled eggs, but we have a snowpocalypse under way, and I need to run my errands early.
Linda said on February 9, 2010 at 10:53 am
Nice video link. For all its rowdy rep, N.O. seems to be taking its victory with more grace than some of the Big Ten towns, where no couch goes unburned, or car unturned.
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a different Connie said on February 9, 2010 at 11:00 am
I thought these photos of Madonna were pretty scary:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_dkAYjn6gU2o/Sm4L1J7r4MI/AAAAAAAADuw/owDM9B_CGh4/s400/madonna-arms-photo.jpg
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LAMary said on February 9, 2010 at 11:02 am
I think the revelers and drunks in the Saints video are just happy to finally win something and have a reason to party. When teams in other cities win it becomes a reason to punch the air and puff out chests and break things.
I’m with you on the Craftsman cottage in the city rather than the cookie cutter 4000 square foot place with the forty mile commute. I know for a fact my co-workers think I live in the slums. I spend 15 or twenty minutes getting to work, including a stop at the wee son’s high school. The rest of this office in in the close to two hour range. I can’t imagine ever commuting two hours in each direction every day. I love my neighborhood too. We went to a co-worker’s Christmas party out in gated community and noticed that every restaurant was part of a chain. No mom and pop places. TGY Friday’s, Outback, Elephant Bar, CoCo’s. No Senor Fish or Casa Bianca Pizza.
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john c said on February 9, 2010 at 11:09 am
Thanks for that Saints celebration video. It reminds me that I haven’t heard the usual reports of trouble that often come with these sorts of celebrations. Maybe that says something about a city that knows how to party happy. I lived through six Bulls championships in Chicago, covering a lot of them. It was mostly crazy drunken fun. But there was trouble too, especially after # 2, if memory serves. One of my friends and fellow reporters had every window of her car smashed by chains while she sat at a traffic light. Not pretty. The only time in my life I’ve ever worn a bullet-proof vest was covering a Bulls celebration for the Sun-Times. I also remember another night, when it happened that I wasn’t on duty for the game. I watched it at a friend’s house, then walked home. My route took me past Wrigley, where tradition had it that the bars emptied and everyone whooped and hollered. At one point a shirtless, shite-faced 20-something guy walked past me and did a big “YEAAAAAAAAH” right in my face. What struck me was the absolute certainty I felt that, had I not responded with a “Go Bulls!” and offered a high five, he and his pals would have kicked the crap out of me.
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Jen said on February 9, 2010 at 11:20 am
In high school, I took piano lessons in Fort Wayne from a guy on Wildwood Avenue, just off Fairfield (not far from Casa d’Angelo – I passed it on my way). I never felt remotely unsafe down there, even when I was a 17-year-old from a predominately white small town driving down there on my own, and I absolutely loved a lot of the houses down there. (Then again, my parents never taught me that black people were bad and going to kill me just because they’re black, which I’m pretty sure many of my high school classmates were taught.) My mom did used to accompany me when I went to South Side High School for sax lessons, but that was later in the evening and I think it was more because she didn’t want me to get lost in the dark (I took pretty late lessons) than because the neighborhood was so incredibly shady I shouldn’t be there.
I must say, I’m glad the Saints won! (But I tend to keep that viewpoint to myself around here!) I love to root for the underdog, and, plus, the Saints played very well, and the Colts really didn’t after the first quarter. I just loved that video, and it made me even more glad that the Saints won. They really looked like they were loving it!
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Bob (not Greene) said on February 9, 2010 at 11:24 am
How in the hell does a daily newspaper not have an actual photographer on staff? Let’s give reporters a camera and have them shoot buildings and people standing still; what a fine idea. I’m assuming they have freelancers to shoot sports or just pick up AP photos for that and the front page. So much for capturing the actual town you are supposedly covering. That is a paper doing a death spiral.
