The CountertopBoating (or is it SwiftCountertopping?) of that Palin protester continues at Gateway Pundit (via). During the Frost debacle, after it was revealed that the countertops were concrete, not granite, we were told that was even worse since concrete is more expensive than granite. If it had been alleged that they were marble, we would have learned that concrete is more expensive than marble too. This time, we will likely learn that teaching Theater Tech is worse than singing in a drag band, since Theater Tech teachers earn more than drag band singers, at least in Alaska.
But that’s not the point of this post. The point of this post is to ask why winger bloggers like to call themselves “pundit”; you’ve got Allahpundit, Gateway Pundit, Vodka Pundit. Why?
jeff
Instapundit, of course. He’s their leader.
Ruckus
Shithead was already taken?
ruemara
It’s like calling yourself “doctor professor”. Instant conferrence of authority by those who won’t check for real credentials.
Ty Lookwell
what
harokin
Cat-blogger Kevin Drum is still calpundit to me.
Spaghetti Lee
Do these people have any life at all outside of blogging? Do they just sit around waiting for someone to
smearmildly annoy Sarah Palin? I guess so: What else could account for the speed? I’m surprised that Rand Paul’s virgin sacrifice hasn’t been Frosted yet.licensed to kill time
I guess they think it sounds better than AllahDitto, Gateway Ditto, or Vodka Ditto. Although I kinda like the sound of Vodka Ditto.
fasteddie9318
Is Gateway Pundit supposed to be like the marijuana of the moran brigade? Like he’s your point of entry into the world of stoopid as opposed to the world of hard drug use?
August J. Pollak
1. Because of InstaPundit, but by a larger extension:
2. Because pundits are on television, and people on television are famous.
When I still worked in DC I went to an event sponsored as the first anniversary of Pajamas Media (remember that?). You would be amazed how many of these people (Pam Gellar, Ace of Spades guy, Reynolds, Roger Simon, etc.) could just talk non-stop about how important they were. Seriously, it was pretty much a catered party for a bunch of bloggers to celebrate knowing each other.
Don’t get me wrong, obv. there’s people like that on the left too, but yeah, it’s really that. “Pundit” is the DC version of the marketing field’s “social media expert.” It’s a cutesy, self-supporting way to say you want people to read your Facebook posts.
Spaghetti Lee
Also, “pundit” comes from a Hindi word, doesn’t it? Why do they hate America?
Carnacki
Pundit is part of their mainstream media lexicon and the rightwingers always secretly yearn to become what they profess to loathe, be it a voice of authority “pundit” or fabulously gay.
beltane
They should all read V.S. Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas which describes the original meaning of the term pundit in some detail. A pundit, you see, is a charlatan who takes people’s money in exchange for giving them dubious advice based upon their astrological chart and other signs and omens.
JGabriel
Because being a pundit is more serious than being a fun-dit!
(See what I did there? I made a pun on pun, and made it fun!)
[Jesus H. Christ pogoing on a Satanic slipstick, I am so, so, sorry. Someone please just machine-gun me down, NOW.]
.
Mojotron
There’s also that guy who blogs about what its like to be the head of Citibank, VikramPundit.
John Cole
Because they can’t run google ads if their site is named gatewaydouchebag or allahdouchebag?
The Moar You Know
They do it to confer a sense of legitimacy and gravitas that they can never actually achieve, or as Melvin Belli once said on being served calamari “Why, it looks just like a plate of assholes“.
Which, curiously enough, is what I think of every time I read their dreadfully predictable spewings, or indeed read anyone who comments on their tedious intellectual diarrhea.
JGabriel
jeff:
I agree. It’s all just slavish idolatry of Glenn Reynolds.
Idolatry of Glenn Reynolds …
[stares blankly into space]
The horror, the horror …
.
racrecir
why winger bloggers like to call themselves “pundit”
For the same reason they like to call themselves “principled” — they’re hypocrites. For the same reason they like to call themselves defenders of freedom — they’re authoritarians. For the same reason they like to call themselves “Fair and Balanced” — they’re propagandists. And so on.
Darius
I prefer “Breitbarting”.
Svensker
No, no, she doesn’t TEACH Theater Tech, she IS a theater tech. They’re all not quite sure what that means, except it must mean she’s a LIAR.
The amount of stupidity is just stupendous. Really depressing.
JGabriel
The Moar You Know:
Which indicates the poverty of their self-esteem. I mean, I’ve considered changing my name to King or Lord or God , but I never thought it would be cool to be called Pundit – which, frankly, sounds like something that should be left in a toilet.
.
Brachiator
Because “head-up-ass idiot” sounds classier as “pundit” in the original Sanskrit.
Svensker
Also, too, apparently that poor teacher has gone into hiding, as she is not answering the phone when Gateway Pundit calls. The hordes of shrieking harpies have descended on her for her crime of challenging the wonderfulness of Princess Sparklepony. You’d think that the Princess would have the decency of asking her followers to leave that woman alone. Oh, wait, you wouldn’t?
