Refusal… to let women vote… with faces UNcovered?

O-o

Ah.

‘Update Yes, obviously, that was a typo. It’s now fixed.’

Sheesh.

Even now that she’s identified the “typo” and corrected it, it still doesn’t read properly. Whatever it is she is doing to the English language, I’m sure the language doesn’t deserve it.

And we’re getting more of her “opinions” about things, to wit:

(Question: my impression is that places like Saudi Arabia require women to have papers on them at all times to prove that they’re not, say, in a car alone with a strange man. How do they handle this? Otherwise, why not just swap passports with your boyfriend’s sister?)

I know I’m getting old now, because back when I was but a lass, people who worked for news magazines were called “reporters”. And reporters did this thing they used to call “investigate stuff”. It’s a wacky idea, I know, but whenever there was uncertainty about something, reporters would go and find out for themselves. Isn’t that just the wildest thing you’ve ever heard of? I swear I’m not making it up, either.

Of course, when I was young, we used to wear onions on our belts, too.

Can someone give me a quarter for five bees?

Typos are no big deal if it’s just you alone with your friends (heh). But when you write for one of the premier literary magazines of the western world the standards should be a bit higher.

I remember that time I needed to get the ferry to Shelbyvile to get a dram of lemon water, back when lemon water was just a ha’penny for a titmeasure.

But when you write for one of the premier literary magazines of the western world the standards should be a bit higher.

I think the Atlantic may be using The Weekly Standard or the Washington Times as a journalistic ‘standard,’ and probably feeling quite smug about their success.

However, because no one directly pointed it out to her, the [sic] remains in this sentence.
“Some of the energy behind this seems to have been from feminists who hoped to use this to deligitimize veiling.”
I realize it’s a little petty, but I can count 2-3 other examples like that in just her first….. 2-3 posts.

Much like when Iran forced jews to wear ID badges on their arms, I can understand McArdle’s difficulty in accurately investigating such a distant and foreign country, especially with such a staggering language barrier between us.

I also heard the Canada has outlawed penises longer the four inches, and has passed legislation forcing dictionaries to include the word “unregardlessable”

I haven’t been to her blog in a while and I am amazed at how the traffic has dropped off. There are several posts with no comments at all and only a few that get into double digits. Not that I am that surprised. I think her goal is to be alone with her biggest admirer, herself. She may be reaching that goal before long.

Still unexplained: How this squares with Scott’s post on the ruling in Québec permitting women to vote with their faces covered in federal byelections.

The ruling comes from Elections Canada, a federal body. Quebec maintains its own rules in provincial elections.

Double negatives will get you in trouble like that. I am not unamused by this not quite uncommon behavior from McArdle, who is certainly not Ann Althouse.

I’m happy to see a version of Gary Ruppert has showed up in the comments, agreeing with commenter Brandon Berg’s contention that voting isnt’ a right.

You go, Gary!

isnt’ isn’t. Now that’s a typo.

Same rules for everybody, of course. Laws are not based on the ironclad human rights or wthics that good societies are founded on, but Canadian law need not be changed because of religious beliefs.
Making adjustments like these might not actually increase the chances of immigrants integrating well.

Its a privilege, shared more widely than in years past, but with the disaster foisted on us by permissiveness and multiculturalism, maybe we should take it back.

Right. That’s why they call the Voting Privileges Act.

Wow. You notice it’s always the same kind of asshole who’s prepared to offer to “take those privileges back” from us unwashed masses who just keep getting it wrong.

Boy would they ever be surprised it the authoritarian government they love so much took away some of THEIR rights!

mikey

The USA sould refuse to permit women to vote with their bodies covered. The hot ones, at least.

Silly mikey! The authoritarian government they crave will take away the rights of others, not THEM! They get to keep doing whatever they want, whenever they want; it’s the fucking libs, muslinazimunists, spics and darkies who get repressed for the greater good of the nation.

Remember, the NYPD has to tell Pammy what’s going on. They have to.

mikey said,

September 10, 2007 at 1:12

Wow. You notice it’s always the same kind of asshole who’s prepared to offer to “take those privileges back” from us unwashed masses who just keep getting it wrong.

Boy would they ever be surprised it the authoritarian government they love so much took away some of THEIR rights!

mikey

—

I am not afraid of losing any more priviledges. I am a patriot, an American and I have nothing to hide. Yet. as a white straight man I have lost plenty, ironic since my kind gave priviledges to everyone else. Now we want them back, and we do not care anymore if you feelings are hurt. You have made a mess of things. We will fix it.

In person I bet she communicates with clicks and whistles.

Oh. Ok.

PHEW!!

Nothing at all to worry about.

Ruppert’s gonna fix it.

Now, if you’d just take over the Giants and get that fixed, everything would be just fine….

mikey

I am not afraid of losing any more priviledges…… Yet. as a white straight man I have lost plenty…… Now we want them back.

Gary, doesn’t your brain hurt when you write things like this?

Dearest Gary,

As a “white straight man” in modern-day America, what have you lost?

Thanks,
Strange Forces

We will fix it.

How are you going to fix it when your leaders are all in prison or voted out of public office? Don’t you know there’s an epic humiliation coming down the pike for you in ’08?

Shit, is Rrrrprrrt for real or is he someone’s attempt at parody? I can never remember.

I know it’s just picking nits at this point, but I am STILL cringing at the construction “vote with their face [un]covered”.

I have voted in every election in which I have been old enough to vote, barring the first one. I had just turned eighteen the winter before, and I was homeless at the time of the election. Despite the fact that homeless persons have the right to vote….it’s pretty hard to do.

And yet, with this illustrious history of the franchise behind me, I have never once voted with my face, covered or not. Usually, I push a little button on a machine. With my finger. Sometimes, I punch a hole in a piece of paper. This is usually done with a stylus, also wielded by fingers.