Oh, and for the record and as a Who fan, that was painful. It has to be the end of the geezer parade, right? I mean, all that’s left are the doo-wop groups you see on public TV at pledge drive time. Next year, the Super Bowl is in Dallas, so I’m guessing we’ll all be mellowing out to Kenny Chesney or some such.
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Joe Kobiela said on February 9, 2010 at 11:25 am
I won’t take credit for this, but the problem with the Who is they didn’t die before they got old.
Pilot Joe
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brian stouder said on February 9, 2010 at 11:26 am
Most days, I’d pay to be forcibly disconnected from [Facebook]. Even as I continue to use it, yes.
I’ve just about decided to pull the plug on the thing, and before I get comfortable with their clunky new interface, I think I shall. The FB experience strikes me as akin to riding in the back of the school bus; mostly inane stuff, punctuated by the occasional interesting picture. Thinking about this a bit further, in fact many of the things that hit my “wall” (or is it “news”?) literally is from folks younger than 18, making me the odd old man sitting at the playground. (and since Pam already rides herd on our young folks, I think pulling the ejection lever probably IS the thing to do). I would miss four or five folks (Nance and other NN.cer’s, plus Laura Lippman), and that’s about it.
I’ve never understood the anti-south (and especially anti-southeast) Fort Wayne attitude. It goes back 40 years at least, and indeed I think I recall a newspaper series that went after the red-lining that occurred way-back-when (way back when newspapers in Fort Wayne DID that sort of thing! Hmmm; so as our local independent press continues to atrophy, we begin to see which group might profit more, and which groups lose out)
And with that, it’s into the shower with me. A truly fine signature line!
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paddyo' said on February 9, 2010 at 11:49 am
I dunno ’bout The Who. Their first “Pinball Wizard” snippet (they didn’t do a full song, of course; hey, it’s the frickin’ Super Bowl show, not a real concert) was shaky, but they were rousing and in sync the rest of the show, I thought.
‘Course, they’re still a couple of doughy guys who could collect Social Security now if they were Americans (Roger’s a month shy of 66, and Pete’ll be 65 in May). And Pete’s fake-windmilling on his ax was goofy, especially in the pork-pie hat. But as Pilot Joe hinted, we all know why they didn’t do “My (G-G-G-G-G) Generation.”
The tin-eared NFL is still playing to the Boomer throngs who fill more of the stadium seats than any other cohort, so no surprise. But those who care about the halftime show at the Superbowl get what they deserve. It’s usually a schlockfest (the Boss, Prince, Stones and a few others excepted). Thank God they didn’t have the throng of arm-waving extras crowding ’round the stage this year . . .
Besides, coulda been a lot worse: in 1976, 1980, 1982 and 1986, the show was “Up With People” (love Wikipedia)
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coozledad said on February 9, 2010 at 11:51 am
Those Madonna pictures remind me it’s about time for someone to start cranking out devil movies again. She reminds me of one of the twin ghoul sisters who shared an apartment over the intersection of East 86th street and the mouth of hell in “The Sentinel.”
The ghoul sisters were hotter, though.
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Bob (not Greene) said on February 9, 2010 at 11:55 am
Just visited the NS Web site for the Casa D’Angelo story link and — ta da! — bad photo of a building by the reporter who wrote the story. Boo.
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brian stouder said on February 9, 2010 at 11:58 am
Madonna begins to look a bit like the Mona Lisa – slightly enigmatic smile, undeniable beauty; indeed – she really needs no re-touching, in order to turn heads. Maybe the answer to the question “who keeps leaking these photos?” resides right before our eyes
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Sue said on February 9, 2010 at 12:18 pm
I’d like to see Green Day for next year’s halftime show. They’re mainstream enough that all the boomers would hear the name and think, Oh, yeah, that’s the group that did that nice song they played at my kid’s graduation. What a surprise when they do American Idiot instead, and who knows what wardrobe malfunction we can expect?
It would still be less embarrassing than all the fogies singing along to Teenage Wasteland.