Ripley
Because ‘pundit’ doesn’t rhyme with ‘batshit crazy,’ rendering it difficult to be poetic in the inevitable/necessary snark deluge.
Just a guess. These people seem to put stock in such things.
Crashman
theater tech is a secret indoctrination seminar into the secular/homosexual/socialist machine and will force your children to marry same sex canines. try again libtards, etc, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah.
Mojotron
“Why, it looks just like a plate of assholes”
this can also be used to describe Fox & Friends.
Leisureguy
Because it’s easy to spell?
Indie Tarheel
Not sure why they like it, but it does serve as an Early Warning Alert that weapons-grade stupidity is imminent.
Violet
Swiftboating is when it’s done to a political or public figure, a la the original example of John Kerry.
Countertopping is when it’s done to (now formerly) private citizens like the original victims, the Frost family. This poor teacher is now in the middle of being countertopped.
Question: Where are the groups who should be supporting this teacher? Where are the Alaska teachers unions (if they have them)? Where are other teachers unions standing in solidarity with one of their own? This woman is a teacher, for crying out loud. She should not have to go into hiding and fight off these packs of rabid Palinharpies on her own.
TheNickronomicon
Titles are important–they confer authority. Self-conferred titles are especially important, because then you’re making up your own reality and imposing it on the world, like a good Randian Superman.
SpotWeld
I have no answer other than to restate my desire for a Pundit Thunderdome.
TheNickronomicon
@Violet: I’m a teacher. There’s no way I’d want to support someone just because she’s a teacher. I am not following this very closely, because I already loathe Palin’s politics, and I have too much other shit going on to worry about the Wasilla Wackadoo. The unions might want to speak up when she slanders the profession, and her district might want to clarify her job title and responsibilities, but that’s about as far as it needs to go. If you defend her for remarks she made off-duty, about off-duty matters, on her own private property you’re going to find yourself defending some batshit crazy things pretty quickly. The people attacking her are WILL make life hell for the district too, if they get heavily involved, and the educators and administrators have some real & serious work to do without having to field questions from lunatics from the lower 48 for weeks. I guess I just don’t see where it’s anybody’s business but hers at this point. (And ours, in mocking Princess Sparklepony and her flying monkeys.)
Crusty Dem
Concrete countertops are much more expensive than granite if you have it professionally done. If you do it yourself, it’s cheaper than crappy tile and looks great (plus it’s kind of fun). Of course it takes some equipment and know-how, you have to rent some stuff at the depot, not be afraid of serious equipment, and a little carpentry knowledge would be useful for the containers. But how could the Frost family have any of that?
Alwhite
They mispronounce pound-it and think they are announcing to the world how the deal with everything by rubbing out another one to video of Malkin in a cheerleader outfit or Boy Blunder in his Commander Codpiece flight suit.
To decode the rest use this guide:
Insta – premature ejaculation
Allah – prefers big, hairy men (bears I believe is the term)
Gateway – pron stash is on his gateway 386
Steve V
Hey, it’s better than when they all gave themselves goofy Roman names. Or was that just Trevino?
Amir_Khalid
They call themselves “pundit” because deep down, they want people to address them as “Pundit-ji”. (I’m sure everyone here has seen “Gandhi”.) You should indulge this secret desire of theirs.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve V: Hey, now.
ricky
Pundit poo in pajamas!
arguingwithsignposts
Well, there is rude pundit on the other side.
soonergrunt
@Carnacki: win
Comrade Kevin
I think “wanker” would be the most accurate word. “Allah Wanker”, “Gateway Wanker”, etc. It’s an accurate description what they do.
Chet
I think the best was my not-so-esteemed classmate Jay Reding, who had a minor career as a conserva-blogger during the Dubya years. For about half a year he re-branded himself as the “Single Malt Pundit” and then de-branded himself when he realized the implication wasn’t “oaky and well-finished”, it was “totally soused.”
Legalize
Because it makes them feel like they’re doing something valid and important. Instead of being shit-heads. Which is what they are.
EgilssonPundit
good question, but it looks good.
russell
See, here is my plan.
I will publicly insult Sarah Palin.
Pundits will come to see what kind of countertops I have. The will discover that they are plywood covered with scratched up white laminate.
They will want to expose me as a liberal elitist so they will *buy me new marble countertops*. I will let them do this.
My wife will be very, very pleased.
Win!!
Maybe I can get them to buy me a new car to replace my ’99 Civic DX Hatch. It’s gotta hold drums, though.
Badtux
“Pundit” is a synonym for “f’ing moron”. Thus the various mainstream media “news” shows and editorial pages that feature “pundits” ruminating about such beatific topics as, “liberals: should be exterminated, or merely rounded up and deported to California?” and “the round earth theory: opinions differ.”