I’m sorry….I know it’s a teensy thing at this point. It’s just such an ugly construction that I cannot stop thinking about it, though.

As a “white straight man” in modern-day America, what have you lost?

Gary don’t know the answer to that (hint to Gary: there isn’t one; it’s bullshit), but he’s of the mind, “if Rush said it, it must be true.”

Jillian: In all fairness, McArdle, et al. probably do think all Muslim women have only one face. Perhaps they pass it around, share it, hence the veils. I’d guess it’s the “they all look alike” thing. Or maybe “teh face of ISLAM!!!!!11!!!” thing.

And that wasn’t a “typo.” Her error is more charitably known as “not bothering to proofread,” or perhaps, more accurately, “not knowing what the fuck she is talking about.”

I just can’t help it, MzNicky…the sentence, as it stands, paints a picture in my mind of a woman in a voting booth, pecking at the buttons with her nose. “Voting with their face”, perforce.

I am not afraid of losing any more priviledges. I am a patriot racist, an American a fascist and I have nothing to hide no fucking clue. Yet. as a white straight man I have lost plenty am terrified of all the brown gay people, ironic since my kind gave priviledges to has always had more power and wealth than everyone else. Now we want them back to kill everyone we hate, and we do not care anymore if you feelings are who gets hurt. You We have made a mess of things. We will Please fix it.

Fixing Gary Ruppert.

By mikey

I have never once voted with my face, covered or not. Usually, I push a little button on a machine.

Bwah!!

Not only that. I have never, if I recall correctly, had to show photo ID to vote.

The registration documents show that I’m registered, and I confirm it’s me by signing on the line. IIRC, they do not have anything to compare my signature with. This little ritual is really intended to make sure that only one vote is counted for g.

Lli’l Garlito can’t name what he’s “lost” but he knows that his life sucks, ergo its someone else’s goddamn fault and they’re gonna pay.

Dearest Gary…what have you lost?

Imagined rights and unearned privileges. That’s about it.

I’m not sure Jillian. Let’s say I was down in West Hollywood, and I voted wearing only leather chaps. It would be fair to say I voted with my ass uncovered, without leaving the impression I actually used my ass to vote.

Um, wouldn’t it?

mikey

Or if you really cared about a candidate and you voted with your heart…..that could get messy.

I’m a white straight man, and I’ve lost my lighter.
Where is it, Gary?

Jillian: I feel your pain. As an ex-copyeditor, former college journalism instructor, and all-purpose pedant, I am driven mad by such obtuse nincompoopery.

It’s not really a grammatical error……it’s a borderline misplaced preposition. But in this particular instance, it just grates on my ears for some reason.

There was a goofy song a long, long time ago, that made fun of the German language for this very reason: in German, prepositional phrases are inserted in places that seem weird to English ears. The only line of the song that I remember is “Throw mother down the stairs a kiss…..”

Ich habe alle mein Deutsch vergessen, Ich glaube.

I am not afraid of losing any more priviledges. I am a patriot, an American and I have nothing to hide…. Now we want them back, and we do not care anymore if you feelings are hurt. You have made a mess of things. We will fix it.

I think I agree with this. White people should not be allowed to vote. We just keep fucking it up.

Yet. as a white straight man I have lost plenty…

Boners don’t count.

It’s not really a grammatical error……it’s a borderline misplaced preposition.

Actually, it’s such a poorly written sentence that it’s irredeemable and should have been recast. Something like:

“…that in Quebec, Muslim women are not permitted to enter the voting booth with their faces covered.”

(Extra bonus: This recasting would also take care of the assignment to “Quebec” of personal attributes. Subtler extra bonus: Meaning is actually enhanced by use of passive rather than active voice. Hey, I used to get paid to know this stuff.)

English is such a pretty language, so full of nuanced adjectives and adverbs, so rich in distinctive vowel and consonant combinations. We stole all the prettiest parts from three or four other languages, and it shows. (Not that other languages aren’t nice, mind; it’s just that English is pretty sweet.)

You make the ghost of Daniel Webster cry when you do to language what McAddled does.

We can go on all we want about McMegan’s inability to proofread, or write clearly or reason in the first place (and we damn well will, because we’re all so jealous) but at least she’s earning her keep w/ quantity (“For me, quantity is quality.” — Stu, The Dictators’ first drummer.) web logging by posting on Sunday, unlike certain sites that left us in the lurch just last Sunday. [Snivel, whine.]

Is it too much to ask that the banality at least be served up in a grammatically correct fashion? At some point, UPenn and UChi alums are going to take up a collection to get her to stop writing.

Someguy,

Is that true about Canda outlawing penises over 4 inches?. Because I’m going to pack my 5″ and go the great white north. In the kingdom of the blind and all that . . . Plus I’ll be an outlaw. How cool.

The fact is, we need better fake Garys.

You’ll be like Mad Max in buttless chaps.

According to Red Tory (via Robert McClelland), the whole stir is product of a right-wing phony outrage campaign aimed at smearing Elections Canada.

Is that true about Canda outlawing penises over 4 inches?
It was the Canada. Like the Ukraine, and the Lebanon, and the Iraq.

If you’re hard up for entertainment, I recommend wasting some time playing Nine Billion Miles from Earth.

I don’t even want to tell you how much time I’ve wasted today doing that.

S.G.,

I can almost feel the arctic blasts — how bracing.

I started to comment on the smearing of Canadian elections, but feel I should stop before descending fully into junior high mode.

OT, but Gavin, saw the Sox today beat the Orioles 3-2. It is very strange to be in Camden Yards and have two-thirds of the crowd rooting for the visitors. If I were an O’s fan it would make me crazy.

In Canada. for instance, I’m told that marriage is now frequently contracted in seven-year terms where either party may move on when their term is up.

I would totally do that.

Anyone wanna marry me for only seven years?