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Julie Robinson. said on February 9, 2010 at 12:25 pm
Oh, I am so sorry to hear about the latest carnage at the N-S and for the many fine people affected. The DH got out just in time.
We used to live on the south side but never felt unsafe. Now we’re up by IPFW with a Casa’s just down the street, and I’m afraid we hadn’t been to the Fairfield location in many years. So we’re part of the problem, I guess. But why drive 10 miles when you can get to one in about 3 minutes? That’s the unfortunate reality.
Madonna’s arms are scary. Who would think that is attractive?
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Chris said on February 9, 2010 at 12:25 pm
I think Madonna is starting to look a lot like Madame, the puppet that was part of the act of the late Wayland Flowers.
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Sue said on February 9, 2010 at 12:33 pm
As they say on other blogs:
Chris, FTW.
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beb said on February 9, 2010 at 12:35 pm
Madonna crashed my browser!
Of course so did Yahoo before it unilaterally declared that my browser is too old to support! WTF? I thought the unerlying principle of the Internet was to gracfully recress to what your browser supported. That’s why you’re supposed to put titles on all your pictures, so people whose browsers didn’t do pictures could at least tell you what you were missing. Now we have an internet full of websites that cause Mozilla 1.7 to crash (This is higher that Newscape 4 but lower than Firefox 1).
And now that work has blocked YouTube and Flickr there are a lot more large blank holes on web pages as well. *sigh*
Nancy, keep writing memos and eventually you can publish a book, Journalism for Dummies.
Why give reporters cameras when they can just use their cell phones’ camera!
Smashmouth would be a good choice for the half-time show. They’re a new band that plays a lot of 70s style music. Or go eith Pink. She hot, her songs are very popular and unlike Janet Jackson who was a fading talent, Pink doesn’t haven’t to prove anything by flashing a boob.
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Lex said on February 9, 2010 at 12:40 pm
God. I got out just in time.
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KLG said on February 9, 2010 at 12:44 pm
I thought that was the World Health Organization.
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Sue said on February 9, 2010 at 12:45 pm
beb, they’ll probably go with another proven winner/dinosaur, like Harley Davidson did a few years back by hiring Elton John as the main show at its 100th Anniversary celebration in Milwaukee. Huh? Or as ‘Uncyclopedia’ put it:
“Harley celebrates 100th Anniversary. Elton John headlines at celebratory party after Oscar Wilde cancels due to scheduling conflict.”
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Lex said on February 9, 2010 at 12:54 pm
Pink could kick Roger Daltrey’s ass.
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Colleen said on February 9, 2010 at 12:56 pm
The NS story about Casa also cited the loss of Southtown Mall as part of the reason for the “decline” of the south side. For the love of crap people, the mall has been bulldozed and new business have been built on the site and are doing well. Get OVER it.
The southwest quadrant of the city has the LOWEST crime rate in the city. In any other city, this would be the quirky, arty, place to live, with a lovely assortment of diverse people. Now, the rest of the city just calls us “The South Side” with a knowing look.
I love this neighborhood and this part of town, but really, I’m getting a little peeved that the little gems that make it so wonderful are pulling out.
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john c said on February 9, 2010 at 12:59 pm
I actually thought the Who started out pretty weak, but revved it up nicely. It occurred to me that Daltry’s was a uniquely hard voice to sustain into old age. It sounded like he was struggling to hit a few of those big moments.
I’d rather see them go young. Green Day would be great. As long as they don’t go back to the “up With Peopleish” crap I remember from the 70s.
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Linda said on February 9, 2010 at 1:07 pm
“I think Madonna is starting to look a lot like Madame, the puppet that was part of the act of the late Wayland Flowers.”
There’s a whole name for that–the madamism of female celebrities. The link is only for the strong of heart.
