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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Junk in the trunk

Junk in the trunk

by DougJ|  June 21, 20096:41 pm| 31 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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This made me laugh:

In a 2004 blog post, Tapscott had mulled over what could happen if a newspaper grabbed fresh political commentary and put it in one place. “If The Washington Post were to sign on Powerline not merely for weekly op-eds and/or the reprint rights but as members of the reporting team,” he speculated, “the Posties would have the collective talents, experience and insight of Hindrocket, The Big Trunk and Deacon to help shape the paper’s reporting agenda, assist in developing major stories and generate new sources for the reporting staff.” Five years later, he’s doing just that.

When I was finished laughing about the idea of the Powerline guys assisting in developing major stories, I wondered….is there really a Powerline member who calls himself The Big Trunk? Why haven’t I heard about this before?

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Reader Interactions

31Comments

  1. 1.

    AhabTRuler

    June 21, 2009 at 6:48 pm

    Because Assrocket is too much of a distraction!

    (cue picture of corndog in 5…4…3…)

    ETA: WOLVERINES! ! !

  2. 2.

    JL

    June 21, 2009 at 6:53 pm

    Yeah and real reporters are moved to page 26. (how many times is Walter Pincus on the front page?)

  3. 3.

    Phoenician in a time of Romans

    June 21, 2009 at 6:55 pm

    Hey, don’t laugh, man. Just imagine how much more efficient your digestion would be if your gut had the benefit of the collective talents and experience of the tapeworms infesting your lower colon.

  4. 4.

    JL

    June 21, 2009 at 6:57 pm

    Doug, MSNBC has a real “funny” headline now about Obama’s initiatives.

    Obama pushes for less risky home loans But critics say his plan would wring innovation out of the mortgage market

    Yup don’t want to stifle innovation in the mortgage business.

  5. 5.

    Comrade Stuck

    June 21, 2009 at 7:00 pm

    Why haven’t I heard about this before?

    Don’t know DougJ

    Hindrocket – Larry

    The Big Trunk — Curly

    Deacon — Moe

    And thank you for the math free thread.

  6. 6.

    MattF

    June 21, 2009 at 7:02 pm

    Don’t you people read the intertubes? Tapeworms are your friends.

  7. 7.

    demkat620

    June 21, 2009 at 7:05 pm

    They don’t need the Powerline boys. They’ve got Kristol, Krauthammer, and Will.

  8. 8.

    Nellcote

    June 21, 2009 at 7:06 pm

    Did The Big Trunk order up the remake of “Red Dawn”?

  9. 9.

    PeopleAreNoDamnGood

    June 21, 2009 at 7:06 pm

    @JL:

    This is the same theme the bankeroverlords had the GOP mouthers mouthing when credit card reforms were signed into law recently. The idea was that the reforms “hurt consumers” because they would cause banks to have to pull back offers of credit to marginal borrowers and cardholders.

    You see, the bank view is that predatory practices are there for the benefit of consumers.

    When you are in the lying business, the more outrageous the lie is, the more likely it is that it will be repeated over and over again and taken seriously by idiots.

  10. 10.

    Yutsano

    June 21, 2009 at 7:09 pm

    And thank you for the math free thread.

    Don’t ask me how I did it, but I somehow managed to satisfy my math requirement in college with a mostly writing course. Funny thing is it was stats. Found myself in a stats related job about six years later. Life is kinda funny like that.

  11. 11.

    Comrade Stuck

    June 21, 2009 at 7:11 pm

    @JL:

    risky

    That’s code for “stupid”

    innovation

    That’s code for “failure” or sometimes “bailouts”

  12. 12.

    Left Coast Tom

    June 21, 2009 at 7:12 pm

    When I was finished laughing about the idea of the Powerline guys assisting in developing major stories,

    Why not? The _NYT_ was cool with Judith Miller allowing wingers to dictate her stories. Until they weren’t, that is.

  13. 13.

    geg6

    June 21, 2009 at 7:15 pm

    JL: But I thought it was all those risky mortgages that Democrats forced lenders to give to brown people and white trash that caused the entire financial meltdown! Gawd, do these people ever keep track of their stories? And Doug, you got me. I thought for sure this was a Tunch thread. ;-)

  14. 14.

    JenJen

    June 21, 2009 at 7:18 pm

    Can’t help but love Alanis Morissette’s take on your awesome thread title. :-)

  15. 15.

    Keith

    June 21, 2009 at 7:22 pm

    But critics say his plan would wring innovation out of the mortgage market

    What the hell does that even mean? Maybe I’m biased because I work in the tech realm where the concept of innovation is easy to define, demonstrate, etc. But innovative mortgages? It sounds like the enhanced interrogation of confidence scheming.

  16. 16.

    Comrade Stuck

    June 21, 2009 at 7:23 pm

    @Yutsano:

    Though I wasn’t all that bad at math in college, I hated it so much, that more than once stopped attending a particular course midway thru. Even though at that point I had a good grade. Needless to say. I had to repeat several, which doubled the pain, but managed to finally finish them.

  17. 17.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    June 21, 2009 at 7:30 pm

    The righties seem to be doing a bang up job with Twitter, so I can’t see anything going wrong with the idea that they need a right leaning version of TPM and HuffPo. If a god truly exists J-Lo will be working for Tucker Carlson in the near future. Let’s just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.

