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You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / David Brooks Giving A Seminar At The Aspen Institute / He’s Actively Taunting Me Now

He’s Actively Taunting Me Now

by John Cole|  October 11, 20112:45 pm| 99 Comments

This post is in: David Brooks Giving A Seminar At The Aspen Institute, Blogospheric Navel-Gazing, Serenity Now!

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As many of you know, I quit Sullivan cold turkey a while back, but I have to admit that I fell off the wagon when he returned from his most recent vacation. I just can’t help myself. He may drive me insane at times, but he runs a damned good blog. This, however, was definitely designed give the front pagers here fits:

I need help.

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Reader Interactions

99Comments

  1. 1.

    beltane

    October 11, 2011 at 2:46 pm

    Were any Burkean Bells rung during the course of this interview?

    Damn, I should’ve read the tags first.

  2. 2.

    Hawes

    October 11, 2011 at 2:46 pm

    Is it Halloween already?

    Or was Oakeshott a Civil War re-enactor?

  3. 3.

    MikeJ

    October 11, 2011 at 2:47 pm

    Maker’s Mark in a wooden cup has had a lot of influence. Responsible for most of Faulkner’s output.

  4. 4.

    Alexandra

    October 11, 2011 at 2:47 pm

    Whatever you do, please don’t grow a beard, John.

  5. 5.

    beltane

    October 11, 2011 at 2:50 pm

    By the way, did you ask him anything?

  6. 6.

    Cat Lady

    October 11, 2011 at 2:51 pm

    Sully’s a hot mess, and I wandered back recently also too. The rest of the Daily Dipshit he writes for can bite me though.

  7. 7.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 11, 2011 at 2:52 pm

    Which furry animal died on his face? His beard looks really weird.

  8. 8.

    lacp

    October 11, 2011 at 2:53 pm

    @beltane: Yes, Cole rubbed his head and it came up “Reply hazy, try again.”

  9. 9.

    fasteddie9318

    October 11, 2011 at 2:54 pm

    Somebody please tell Sullivan that the hairpiece is supposed to go on top of his head, not on his chin.

  10. 10.

    Bob

    October 11, 2011 at 2:54 pm

    I think I seen most of these ask Andy things and this one is pure bullshit.

  11. 11.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 11, 2011 at 2:56 pm

    I know that Oakeshott was the topic of Sully’s dissertation but I haven’t heard of him outside of the Daily Dish. Who the hell was he and was he really that important?

  12. 12.

    Yutsano

    October 11, 2011 at 2:57 pm

    That beard needs to die. Period. And no I’m not talking Kim Kardashian.

  13. 13.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 11, 2011 at 2:57 pm

    John [email protected] top
    Why don’t you run a similar feature yourself? I have many questions to ask you, most of them regarding Tunch.

  14. 14.

    Ben Cisco

    October 11, 2011 at 2:59 pm

    I need help.

    Admitting you have a problem is the first step.
    __
    Or so I’ve been told.

  15. 15.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 11, 2011 at 2:59 pm

    @Yutsano: I guess he is trying to disprove the conventional wisdom that gay people have great fashion sense and are always put together, dapper and well turned out.

  16. 16.

    jeffreyw

    October 11, 2011 at 3:00 pm

    Bah! Thread needs moar puppies.

  17. 17.

    beltane

    October 11, 2011 at 3:00 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: You may not have heard of him but he has influenced every aspect of your life whether you realize it or not.-Sully

  18. 18.

    Patrick

    October 11, 2011 at 3:01 pm

    John doesn’t even need to answer the questions. It’d be great just to see them.

  19. 19.

    strawmanmunny

    October 11, 2011 at 3:01 pm

    He’s one stache away from being a real live Yukon Cornelius

  20. 20.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 11, 2011 at 3:02 pm

    @jeffreyw: Cute, but I say it needs more kittens. How are Bitsy and Homer and your other kittehs?

  21. 21.

    Warren Terra

    October 11, 2011 at 3:03 pm

    @Alexandra:

    Whatever you do, please don’t grow a beard, John.

    How would we know? I think he posted a picture of him in his army days, engaging in some light foreplay, and a contemporary picture of his leg with a dog on it. Other than that, he could look like anything from Leonardo Di Caprio to Brian Blessed for all we know. I’m not sure any of the other front pagers have ever even met him, or seen him.