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Peter said on February 9, 2010 at 1:24 pm
ZZ Top would be great for the Dallas superbowl.
true story – A contractor I worked with was a big Harley guy, went to Sturgis every year, and he attended the 100th anniversary concert. At the next job meeting, we asked him about it, and he said: “Well, I’m don’t ask don’t tell kind of guy, but if I didn’t know any better, I’d say Elton John’s a little light in the loafers, so if that turns out to be true you heard it first from the Moose.”
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Chris said on February 9, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Sue, I had to ask the youngsters in my newsroom what FTW meant. Thank you, I think. But the honor was short-lived and should go to Linda. That madamism link is horrifying.
BTW (I’m trying to be more hip), my newsroom is small, but we still have a full-time photographer.
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judybusy said on February 9, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Peter, thanks for the funny story about the Harley guy. Really? There was someone out there who didn’t know EJ was gay? Then, Harley guy would be astounded about how much I don’t know about hi world, too.
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Jeff Borden said on February 9, 2010 at 2:10 pm
I would second Green Day as a halftime act. I’m already trying to figure out how to see “American Idiot” when it bows on Broadway. It’s a great CD. Then again, how cool would it be for Death Row Records alums to perform. Get all the guys back from N.W.A. for a rousing rendition of “#$#@ the Police,” then let Ice-Cube, Snoop, Dre, et.al. do a couple of solo numbers.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 9, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Oh, c’mon, the answer is obvious — Spinal Tap for the Super Bowl! (Yes, that cause has a Facebook page, and no, I didn’t create it. I joined it when I checked before starting it and found some clever soul had beaten me to it.)
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ROgirl said on February 9, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Madonna’s arms brought these images to mind.
http://www.digischool.nl/ckv2/ckv3/kunstentechniek/tulp/tulp1.jpg
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/milan-cathedral-photos/slides/xti_7733pa50.jpg
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LAMary said on February 9, 2010 at 2:38 pm
I still think FTW means fuck the world. I think this means I’m old.
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jcburns said on February 9, 2010 at 2:51 pm
“I thought the underlying principle of the Internet was to gracefully regress to what your browser supported.” (spelling cleaned up.) No, afraid not. It’s more like “to support standards as much as possible”. But you, dear browsing human, have to do your part to keep up with versions as best you can. Using a browser from 1999 (and demanding support for it) is a HUGE time sink in the web development world. If you’re using an early Mozilla or Firefox right now, please take five minutes and two clicks and upgrade to the newest version. if you’re using Internet Explorer 6, please set your computer into a wagon or on a skateboard, squirt lighter fluid all over it, set it ablaze, give it a shove down a steep street, and give it a perky salute as it crashes into a Volvo and a mailbox down at the next intersection.
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nancy said on February 9, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Having some comment problems, I hear. I’m posting this to see what happens. And J.C., that was funny.
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Deborah said on February 9, 2010 at 3:07 pm
So what does FTW mean?
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nancy said on February 9, 2010 at 3:10 pm
I used to think it meant “fuck the world,” too, but our optimistic younger generation has repurposed it as “for the win.” An expression of triumph, e.g. “Found a four-carat diamond ring on an empty sidewalk. FTW!”
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Julie Robinson. said on February 9, 2010 at 3:33 pm
I’m trying to get with it and have been using Chrome on my new laptop, only I still haven’t figured out how to set bookmarks. Obviously, I’m not with it.
Colleen, I agree about the southwest side. We didn’t live in one of the arty neighborhoods, we lived by GE and ramshackle was an optimistic description of our house. When we moved we were looking for a bigger yard and one story to accommodate my gimpy knee. We just happened to find that northeast.
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Linda said on February 9, 2010 at 3:44 pm
When I am stumped by something I see in a thread (like FTW), I consult the urban dictionary. Sometimes, the results are scary, but I always come away having learned something.
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ROgirl said on February 9, 2010 at 3:48 pm
My messages were disappearing there for a while. Looks like I’m back.