  18. 18.

    geg6

    June 21, 2009 at 7:31 pm

    Yutsano: I took stats (required for poli sci majors at my school), but got out of all other gen ed math requirements through negotiation. I could skip them by taking an extra 9 credits of science. In fact, I took 11 extra: two 4 credit classes in biochem and a 3 credit in philosophy of science. I may have screwed myself with that little (I thought) smartass trick.

  19. 19.

    DougJ

    June 21, 2009 at 7:32 pm

    Can’t help but love Alanis Morissette’s take on your awesome thread title.

    I’ve always heard about that, but I’ve never listened before. Funny stuff.

  20. 20.

    gnomedad

    June 21, 2009 at 7:35 pm

    Has John been with Pammy Media longer than Pajamas Media or does it just seem that way?

  21. 21.

    Martin

    June 21, 2009 at 7:39 pm

    Don’t ask me how I did it, but I somehow managed to satisfy my math requirement in college with a mostly writing course. Funny thing is it was stats. Found myself in a stats related job about six years later. Life is kinda funny like that.

    Which is why we try to make sure college students are required to take *actual* math courses, and not mostly writing ones.

    I try to remind the arts students that countless exceedingly talented artists have failed or gone broke for lack of 6th grade math. A statistics or business math course won’t kill them.

  22. 22.

    Yutsano

    June 21, 2009 at 7:42 pm

    Comrade Stuck & geg6: The funny part is I learned more about statistical analysis from the job where it was a major part of the work we were doing (university-based survey research, good times) and then when I stumbled across 538 (still mad no one told me about Nate until late August 2008!) that refined my understanding even more. So I kinda understand what all a regressive mean is and all that. What it has to do with my degrees is probably a matter of debate though.

  23. 23.

    Martin

    June 21, 2009 at 7:43 pm

    innovation
    That’s code for “failure” or sometimes “bailouts”

    ‘Innovative’ is code for ‘deceptive’.

  24. 24.

    Woodrowfan

    June 21, 2009 at 7:49 pm

    It’s the Examiner doing this. It’s given away free from boxes around Metro stations and other choice sites in DC. It’s a joke. Student newspapers are better edited…

  25. 25.

    Tonal Crow

    June 21, 2009 at 7:54 pm

    @Martin:

    I try to remind the arts students that countless exceedingly talented artists have failed or gone broke for lack of 6th grade math. A statistics or business math course won’t kill them.

    Probability and statistics should be mandatory for everyone who can understand them. Our world is awash in random processes, chaotic processes, incomplete data sets, and measurement error. Those who don’t know how to handle that stuff are far too likely to say things like, “Human-induced climate change is a fraud because last winter was colder than ever!”

  26. 26.

    Mike G

    June 21, 2009 at 7:56 pm

    ‘Hindrocket’? ‘The Big Trunk’?
    These guys need to just come out of the closet already instead of futilely trying to prove their masculinity by cheerleading brutal wars.
    WOLVERINES!!

  27. 27.

    JGabriel

    June 21, 2009 at 8:20 pm

    DougJ @ Top:

    … is there really a Powerline member who calls himself The Big Trunk?

    I don’t know, but I still get a case of the immature giggles everytime I remember that someone actually named himself Hindrocket.

    How is it that, knowing this, people still take Hinderaker seriously? It’s just gob-smacking; it really is.

    .

  28. 28.

    patrick

    June 21, 2009 at 9:17 pm

    I remember when they gave themownselves those ridiculous nicknames.

    The blogosphere erupted in mockery. I think it was around the time of the Dan Rather/Bush forgery deal.

    The Nicknames didn’t last long.

    You simply don’t give yourself a nickname unless you’re 12 years old – which is, truth be told, the emotional ages of the Powerline Boys.

    Nicknames have to be bestowed. Unless you’re Deion Sanders, and even then, you’re a doosh.

  29. 29.

    asiangrrlMN

    June 21, 2009 at 11:00 pm

    @JenJen: That just gets better every time I see it. Thanks for posting it. It’s been awhile.

    I was a psych major, so I took stats. I also liked math, so I took Calculus II. I went to a Lutheran school, so I took two (or three, can’t remember) religion classes. Good times.

    Alanis Morissette was god in Dogma in which Alan Rickman was the Voice of God (Metatron). Yes. All roads lead to Alan Rickman.

  30. 30.

    someguy

    June 22, 2009 at 12:13 am

    Here you guys are criticizing the hiring of the Powerliners. I for one am glad that people who would otherwise be institutionalized simply have jobs.

  31. 31.

    Mark Gisleson

    June 22, 2009 at 11:19 am

    They live across the river from me and the sad truth is that Assrocket, Big Trunk and “the Deacon” used be college buddies, and I believe they gave those nicknames to each other based on personal dorm room observations.

    The Big Trunk, aside from his political views, writes about jazz and popular music on occasion, usually embarrassing everyone in the room except himself. John Coltrane was a major artist? No shit?

    Assrocket and Big Trunk also love to live blog televised beauty pageants and bitch about the judges’ selections.

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