    Although, if he did grow a beard long enough to be visible when he shows us a pic of his leg with a dog on it, that would be awesome.

  22. 22.

    Sentient Puddle

    October 11, 2011 at 3:03 pm

    Is it too early to start drinking? I’ma hand the mic over to Holder:

    Today, the Department of Justice is announcing charges against two people who allegedly attempted to carry out a deadly plot that was directed by factions of the Iranian government to assassinate a foreign ambassador here in the United States.

    Said ambassador is from Saudi Arabia. There’s going to be a diplomatic shitstorm soon.

  23. 23.

    You Don't Say

    October 11, 2011 at 3:03 pm

    His beard looks weird.

  24. 24.

    cleek

    October 11, 2011 at 3:04 pm

    Oakeshott… was he the guy who came up with the idea that “conservatism” should be the radical defense of the wealthy elite dressed up as religious populism ?

  25. 25.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 11, 2011 at 3:05 pm

    @Warren Terra: Do we even know that he really exists? For all we know Tunch might be posting under John’s name.

  26. 26.

    EconWatcher

    October 11, 2011 at 3:06 pm

    FYI, for those of you in Virginia:

    I just called Senator Webb’s office. I was told he has not yet decided on whether he will vote for the jobs bill. I asked to be counted in favor.

    I’m disappointed with his vacillation, but calls right now could matter.

  27. 27.

    slag

    October 11, 2011 at 3:07 pm

    As many of you know, I quit Sullivan cold turkey a while back

    Which may be one source of your recent malaise. Sullivan is your muse. Just embrace him and be done with it.

  28. 28.

    BGinCHI

    October 11, 2011 at 3:09 pm

    Is he wearing eyeliner?

    Also, what’s the over/under for the number of birds nesting in his face shrubbery?

  29. 29.

    Ash Can

    October 11, 2011 at 3:09 pm

    @jeffreyw: Eeeee! Babies!

  30. 30.

    taylormattd

    October 11, 2011 at 3:10 pm

    So what does he say in the horrifying video, for those of us unable to access it right now?

  31. 31.

    Jenny

    October 11, 2011 at 3:11 pm

    What an ugly ass beard.

  32. 32.

    soyaki

    October 11, 2011 at 3:11 pm

    It was very irresponsible for this website to use MS Paint in order to draw a pretend fantastical Ewok-beard onto the image of Mr. Sullivan. An apology is owed, I think.

  33. 33.

    patroclus

    October 11, 2011 at 3:12 pm

    What do you mean – who is Michael Oakeshott??!! He squared the circle and provided the epistemological underpinnings of modern conservatism’s constant struggle with liberal modernity. He’s sort of like God! Meaningful sensient life did not begin until Oakeshott; he is the very epitome of enlightened conservatism – the paradigmatic paragon of political philosophy. From the time of the ancients, men and women have wondered about the meaning of life. Thankfully, Oakeshott’s mere existence has resolved all these questions. Oakeshott’s very being is diametrically counterpoised against the teleologically-based meaning of history. To read Oakeshott is like touching the hand of the Almighty!

  34. 34.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 11, 2011 at 3:15 pm

    @soyaki: To the Ewok, right? BTW I just now realized that the Beast in the Daily Beast has crawled on Sullivan’s face.

  35. 35.

    slag

    October 11, 2011 at 3:15 pm

    @You Don’t Say: He appears to be growing it out in preparation for his holiday gig at the mall.

  36. 36.

    Judas Escargot

    October 11, 2011 at 3:16 pm

    Sullivan is useful as a canary: Whenever anything interesting happens, he’ll default to the moderate-conservative position. Should that prove to be objectively wrong, though, he does tend to slowly inch over to the side of Reason, over time (more often than not).

    Example: If AS ever throws himself fully into the OWS cause, you will know that OWS has “won” the dialog.

    It’s also unhealthy to read only blogs one agrees with all the time. But Sullivan is one of the few remaining conservatives I can read these days without feeling nausea, anger or disgust.

  37. 37.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 11, 2011 at 3:16 pm

    @slag: Ewww creepy Santa, runs in the other direction.

  38. 38.