I had some thoughts about Madonna’s arms.
http://www.dsp.umh.es/conecta/ha/ha/tulp.jpg
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/milan-cathedral-photos/slides/xti_7733pa50.jpg
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nancy said on February 9, 2010 at 4:25 pm
ROGirl got a couple of comments caught in the spam filter, but they should be up now. ROG, are those St. Bartholomew, the one who was flayed alive?
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ROgirl said on February 9, 2010 at 5:13 pm
Yes, he’s wearing his skin draped over his shoulders.
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alex said on February 9, 2010 at 6:28 pm
Re: Madamism, I think Joceyln Wildenstein takes the prize, with Dolly and Madge vying for second. Joan Rivers not so much. Hers is rather less puffy and pumped up and chronically inflamed, more like canvas stretched around the hull of a homemade canoe. Leslie Stahl, not pictured there, has the same problem as Joan. And Cher, well she finally looks convincing, even if her acting wasn’t, as the mother of the lead character in the film “Mask.”
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LAMary said on February 9, 2010 at 6:53 pm
St. Bartholomew looks like one of those figures from the Bodyworks exhibit.
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ROgirl said on February 9, 2010 at 6:53 pm
Linda Evans is another one.
http://hitdawall.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/linda-3.jpg
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whitebeard said on February 9, 2010 at 7:29 pm
had my surgery, foot of colon gone, no pain just a nasty fever of unknown origin, no biopsy report yet. cheers ftw, i did not know that meaning
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Rana said on February 9, 2010 at 8:05 pm
Glad the surgery went well, whitebeard – I hope your recovery goes smoothly and the fever eases soon.
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nancy said on February 9, 2010 at 8:14 pm
Ditto, Whitebeard.
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Deborah said on February 9, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Whitebeard, good to hear from you. Been thinking about you.
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MarkH said on February 9, 2010 at 9:11 pm
Whitebeard! Been thinking about you as well; glad you’re back. Here’s hoping and praying for continued recovery and the desired negative biopsy results!
I applaud Bob Kerrey for this:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-02-08/how-id-fix-dc-gridlock/?cid=hp:exc
Congress is in need of a serious overhaul, and this is as good a start as any.
EDIT — ROgirl, Linda doesn’t look as bad as the others, except for that cologenized upper lip!!
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del said on February 9, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Welcome back Whitebeard.
The plastic surgery pics remind me of Garrison Keillor’s description of a woman who had cosmetic surgery as having “a look of perpetual surprise.”
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MarkH said on February 9, 2010 at 9:34 pm
Madamism: I’ve always thought of Madonna as a modern-day Norma Desmond, especially considering Joe Gillis’ line: “There’s nothing tragic about being fifty! Not unless you’re trying to be twenty-five!”
Alex, I’ve watched Lesley Stahl over the years, but have not detected evidence of facial work, at least in a major way.
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nancy said on February 9, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Madamism is the result of the new facial plastic surgery, where instead of the old lifted-and-stretch techniques, they go in from behind with cheek implants and various fillers. Regular readers know I have my Madonna problems, but lordy, that restuffed face and fat-free sinew farm below the neck looks just bizarre and creepy. Surely, with all her money and influence, she could find some clothes that make her look soft and pretty. As unbearable as her Guy Ritchie / grande dame of London period was, at least she experimented with some relatively sober dresses. All that fishnet and corsets in those pictures make her look weird and desperate.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 9, 2010 at 10:44 pm
Huzzah for Whitebeard, and may your temperature long stay around 98.6!
Nancy, “go in from behind” re: plastic surgery just gives me “Brazil” flashbacks.
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Dexter said on February 10, 2010 at 2:06 am
I was glad to see The Who and they were great. Entwistle and Moon are long dead, and our generation is on the highway to hell anyway, and it’s great to see sixty year olds rockin’. I don’t hear country fans bitchin’ about old Billy Joe Shaver shakin’ his ancient ass onstage, or Christians complaining about those Gaithers who are old as hell itself. The stage The Who used now becomes the benchmark…who gonna beat dat?