I’m with Gary on this one. As a white, straight male I am sick of giving up all of my privileges to Muslim women who aren’t not forced to not cover their face when they vote! Remember, the fact of the matter is, voting isn’t a “right,” as evidenced by the fact that the surge is working!!

Actually, it was Elections Canada that decided women could vote with their faces covered. The Prime Minister (little Bush) is challenging the decision.

I don’t see what the big deal is as long as voters can be reliably identified.

I just can’t help it, MzNicky…the sentence, as it stands, paints a picture in my mind of a woman in a voting booth, pecking at the buttons with her nose. “Voting with their face”, perforce.

In Canada we still use paper ballots, and “X” the circle of our choice with a pencil.

As a white straight male, I am actually in favor the disenfrachisement of white straight males. Think how much better our politics would be. I would be willing to make that sacrifice. As long as I can wear chaps. (I originally typed scarifice which made me think “say hello to my little friend” to bring this full circle.) (And I only had two beers today — originally typed as two bears – Freud get off the goddamned computer.)

Compare and contrast:

Voting While Veiled
09 Sep 2007 02:14 pm
Scott Lemieux writes about Québec regulations against voting with a covered face, and efforts to secure an exemption for observant Muslim women. I agree with this bottom line:

Serious thinker Matthew Yglesias.

I also heard the Canada has outlawed penises longer the four inches, and has passed legislation forcing dictionaries to include the word “unregardlessable”

Unregardlessable? OK, I call bullshit: it’s unregardlesible.

And the “outlawing penises longer than four inches”? No way. I have it on Godly Authority that there are no penises longer than three inches.

Biblically speaking, my penis is four cubits in length.

Yep. Check it out…

mikey

In Canada we still use paper ballots, and “X” the circle of our choice with a pencil.

Ah, memories. That reminded me of the time I voted for Joe Clark just to help prevent the Alliance party knuckledragger from winning the riding. Mr. clever strategic voter, me.

Shit, more McAddled? We need to move on, people. There are plenty more wingnettes out there, writing stuff like: “the United States is like the underappreciated wife. No one notices all the things that get done, only those things that do not.”

Really.

(you can’t miss the post, it’s right above the one titled, “Does it get any better than reading Mark Steyn?”)

Biblically speaking,

But if anybody looks, it turns into a pillar of salt.

Sorry…junior-high mode.

Objectivelypro,

Bring back Bob Rae I say.

Dorothy,

You’re right — I forgot the general’s wise words – I must have had the metric ruler out.

In Canada we still use paper ballots, and “X” the circle of our choice with a pencil.

A pencil which could be held in the mouth, thus allowing you to vote with your face.

Q.
E.
Fucking.
D.

RubDMC: Oh. Oh, no. Not … not RightWingSparkle! Dear god, I thought she stamped her foot and flounced out of the blogosphere in a snit after the 2006 elections. A hugher example of dumbfuck-wingnut nitwittery is not to be found. Oh my achin’ head.

Biblically speaking, I own roughly half of you.

Awww, no one tell RightWingSparkle about the recent revelations of Mother Teresa’s…lack of faith, relatively speaking.

Sparkle don’t strike me as the doubting type.

Actually, you know what? Tell her. Could be lots of fun. And, really, isn’t that Job One here at Sadly, No? Fun?

so i Herd that in Candide they onlly going will let the Mexlims voting. The true?

“I thought she stamped her foot and flounced out of the blogosphere in a snit after the 2006 elections.”

She bailed a few weeks before the elections. I thought the cognitive dissonance was getting to her, and even gave her credit for seeing the writing on the wall.

But, yeah, she’s back with the same cast of 6 or 7 regular readers and her own sanctimonious blend of observations and meddling. That’s the thing about being a 28 percenter, I guess – once you cast your lot, you’re either in all the way or you face the hard fact that everything you believe is a lie.

I do think her writing deserves broader ridicule. It’s got that special quality, y’know?

Then again, some people might just see a big-ass barrel, a bunch of fish, and a nice stack of unattended shotguns, fully loaded.

RubDMC said,

Shit, more McAddled? We need to move on, people.

Thank you. I have not agreed with her on any number of things, and believe she did a wretched job “explaining” why those who were right about Iraq really were not. But she isn’t Dan Riehl or Jeff Goldstein, and her post under consideration in this thread is not manifestly wrong. SN lampooning is well-deserved for many, but this is such overkill for a target not that egregious that the only term that fits is “mean-spirited.”

I grow weary of and disappointed by the McArdle-mania here of-a-sudden.

Oh yes, RIGHTWINGSPARKLE!!! You must view her drunken video from the Southern Decadence Festival last wknd. in NOLA, if only to compare her profile (“I use to be an actress many moons ago. Thank God I am not one now.”) picture to her current poundage. At least she doen’t appear to be a homophobe, just a garden variety wingnutwit.
P. S.: The “no shirt” part of the ever popular “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service” sign found @ many popular drinking/dining establishments doesn’t seem to apply, at least during the Festival.
Let’s see: The Divine Ms. Althouse w/ her vino, RWS w/ her brew, & Pammy w/ whatever hard spirits she enjoys. The three of them in one room, w/ ONLY ONE CAMERA. Catfight to the death for face time!!!

Aaand we have the latest Day by Day from Ms. Sparkle.

I guess in right-wing world non-sequiturs are somehow hi-fucking-larious, because…uhh…**scratches head**…heh….um, yeah.

“compare her profile…picture to her current poundage.”

Ah, yes. Time and Cheetos are an unforgiving combination.

That video is a mess. If you’re gonna roam around with a video camera to do man on the street interviews, get a decent directional mike and a long cord, fer cryin’ out loud.

Wow. I couldn’t watch the Southern Belle Ya-Ya Club or whatever the fuck it was for more than a minute. It would seem that the photo RWS posts of herself on her site is a good 20 years or so out of date.