    Captain Howdy

    October 11, 2011 at 3:16 pm

    What exactly is so “damn good” about Sullivan’s blog? The only thing I can think of is that he has several posts up every day, so one keeps going back for a look (no matter how insipid the last three posts were). I hear people say how interesting the topics are, but … really?

  39. 39.

    superking

    October 11, 2011 at 3:17 pm

    What do you mean when you say that he runs a damn good blog? Honestly, I don’t understand the appeal. No comments, just him acting lordly, and then trying to make things interesting by putting up pictures of people’s windows. And the occasional complaint about how Trig really isn’t Sarah Palin’s kid. Um, what?

    There really isn’t much there.

  40. 40.

    nancydarling

    October 11, 2011 at 3:18 pm

    Was that a crock of doo doo or what? I’m no wiser or better informed after listening to it. Maybe one needs to study political science at Harvard to be in on the jargon.

  41. 41.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 11, 2011 at 3:18 pm

    If he was as brave as he claims to be he would have a comments section.

  42. 42.

    slag

    October 11, 2011 at 3:19 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Just wait to see what he does with it on Boxing Day. I hear that, if you squint when you look at it, Margaret Thatcher’s silhouette will appear in the bristles.

  43. 43.

    Legalize

    October 11, 2011 at 3:23 pm

    Unless anyone can GUARANTEE me that somewhere in that clip, birds poke their heads out of Sully’s beard, and start chirping adorably, followed by 1 or more cats attacking said birds, beard, and Sully – I’m not getting out of the boat.

  44. 44.

    Kola Noscopy

    October 11, 2011 at 3:24 pm

    My god, that stupid fucking beard…I see he’s gone back to dyeing it. He looks like a garden gnome.

    I am proud to say I have not clicked on that motherfucker’s blog for five months now, and I was a daily reader from 2000 on, even after I knew he was fucking nuts.

    I disagree however; he does NOT run a great blog. Way too much extraneous stupid bullshit, and way too much narcisistic beard and body function crap (literally). And of course, HE is still there, so that’s a problem.

  45. 45.

    danimal

    October 11, 2011 at 3:26 pm

    I read and sometimes enjoy Sully’s blog. But fergawdsake, why not just skip over the Ask Andrew postings? I can’t imagine any reason why those would be interesting to anyone. None.

  46. 46.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 11, 2011 at 3:26 pm

    @Legalize: I think I have got it, you know what is hiding inside the face fungus? Burkean Bells.

  47. 47.

    Loneoak

    October 11, 2011 at 3:27 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I’m not sure if bravery has much to do with not having comment sections. It’s not like anything useful comes out of this one and it’s one of the better ones in the leftosphere. I’m pretty sure most of Sully’s would just be people calling him a fag.

  48. 48.

    piratedan

    October 11, 2011 at 3:28 pm

    Sullivan? Isn’t he like the Rand Paul of bloggers? a couple of glimmers of sanity awash in a sea of muck? I guess its okay if you’re into flotsam and jetsam.

  49. 49.

    jeffreyw

    October 11, 2011 at 3:29 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:
    Thread needs moar Bitsy.

  50. 50.

    Kola Noscopy

    October 11, 2011 at 3:30 pm

    I think he’s dyeing his eyebrows now too, to match the hilarious beard.

    OMG, what a unself aware douche.

    This is, however, sort of what I always pictured General Stuck looking like.

  51. 51.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 11, 2011 at 3:30 pm

    @jeffreyw: I agree, she is full of win and awesome! Want.

  52. 52.

    trollhattan

    October 11, 2011 at 3:30 pm

    @Sentient Puddle:

    Dayummmmn, that could go really pear-shaped.

    How long before Bolton and Krauthammer are braying for a preventive bombing of Iran?

  53. 53.

    trollhattan

    October 11, 2011 at 3:32 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Did you perhaps misspell “balls”?

  54. 54.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 11, 2011 at 3:34 pm

    @trollhattan: No I didn’t, now I need to go find me some brain bleach.

  55. 55.

    russell

    October 11, 2011 at 3:37 pm

    It’s the Portrait of Santa Claus as a Young Man.

  56. 56.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 11, 2011 at 3:37 pm

    @Loneoak: Well he can moderate them. I think he is a bit pretentious, considers himself a bit above us unwashed masses, handing out awards from his lofty perch.