I’ve been following the Saints , the celebrations, the parade, the joy…a city of 600,000 had 500,000 come to the parade. For joy, for joy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeWBUE6fls8
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Dexter said on February 10, 2010 at 2:24 am
Whitebeard: A get well card. Bullitt’s Mustang.
http://tinyurl.com/yarqgnz
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Mosef said on February 10, 2010 at 2:36 am
What is knuckle-draggers short for and how did they manage three references in 500 words? The usage doesn’t reflect a common definition. Uninteresting suburban types? Sarah Palin supporters? And the last group – WTF? There are people who don’t like the Saints because of the conflating of a football team with the social upheaval of Hurricane Katrina? I escaped the good-school-district burbs for my own version of the bungalow, but I wouldn’t call my old neighbors knuckle-draggers. Although being an animal rights vegetarian means that I hardly think being placed in the company of apes and chimps is a derogatory reference. Love your writing, but oy vay, the smugness quotient can get lethal here.
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Julie Robinson. said on February 10, 2010 at 8:48 am
Whitebeard, we are all praying for a speedy recovery and good test results.
It’s been an unusual morning around here: at 6:10 the DH’s boss called to say their office was closed today due to the storm. This was a first in his life after all those years at the paper, which never closed for weather or anything else. DH being who he is, he was already in the shower, and when I stepped in to tell him, he said my hometown of Sycamore, Illinois had experienced an earthquake overnight!! Just a small one, and it’s way too early to call Mom, who hopefully slept through it. So the DH has a snow day for the first time in his adult life and he has promptly taken himself off to have coffee with a friend.
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brian stouder said on February 10, 2010 at 9:16 am
What is knuckle-draggers short for…?
Sarah Palin supporters?
Bingo.
Mosef, if you’re a Current Events person, then you may have watched the former Governor’s address to the assembled crowd in Nashville (the one that was preceded by a flatly racist and nativist screed by former Representative Tancredo). To her cheering, lilly-white, older crowd, she expounded on the need for an all-powerful Commander in Chief rather than a Constitutional scholar in the White House. (ie – knuckle-dragging sentiment rather than rational argument). She derided teleprompter-read prepared statements, while using palmed platitudes and pointedly anti-intellectual sentiments (ie – knuckle-dragging). In recent days, and on nominally ‘friendly ground’, she flippantly (and cynically) opined that the president might just gin up a war with Iran in order to get re-elected(!!) – which says much more about her than about the president; and at a Texas rally a day ago she tossed off the word “secession” to great cheers from the crowd – which says more about that crowd than her, except that she was chumming the waters with vile term.
Now, Mosef, other NNcer’s have argued that Palin hasn’t got a chance at the presidency, and that we should ignore her (“Move along! Nothing to see here; Show’s over”), and I want to agree with that assessment of her chances, but I do not. She appeals to people who don’t want to think about complicated subjects, and who instead want push-button simplicity (and consequences be damned!)
Her operating philosophy of government seems to be: Analysis and reflection is what “elites” and “egg heads” do – and by God! – since they’ll do that anyway, I ain’t gonna!
For better or worse, Sarah Palin is She Who Must Be Taken Seriously, since she draws lots of support (and potentially, votes) from people who cheer for ideas like “literacy tests” for those “dumb” voters who put a guy in the White House who maybe isn’t really American (he’s a darkie, afterall, doncha know?).
I’d like to agree with the folks hereabouts who say “ignore her”, but we cannot afford to ignore charlatans like her. If you read US history, you might agree – national figures who throw around blood-soaked terms like “secession”, or who speak longingly about literacy tests or poll taxes for voters MUST be taken seriously, and must NOT be ignored. Their arguments (such as they are) must be answered back, each and every time they are loosed upon us. This is what people who don’t want to be governed BY knuckle draggers must do.
edit: Whitebeard – very glad to hear things went as well as they did for you and yours – and, welcome back!