Yeah, me and some of the General’s boys used to torment her fairly regularly. (Which reminds me — I must alert Rev. Jerry Gloryhole immediately! I wonder if he knows Sparks is back?) She’d ban you for about a week then let you back in, til you said something like “how fucking stupid ARE you?”, or “Bush is not the greatest president ever,” then you got banned again.

Oh yeah, she’s ripe for trollin’, but it looks like she’s moderating the comments big time. She reminds me of at least half the women down here in the Southland with whom I am forced to socialize from time to time. Again, my achin’ head.

M. Bouffant: As I recall, she’s not a homophobe in the sense that she “loves the sinner, hates the sin” kind of not a homophobe.

OK, Mona (how’s it going, by the way?) but when this:

…one of the historic center’s of Washington, DC’s sizeable black middle glass”

has been up since 1338 EDT today (it’s now seven hours later) it’s hard to resist. You’re an editor, how does it make you feel that someone is that lazy or undisciplined (Though w/o such, you might have less work.)? Especially when followed by her answer to something in the comments (slighty out of the above context, read the whole thing):

It was just an interesting comment, that’s all; there wasn’t any particular criticism implied. I’m not sure how I feel about it, actually.

It is an “interesting comment.” I’m going to be charitable, but it could certainly be interpreted as along the lines of: “Some of my best neighbors are black.” And if she’s not sure how she feels about it, actually, why even post it?

And I left a completely non-mean-spirited, informative comment on her earlier “Music Sunday” item.

Je me souvien le stall dans la Quebecois, mmmmmm.

Well, she didn’t make any snide or judgemental comments on the vid. Maybe the brews had her a little mellow. Haven’t thoroughly examined her site yet, and may not, though the Grammar Pig™ in me is tempted. I’ll have to find her foot-stamping/flounce/snit item though. Thanks for the background, MzN., & how sucky you have to socialize w/ the Flowers of Suth’n Womanhood. (Bad enough to have to deal w/ such @ work, but socialize?) I only have a feline roomie who’s recently decided to mark the sofa as territory every five minutes. Much the same thing, I guess. And thanks to RubDMC for bringing her up in the first place.

Am I the only one who doesn’t believe “Gary Ruppert” really exists?

All “his” posts are such self-parodies, so beyond the pale of even what a garden variety right-wing numbskull would say.

I’ve reached my limit. I just don’t believe it.

Gary? If you really exist? Say something to convince me. Because absent thereof, it’s just one of “us” pretending.

Peep! from the S,N! free speech zone.

And a song.

(you can’t miss the post, it’s right above the one titled, “Does it get any better than reading Mark Steyn?”)

Aiee. Why yes, I do believe there’s a font of material here….

The fact is that I am a real boy.

I, for one, am looking forward to the Gavin M. treatment of ReichWingSpackle.

Gavin: Have fun! But do be gentle. She’s a dainty flower of Southern womanhood. Who’s illiterate. And an idiot.

MrWonderful, a year ago, and up until just after the 2006 elections, a Gary Ruppert commented quite frequently. His voice was consistent. He had a very unemotional tone. He opened many sentences with “the fact is”. I myself believe that at that time, there was an actual Gary Ruppert. Whether or not he was a parody is open to interpretation. He rarely engaged, usually just dropping his comment and apparently departing. Close to the election, as I recall, he became increasingly more strident. Shortly after the election, (and the fact is that every one of his electoral predictions had been proved wildly wrong), he vanished for a time. He may, in fact, have vanished forever. Many random Gary Ruppert comments have appeared since, but I think most if not all of them have been “fake Gary”, or more likely multiple fake Garys. It’s sad, in a way. I used to really enjoy the constant wrongness.

Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce!!! O, ye gods, we miss ‘im.

Ah, yes. There was no one like Bruce . . .

I myself believe that at that time, there was an actual Gary Ruppert.

———————-

He’s kinda like Keyser Soze, except a complete smacktard.

I don’t even want to tell you how much time I’ve wasted today doing that.

It’s stupid comics for me: Here’s one for the language police. Deserves meme status.

But, but, but, MzNicky – even the fake Gary Rupperts are constantly wrong!

We’re starting to feel bad about picking on McArdle

You have to hit them with a 2×4 before they hit us with a 2×4.

Botanically speaking, my curcubit is four cubits in length.
Fixed!

Gary Ruppert c. early 2006 is the perhaps-parody perhaps-not parody troll by which all others must be judged.

The gold standard of trolls, as it were.

The Iraq. maps. U.S. Americans.

I don’t know, Gavin, that “Welcome Morons” thing makes me think it’s some kind of red herring. I mean, he’s totally going to try to set you guys up now that he knows what you’re up to. I’m not saying that it won’t be full of epic fail (as we all know it will be), but I would be careful, because, even if they get embarrassed and make asses out of themselves, they will be on the ol’ HQ the next day declaring INTERNET VICTORY.

http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/3262.html
—

one of the better Gary Ruppert comedy classiques …

Simba: More like: “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.”

This perhaps is teh quintessential dekonstruction of Gary Ruppert:

—
Brad R. said,
July 14, 2006 at 6:05

Gary doesn’t really believe all this shit. I mean, he’s a conservative sure, but he also says a bunch of crap he doesn’t really believe. He’s like Frank from Gloucester, this incredibly obnoxious Yankee fan who calls into our local sports radio station to talk about how great the Yankees are, no matter how poorly they’re playing.

Don’t feel bad, you just pwned her so full of win in the post down below she’s not worth the attention.
And Pam and Rick and Dan and Debbie and Pastor Swank and Townhall and Jonah and…. are all lonely and jealous.

plus they miss hearing from S,N!
Bam dum dum
Thank you. I be here all the veek.

Ms. McArdle richly deserves the Full S,N ! Santorum of Frothiness she is receiving open fire hydrant style.