The wingers desire to have the wealth and influence of these prominent “serious people” (another synonym for “f’ing moron”, in case you’re counting), so figure that appending “pundit” to their name will bring them fame and wealth just as it did Bill Kristol and Charles Krautheimmer, George W. Bush’s “bomber boys” who gleefully reported that our soldiers in Iraq would be greeted by rose petals. The fact that this also means that they’re appending “f’ing moron” to their name is irrelevant — anybody who wasn’t an f’ing moron wouldn’t be reading them anyhow. So it’s also an advertisement for their blog — “are you an f’ing moron? So are we! Come read us!” And, looking at the contents of the comments sections of those few right-wing blogs that allow comments, it appears to be working :).
And that, my friends, is the rest of the story.
– Badtux the Snarky Penguin
Steve V
@Omnes Omnibus: Doh!
Bubblegum Tate
@russell:
Now that’s good thinking! If I play my cards right, I might be able to mock Sarah Palin and get wingnuts to subsequently renovate my entire kitchen.
CalD
I came to the realization a while back that a practical, real-world definition of the word “pundit” would actually be something along the lines of:
A person who knows nothing about, or has chosen to forget anything they ever knew about about politics, economics, the workings of government, public opinion research, public law, domestic policy, foreign policy, history (US or world), current events, military affairs, comparative religion, our own society or other cultures; who is paid, often exorbitantly, to expound loudly and at length about one or more of those topics in news media or other public fora.
So in that sense, it kind of works.
dj spellchecka
they call themselves pundits for the same reason some blogger typing from the empire state building says he’s on the front line of the war on terror..since they’re nothing more than a bunch of low iq cheeto eaters they gotta self-hype
Badtux
@CalD: In other words, a pundit is a f’ing moron gasbag who is *paid* to be an f’ing moron gasbag. And the wingers are either being paid to be f’ing moron gasbags, or wish they were. Hmm. Makes sense. Glad we cleared that up :).
– Badtux the Snarky Penguin
bcinaz
I’ve always hated the word ‘pundit’; now I know why.
I guess if you wait long enough the answer will show up somewhere on the intertubes.
Joseph Nobles
Seriously, do not screw with Theater Tech people.
They have duct tape and lie awake nights thinking of ways to use it.
AhabTRuler
Well, that is true, but in the theater world, it also means something that you use in place of toilet paper.
Oh, and TP gets paid more.
AhabTRuler
@Joseph Nobles: No, no, no, no. Theater techs never use duct tape. Not only is it shiny, but it will also conduct electricity.
If you want to live, use gaff tape.
How do you know it’s perfect?
It’s black.
ETA: I mean, really? Duct tape?? Damn, now I’m gonna be pissed all night. Fucking duct tape!
El Cid
@AhabTRuler: And duct tape leaves more sticky stuff to scrape off if possible.
AhabTRuler
@El Cid: If I can’t remove something with this, I’m not bothered by something as trifling as sticky residue.
But I am glad to know that left-wing politics and econ aren’t your only areas of knowledge and expertise.
Zuzu's Petals
Well the GP page has nearly four hundred comments, and I have finally been banned. Class act, Hoft. Class act.
But I again encourage folks to read the comment @315 by Homer Mama, who evidently knows Gustafson and takes the time to set the record straight. For instance:
Anne Laurie
@Spaghetti Lee:
But it’s a high-caste Hindi word brought into English by the nabobs of the British Empire at its imperial height!
What’s not to love, if you’re a right-wing imperialist who considers himself a member of the Straussian elite?
Spambalaya
@Zuzu’s Petals: Funny, I got banned too after my third comment in that thread. I suspect Hoft will continue to let his lies stand uncorrected for precisely the reasons many in this thread have noted: he has achieved recognition! Several other wingnut blogs have approvingly linked to his now-discredited smear of Ms. Gustafson. So in Bloggy World, he IS somebody! You can’t let a little thing like the truth interfere with accolades from the echo chamber, y’know.
Now in the real world, the grownup thing for Hoft to do would be to ‘fess up and take his medicine like a man. But that would require maturity and accountability, two virtues that Hoft (like so many other emotionally adolescent “pundits”) demands of others but refuses to exercise himself. Which is why the punditoids have so little credibility outside of the cocoon of Bloggy World, and wouldn’t last five minutes out in the working world where the rest of us reside. If Hoft were my employee and continued to defend and compound an obvious mistake rather than admit his error, he’d be out of a job at the end of the day;
brantl
Because “Putz Pundit” sounds so repetitive, after the 20th or 30th guy you make use it in a row.
Zuzu's Petals
@Spambalaya:
Agreed. The other thing I can’t understand is how his neverending swill is tolerated on an even nominally Christian site.
Or, given their roster of meanspirited wingnuts, perhaps it’s more accurate to say I can’t understand how they can call themselves a Christian site in the first place.