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MarkH said on February 10, 2010 at 9:56 am
Brian, there are just not that many people out there that you’re afraid of. And their number is dwindling. Just wait until she does get into a campaign, if she really gets that far. She will get taken apart.Some people may like her, but they’ll show their reticense(sp?) in the polling booth, where it matters. I still say a campaign never happens and she just goes on being a dollar-generating (for herself) media queen, for as long as it lasts.
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brian stouder said on February 10, 2010 at 10:21 am
She will get taken apart
MarkH – fair enough.
This points to the real effect she is having and will continue to have; when will major players in the Republican party engage (and contest) her ideas in a serious way?
At some point, they must “take her apart” – and when the “energized base” of the GOP gets the word that they have to grow up, what then?
Tactically, I understand that the GOP ain’t gonna reign her in this year; the off-year elections is exactly the time to exploit all the angst she can gin up amongst the tea-partiers. But pretty quickly after that, the next round of presidential politics will begin – and then the bill comes due (for Boehner and McConnell and Cantor and the rest).
As some field of credible GOP candidates begin pursuing their party’s presidential nomination in earnest (let alone after one of them wins it), the days of cheap shots, and glass-house-dwelling throwing of rocks will become more complicated – as they have to answer for whatever She Who Must Not Be Ignored said to this or that packed house of white donors
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mark said on February 10, 2010 at 10:31 am
Why reign her in when so many progressives waste so much time on her, leaving the substantive agenda of this presidency dying on the vine? She is a useful distraction, especially tempting to those who feel the day isn’t complete without a little ridicule aimed at those with whom they disagree.
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Jeff Borden said on February 10, 2010 at 10:37 am
Brian,
The standard conservative response to criticisms of She Who is that liberals are “afraid” of her. Not true. I am afraid of her followers. Mother of God, what kind of atavistic souls want a certified messianic dim bulb mainlining the grease from the gravy train as the leader of the free world? What sort of alleged patriot worships someone who openly mocks science, expertise and accomplishment? And, yes, what sort of citizen extols a political leader so obtuse that she must write three basic talking points on her palm lest she forget? These are the people to fear. I doubt there are anywhere near enough of them to swing an election, but they still count in the tens of millions and they do vote.
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coozledad said on February 10, 2010 at 10:45 am
There are quite a few people I disagree with who aren’t racist shite. I can go weeks, months at a time without ridiculing them.
The lathermouths at a teabag rally fawning over the inflatable sex robot version of Orval Faubus? Ridicule is the only thing they’re worth.
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beb said on February 10, 2010 at 11:02 am
Is jcburns normally as much of a jerk as he comes across at 32?
Cleaning up someone misspelling before quoting them is a kindness. Pointing out that you’ve corrected their spelling is asshole-ish. Maybe minorly asshole-ish but still cruel.
I’ll accept that the Internet is more about standards and sticking to them, but when did the standards change? My default browser at work is Mozilla 1.7. It dates from 2004, not 1999 as jc assumes. Browsers changed a lot during the first ten years of the web, not so much since. And Mozilla prided itself on being a standards compliant browser.
Oddly enough, the other browseer on this computer, the one built into the operating system, is IE6. When Mozilla 1.7 was being blocked IE6 was not. But it wasn’t rendering Yahoo’s home page correctly. IE6, by the way dates from 2001. It’s older than Mozilla 1.7 and IE has never been standards compliant. Today, while checking to see which version of IE was on this computer I decided to check to see if it was still failing to render Yahoo’s home page correctly. The rendering problem has been fixed. So Yahoo is willing to support a ten year old browser — if it’s from Microsoft.
BUT…. When your business model is to serve up ads to visitors to your site, as is the case for Yahoo it is cutting your own throat to blanketly block people from your site because you don’t like their browser. I go to Yahoo tp read the news. But I can just as easily go to GoogleNews and will in the future.
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