I don’t know, Gavin, that “Welcome Morons” thing makes me think it’s some kind of red herring.

Well possibly, but ‘morons’ is part of their private slang over there. Plus, a lot of them actually are morons, so if it’s announced for Lir, some of them are bound to go there unsuspectingly even if it is a joke.

The question is, with this comedy taking place only a couple of T stops away, what does one do? Like, do Brad and I go to the costume shop on Broadway and rent bear and puma costumes, and just happen to find ourselves on Boylston that evening?

Or is that overthinking?

You could pee on a large styrofoam effigy of Jay Severin.

In person I bet she communicates with clicks and whistles.

… and all the dolphins would want to strangle her with their bare hands, if they had hands.

I am not afraid of losing any more priviledges. I am a patriot, an American and I have nothing to hide…

Put your pants back on, Gary. Nobody’s impressed.

nice fix, mikey.

um, also? i’m not sure how many of you who watched the aceapalooza message realized that it was possible to reply…but it seems only polite to r.s.v.p. i mean, if you’re going. just sayin’.

Well possibly, but ‘morons’ is part of their private slang over there.

Sounds like you know more than I do about the Solemn Order of the Ace of Spades. In that case, carry on, and whatever you do: get pictures. Your commentariat awaits you.

Dolphins are nature’s Godless Killing Machines, soulless and unrepentant in their quest for blood and suffering.

I hate whales, too. Seriously.

Before y’all climb off the Megan bandwagon (’til she next deserves it) can anyone w/ better eyes or mind figure what her favicon is/means?

Some Guy said,
September 10, 2007 at 8:07
—

d00d … we could fuck and have babies …

Megatron’s favicon appears to be a stylized compass rose.

I believe it means, roughly, “IM N UR ATLNTC MNTHLY, KILLIN UR LITRARY LEGCY,” as the other Atlantic bloggers have the same favicon.

this is such overkill for a target not that egregious that the only term that fits is “mean-spirited.”

Egregiousness is oft in the eye of the beholder, I fear. When one manifestly contributes to the endumbening of our national discourse, there is room for reasonable people to disagree over how egregious one is.

Gavin, I think you’re doing a public service by calling McArdle out on all her bullshit. I love the wingnut takedowns, but I cannot believe someplace like the Atlantic (the Atlantic!) is paying her for this facile and airheaded crap.

Yes, the spotlight on McArdle may be unpleasant and may be getting somewhat repetitive, but it’s necessary. She – and more important, her employer – must be held to account for her poor logic and 10th-grade-level writing skillz.

The once-proud legacy of The Atlantic demands it.

I noticed some 50 hits from here and was surprised to get only one mean comment. Now I see why. You guys prefer to talk “behind my back” so to speak.

No real argument on the issues, just personal attacks. Which is why I don’t go to leftwing sites anymore (except for Comments From Left Field)

The left, in it’s meanness and ugliness, never fails to surprise me in that regard.

Oh, Sparkle baby, you’ve only seen the beginning. You have The One and Only Gavin M. characterizing your blog as a “fountain of material”.

Trust me, many chuckles at your expense are coming up.

(No pressure or anything, Gavin)

Yes, the spotlight on McArdle may be unpleasant and may be getting somewhat repetitive, but it’s necessary. She – and more important, her employer – must be held to account for her poor logic and 10th-grade-level writing skillz.

The once-proud legacy of The Atlantic demands it.

Agreed. Gavin and SN! are performing a very necessary service. Our little M&M needs to have a flamey-whitehot spotlight on all her shortcomings, and it’s not because she matters but because the Atlantic does. Or it used to.

As angry and enraged as the wingnuts make me, as much as I treasure their takedowns here, the little M&M enrages more because it’s the Atlantic for fuck’s sake. They should know better and do better than to hire an M&M, the eyecandy-coated piece of mediocre shit that is called Megan McArdle.

It’s her callowness and her incredible laziness that make me despise her. I dislike her even more than I do people like Pastor Swank who we can just laugh at. It’s an absolute travesty that M&M is working for the Atlantic and people like Gavin and Digby and HTML Mencken and Brad are not.

Ms. Sparkle, why should we bother to argue w/ you? Your side of the aisle is based on stuff like, “Oh, but George Bush sticks to his guns, he’s got so much character.” (Whether his guns are worth stcking to or not.) And, “If you don’t like his policies or how they’re carried out, it’s just Bush Derangemnet Syndrome.” There is no possibility of a logical argument w/ your kind, so we resort to making fun, mocking your semi-literacy (A pretty good indication that you’re not very well educated, or able to learn anything new. Try reading the stuff you copy & paste, you might pick up some hints.) & noticing the difference between how you looked last weekend & your profile photo.

And we’re so mean & ugly! Like that’s not ad hominem. Mean & ugly would be to visit your site & be mean & ugly toward you. Mean & ugly is attacking & occupying a country that had nothing to do w/ an attack on us, killling thousands upon thousands of its citizens, and saying we have to keep occupying it to prove our “resolve,” while wasting the lives & arms & legs & eyeballs & brains of the “warriors” you claim to “love.” Mean & ugly is being the schoolyard bully of the planet.

Don’t make me come over there & give you the thrashing you deserve.

Alright, that’s enough introduction for the newcomer, time for the crocs to do their work.

Wow, guys, incredibly well done. You really showed McArdle! Or, er, look like morons, one or the other.

The initial issue was pretty obviously a typo. the exact situation (federal elections – face covered okay; provincial elections – not) would have been obvious if you’d bothered to read and understand the basic issue.

Jeez.

Hey, Sparkle girlie: what M. Bouffant said. With knobs on.

I mean, honestly, one gets quite weary of trying to discuss anything rationally with characters who seriously use the BDS theory. That behaviour is the online equivalent of a 3-year-old sticking his fingers in his ears and shouting “La la la, I can’t hear you”.

And when the remaining wingnuts (funny how they’re melting away) continue to refuse facts and abhor logic, preferring to stick with their comforting fables about American exceptionalism and We Can Do No Wrong, well, there’s no point in being either discursive or civil, is there?

I do look forward to Gavin’s treatment of you, though. It’s nice to know that our side of politics has all the smart people, as well as facts, logic, and common humanity.

John, they did read the article. And they’ve already updated. But don’t let the facts get in the way of a good whine.

I hear there’s a Sparkle down! Direct me!

The initial issue was pretty obviously a typo.

Using “uncovered” when you mean “covered” isn’t just a typo, it’s a mistake. But let’s be charitable. Let’s call it a typo, her little fingers were just typing so fast they added “un” to “covered.” So it’s a typo. A typo in a poorly written sentence, that was not proofread. In a national magazine blog. I’d say that’s grounds for snark.

Sparks! Only one “mean”!!!11!! comment? That would have been mine, perhaps, when I asked very politely if you were drunk in your Southern Sorority Sister “We’re Not Gay But Our Hairdressers Are!” video. (By the way, hasn’t NO suffered enough without you and your girlfriends running around drunk harassing everyone?) By the way, last I checked you’d yet to post my “mean” comment about your public drunkenness. Whatever happened to freedom of speech? Why do you hate America, et cetera?

Yep, we’ll have to “talk about you behind your back” (did you graduate high school?) over here as you won’t allow any “mean” comments over there.

This is gonna be fun. By the way, I’m refraining from correcting the many errors in your comment above, as that’s just the way you are (don’t go changin’!). Next time, though, the red pen comes out. That means I’ll correct it for you, not that it will do any good.

Shorter Gavin M.

“Nothing wrong with me that a simple restraining order wouldn’t fix. And if if weren’t for BushCo, one would already would have been produced, but …

Hepta-uptadate:

It hasn’t! Leaving me here babbling incomprehensibly about what someone said about what someone else said about provisions for by-elections in a Canadian province.”

Dope spill in Comment 126. Bring the non-sequitur mop.

I mean, honestly, one gets quite weary of trying to discuss anything rationally with characters who seriously use the BDS theory

. . . while simultaneously dismissing out-of-hand the idea that they themselves might have once suffered (or even might now be suffering) from a similar ailment: Clinton Derangement Syndrome!!!!

AAAaaaaagh! Teh Clenis!

Wow, guys, incredibly well done. You really showed McArdle! Or, er, look like morons, one or the other.

The initial issue was pretty obviously a typo. the exact situation (federal elections – face covered okay; provincial elections – not) would have been obvious if you’d bothered to read and understand the basic issue.

You’re right. Oh, if only someone, somewhere, had bothered to read and understand the basic issues! Who are they who are so wise in the ways of science? That arcane science of reading comprehension…where shall it find its champions?

Surely nothing’s cleared up here.

I don’t know if that firemeganmcardle.com comment is yours, Just for John, but whoever it belongs to really needs to create that web site for reals.

It is my comment. Yes, someone does need to create that website.

Not to obsess, but Gary Ruppert has comments at Megan M’s site, and his name links to…Facebook.

Will anyone be shocked to learn that I not only don’t have an account on Facebook, but that I barely know how it “works”? I didn’t think so.

Still, one of you hep cats probably can get in. Can you find Gary’s page, or wall, or poke, or whatever the fuck it is? And report back?

Oh, and: Klein’s Tiny L.N.: You’re in Balto.? City of my birth and youth. I left in ’68. NINETEEN 68, yes.

Voting with faces uncovered?

Does that include beards? NO WAY am I going to shave my manly whiskers to vote. Why, half of the fun is to leave a curly dark one in the voting booth for a wingnut to find and misinterpret.

OT, but unsurprising: It takes a German to make plainer the connection between the hppie-bashing “family values” crowd and National Socialism: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6986687.stm

This lady makes Megatron sound like a frickin peach.

MrWonderful, there are two Gary Rupperts on Facebook. I poked ’em both, one is obviously a fake, as it has that Mexican kid from Bradrocket’s old post as a profile picture. The other appears real, he’s in Indianapolis and it’s a middle-aged white male in a suit posing for a professional head shot (gradient background and everything). I almost have to wonder if we haven’t found the Holy Grail of the Church of Sadly, No!…

MCH:

From the Department of You Can’t Make This Shit Up:
The name of the guy that fired the fascist fraulein is Volker Herres.

I’m still laffin’.

Mr. Wonderful,

I’m in DC, but we Red Sox fans make the trek up to Charm City to see our beloved team whenever possible. It’s very strange to go there now, because with the O’s having fallen on hard times more than half of the crowd is rooting for the Sox. I am told the same thing occurs when the Yanks come to town.

It’s got to be galling for the home town faithful.

The guys who’ve been posting McArdle defenses reminded me of a letter Edward Norton wrote to The New Yorker years ago. The magazine had profiled Nick Broomfield’s “Kurt and Courtney” documentary, and Norton, then Courtney’s partner, led a one-man charge in defense of Love, whom he referred to as a “complex, evolving and healthy human being.”

A commenter here at S,N! described McArdle’s male defenders as knights errant, and I think that description fits. They ride out to save their Guinevere from the stake, heedless of the fact that the Lady doth suck.

OT, but unsurprising: It takes a German to make plainer the connection between the hppie-bashing “family values” crowd and National Socialism: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6986687.stm

This lady makes Megatron sound like a frickin peach.

Hang on! I think we have our new presidential advisor!

Fishbone, think of the CDS we’re gonna see if Hillary gets elected.

RightWingSpackle will be heading for the hills with a shotgun, keeping one eye out for those black helicopters.

Waco! Ruby Ridge! Murrah! Murrah! Murrah!

Wolverines!

“RightWingSpackle will be heading for the hills with a shotgun, keeping one eye out for those black helicopters.”

Oh, yeah, Zsa.

Here’s her inspiration.

Stand by for egregious mean-spiritedness!

McArdle, Thursday, September 6, 2007:

I’ve promised not to say too much more about Jonathan Chait’s piece, as I’m doing a TPM book club on the topic next week. But here are the two areas that I think are being misunderstood.

TPMCafe Book Club, Monday, September 10, 2007:

Welcome to the TPMCafe Book Club, where we invite authors to discuss their most recent works with readers and invited commentators.

This week we’ll be discussing Jonathan Chait’s new book, The Big Con: The True Story of How Washington Got Hoodwinked and Hijacked by Crackpot Economics.

[…]

Joining the conversation will be Will Wilkinson, Stephen Moore, Megan McArdle, Ross Douthat, Ezra Klein, and Paul Krugman

McArdle, Monday, September 10, 2007:

But Mr Chait’s recent writings seem to imply that he hasn’t really understood the terms of the debate, or learned how to separate the cranks from the titans, which may be why his article lumps all of their claims together. Unfortunately, I haven’t a copy of the book, so I can’t tell if it’s any better than the article in The New Republic.

Chait, Monday, September 10, 2007:

Thank you all for taking the time to discuss my book.

In fairness, I recall a joke that circulated among the faculty when I was in college: “Read the book? I haven’t even taught it.”

Heehee.
Thank you, editing fairies.

Thank you, editing fairies.

The editing fairies have been good to me and have my consent to alter any of my comments in any way they desire. I am staunchly pro-fairy.

Oh yeah. Typically I only supply the consonants.

The fairies turn out the rest…

mikey

Unfortunately, I haven’t a copy of the book,

You can’t make this up.

The editing fairies occassionally reach a left hand, palm upward, into my comment box.

I suppose McAddled’s “blogginess” trumps the fact that she hasn’t read the book she’s been asked to discuss.

In Andrew Golis’s defense, Megatron could hardly provide that special Jane Galt magic if she had any fucking clue what she was writing about. So this must be just what he had in mind.

I, a young university student, was home for the summer. I had gone to visit some friends one evening and the time passed quickly as each of us shared our various experiences of the past year.

I ended up staying longer than I had planned and had to walk home alone. But I wasn’t afraid because it was a small town and I lived only a few blocks away. As I walked along under the tall elm trees, I asked “fairies” to keep me safe from harm and danger. When I reached the alley, which was a short cut to my house, I decided to take it. However, halfway down the alley I noticed a man standing at the end as though he were waiting for me. I became uneasy and began to pray, asking for fairy protection. Instantly a comforting feeling of quietness and security wrapped around me, I felt as though someone was walking with me. When I reached the end of the alley, I walked right past the man and arrived home safety.

The following day, I read in the paper that a young student had been raped in the same alley, just twenty minutes after I had been there. Feeling overwhelmed by this tragedy and the fact that it could have been me, I began to weep. Thanking the fairies for my safety and to help this young student, I decided to go to the police station. I felt I could recognize the man, so I told them my story. The police asked me if I would be willing to look at a lineup to see if I could identify him. I agreed and immediately pointed out the man I had seen in the alley the night before.

When the man was told he had been identified, he immediately broke down and confessed. The officer thanked me for my bravery and asked if there was anything they could do for me, and I asked if they would ask the man one question. I was curious as to why he had not attacked me. When the policeman asked him, he answered, “Because he wasn’t alone. He had two tiny fairies walking on either side of him.”

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF FAIRIES!

Umm… mikey? I think Righteous Bubba got into your stash.

Just sayin’.

You have no idea how many emails I get from family members where you could take the text of Bubba’s snark there and run:

$ sed -i ‘s/fairies/angels/g’

and have the basic gist of the e-mail.

Bonus points if you already knew about sed.

So as you can see, we were just speculating about hypotheticals, and to be honest, we’re really not very interested in this topic anyway. Plus, why does McArdle assume we were talking about her? It’s all a bit weird if you ask us.

A full Althouse with a half-twist! And only a 6.8 from the Russian judge -boo!

You have The One and Only Gavin M. characterizing your blog as a “fountain of material”.
No, no, it was a “font of material”. Inquiring minds are still wondering which font he has in mind… Comic Sans? Copperpoint Gothic? Rockwell Bold?
Probably not Lucida.

Please, keep ridiculing her. She deserves it.

As Jillian wrote early on, what gets me is, sure, McCardle is shockingly ignorant on so very many subjects, but she also just refuses to do any basic research, making it all the more painful. She’s sorta like a thread troll – “explain to me this…” “Dance for me, monkey!” She may be a pleasant person, but she’s a complete twit.

Gary Ruppert has comments at Megan M’s site, and his name links to…Facebook.

adb, was that you?

Also: Don’t think I have forgotten the fake Gary comment that placed him in the city in which I currently have the misfortune to reside.

If I everI find out who posted that, you are so getting a sleepover visit from Ganesh Bengal Cat. Off his meds.

You will pay. Well, not you, exactly. More like everything breakable you own will pay, and so, I suppose you really will pay, eventually…ah, fuck it. It was damned unkind, is all I’m saying.

Nah, I was heckling her just as normal old “brad”, which probably means bradrocket got “credit” in her “mind” for my “jackassery”.
In fact, teh fake Gary hates me, and hasn’t responded to my friend request.

Aw, I thought that was adb doing the Fake Gary. Hm, I would think that fake Gary probably reads this site, perhaps he should friend the real/other Gary, see what happens?

When Carl Sagan first said billions and billions he was really thinking of the number of fake Gary Rupperts in the interboobz ….

Why is it all “libertarian” spokespeople seem so stupid?

The reason I lean lib can is encapsulated right here.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2715792117793977759&hl=en

M. Bouffant writes: OK, Mona (how’s it going, by the way?) but when this:

has been up since 1338 EDT today (it’s now seven hours later) it’s hard to resist. You’re an editor, how does it make you feel that someone is that lazy or undisciplined

My situation is cool now, thanks for asking — got work out of the bleg, as well as very generous donations that relieved the pressure.

Look, every blogger makes illiterate mistakes, myself included, unless they have an editor. That said, I find McArdle to be a mediocre thinker and writer, at best. If that’s the criticism — that the Atlantic has a helluva lot better choices available to them — you won’t get an argument from me. (If they want a libertarian with a background of being published and who actually is a fine writer, they could opt for Jim Henley.)

Rant away about that. It is just the ad hominem excesses at McArdle as a person, and at her trifling errors, that I think are unwarranted and make SN look petty and mean.

Why is it all “libertarian” spokespeople seem so stupid?

Because they’re the really visible ones. If you look really closely, pretty much all the others seem stupid too.

Lurker here.

Mona, I disagree.

Few people diserve ridicule as much as McArdle. It’s the banality of evil types that needs to be pointed out and disposed of, not the wingnuts Sadly, No usually attacks, but those types rarely reach McArdleness.

McArdle, for instance, is taken seriously enough to be invited to critique Jonathan Chait’s books, for the luv of gawd. Can’t you see the irony of that? When is any half-way legitimate outpost of civiliation going to invite Confederate Yankee or some troll from LGF to review a book from a recognized pundit?

That’s why McArdle deserves all the scorn that can be heaped on her. She has an undeserved air of legimitacy, ridiculous and loathsome opinions, and a platform. Unlike the ordinary wingnut, her voice can actually be heard. Pile on, Sadlynauts.

When is any half-way legitimate outpost of civiliation going to invite Confederate Yankee or some troll from LGF to review a book from a recognized pundit?

Revuu uh whuuuut?

Hi, Mona, glad all is better.

It seems to me that the trifling errors are an excellent indication of her mediocrity. She really couldn’t go over a seven-line post to locate a couple of whoppers? Wherever I comment (& on my one-person, two readers blog) I’m continually going over my typing (& writing) mostly ’cause I’m a poor typist, partly ’cause I know my grammar & spelling & can do it correctly, & have some pride & self-respect. (Not an excessive amount, mind you.)

It’s hard to tell where her personhood separates from her typing/writing/thinking, though I don’t think I’ve been terribly mean. She may be charming, but that alone is not a good basis for hiring any one, except as a con man/woman. We may be jealous & bitter, but not unjustifiably so.
And I don’t think our kind & generous hosts here have been that mean-spirited, they usually manage to call her on facts. If you’re ticked @ the commentariat, well, better that the lonely, sad, pathetic & jealous who waste our days, nights & afternoons here are @ our keyboards rather than our triggers. (Other than Mikey, of course. The LASD confiscated my rifle, so the world is safe from me.)

I’ll second tydanosaurus. I was being nice to Mona, who has typed at me kindly before, but it’s true, Ms. McA. does have an audible voice, and is more of a menace than the fish in a barrel usually dealt w/ here. Perhaps, as she is widely read by other than Ace’s & Yankee’s fan clubs, the take-downs of Megan need to be a bit better than abusing the chinless, but old habits that have worked well for a while are hard to set aside.

Welcome to the TPMCafe Book Club, where we invite authors to discuss their most recent works with readers and invited commentators.

This week we’ll be discussing Jonathan Chait’s new book, The Big Con…

Memo to TPMCafe – next time, perhaps you would be so kind as to explain to Megan that “readers and invited commentators” are not mutually exclusive and that she is in fact allowed, even expected, to read the book before discussing it.

I understand why this might not have struck you as necessary before … but now you know.

With kind regards,
Dog, etc.
papertrained … on the new york times

So how many hours is ace-palooza? 8 pm to 12 pm- 16 hours?? I thought that bar closed at 1? They going after hours?

[…] NO!’s quest to honestly engage Megan, they’ve turned to….wait for it….pointing out that she misspelled a word, and then — to make it even worse — corrected it!  The […]

Gavin breaks into The Atlantic’s offices

The focus on Teh Tall One’s typos may seem petty, but I do believe it’s fair. If she can’t be arsed to proofread a seven line post, WTF is she doing at The Atlantic???

However, as J points out, the real story is that she was invited by TPMCafe to discuss a book which she admitted that she had not read.. Now that’s some quality inallechualizin’ there. You gotsta go to yer Ivy Leaguers fer THAT kinda thinkin’!

Also, regarding Spackle Plenty, or whatever her nym is:

No, no, it was a “font of material”. Inquiring minds are still wondering which font he has in mind… Comic Sans?

I like Comic Sans MS.

Because it’s sans MS.

Works for me on soooo many levels.

Typos doesn’t describe McAddles “work” product. Gibberish would be closer.

Say, perhaps it’s just a bit of serendipitous phrasing, but within today’s Krugman post at TPM’s Book Club:

Second, Jon talks at some length about the media, and in particular about the Republican ability to get journalists to harp endlessly on supposed character flaws of Democrats, while their own candidates get a free pass. He emphasizes the right-wing echo chamber, but there’s more to it than that. It’s also – as I can report from my own experience – a result of asymmetrical intimidation. Quite simply, if you point out character flaws in a conservative, there will be an all-out effort, involving major media as well as blogs and talk radio, to discredit and ruin you, personally. This just doesn’t happen on the other side. (Emphasis added)

What’s the name of McArdle’s blog? Oh, right.

Attaboy, Paul.

I like Comic Sans MS.
Because it’s sans MS.
Works for me on soooo many levels.
Sometimes I’m in the mood for a piece of that Eurostile action. Other days I like it Bookman Old Style.