  57. 57.

    trollhattan

    October 11, 2011 at 3:37 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    My apologies, but really, I have no self-restraint when it comes to, uh, low-hanging fruit.

  58. 58.

    eemom

    October 11, 2011 at 3:37 pm

    You know what you people are? You’re ENABLERS, that’s what.

    Poor Cole turns to us for help in overcoming this grotesque addiction — and what do you do? You feed his habit with MORE fucking arguments about whether or not Sullivan’s blog is worth reading.

    Who in their right mind thinks there is ANYTHING the fuck to say about Sullivan that hasn’t already been said?

  59. 59.

    fasteddie9318

    October 11, 2011 at 3:37 pm

    You guys don’t know anything about Oakeshott.

    Michael Oakeshott was never late for anything. Instead, time would speed up to try to get the fuck away from him because he scared it so much.

    Michael Oakeshott never had kidney stones, because his kidneys would grind them to dust.

    When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night he checks his closet for Michael Oakeshott.

    A blind man once stepped on Michael Oakeshott’s foot. Oakeshott said, “Don’t you know who I am? I’m Michael Oakeshott!” The mere mention of his name cured the man’s blindness. Sadly the first, last, and only thing the man ever saw was Michael Oakeshott’s fist coming at his face.

    If you want a list of Michael Oakeshott’s enemies, just check the extinct species list.

  60. 60.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 11, 2011 at 3:39 pm

    @fasteddie9318: Well Michael Oakeshott sounds like Jack Bauer.

  61. 61.

    Bruce S

    October 11, 2011 at 3:39 pm

    I have to admit that with that video he’s finally found some bullshit that reaches the level of pretension of his affect and delivery. And for me, that was an eye-opener.

  62. 62.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 11, 2011 at 3:41 pm

    @Bruce S: Doesn’t BS always sound better when delivered with the British accent?

  63. 63.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 11, 2011 at 3:43 pm

    @trollhattan: I see what you did there.

  64. 64.

    Jenny

    October 11, 2011 at 3:44 pm

    Seriously, Sully is looking like Ayman al-Zawahiri with that beard.

  65. 65.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 11, 2011 at 3:46 pm

    @Jenny: A turban would also hide the bald pate. Win-win!

  66. 66.

    Uncle Clarence Thomas

    October 11, 2011 at 3:48 pm

    .
    .

    he runs a damned good blog

    He does not. He is a damned bad person, a damned bad speaker, a damned bad writer, and he runs a damned bad blog.
    .
    .

  67. 67.

    wrb

    October 11, 2011 at 3:48 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I found this Gopnick discussion of Oakeshott interesting enough that I bought a couple of Oakeshott’s books, which I haven’t read.

    Oakeshott is almost universally accepted by academics as the most important conservative political philosopher of the century, and, in an English-speaking world where conservatism remains the one political movement with real edge, fervor, and consequence, this fact alone should make him a household name. But Oakeshott’s kind of conservatism is so hard to categorize that it hasn’t crossed over yet, even to the more eggneaded Republicans. In fact, it has begun to have a vogue among liberals, though you have the feeling Cambridge University-educated Oakeshott is becoming the liberals’ favorite conservative philosopher for the same reason that John Anderson was the liberals’ favorite conservative Republican, or St. Francis the liberals’ favorite Christian saint–he seems nicer than the normal run of the type. He spent most of his life mocking, battling, and deprecating the liberals’ penchant for imposing tidy schemes on an untidy world–what he called “rationalism”–and his challenge to their pieties remains startling. But he doesn’t offer much comfort to American conservatives, either, since his kind of conservatism would make much of what passes for conservative thought in “The New Criterion” or “The American Spectator” look even shallower and more oafish than it already does. Oakeshott’s aim was to overthrow the blueprint theory of politics. That is the theory, so widespread that by now it is almost part of the air we breathe, that political life begins with a foundation–a social contract, a plan, a platform. In the press, the blueprint often takes the more romantic form of a “vision”… Gives as an example of blueprint thinking ladies bicycle bloomers from the 19th century… It’s not just that the world is a corrupted place where the bullshit and the angels come at you together. It’s that any hope of separating authentic ideals and underlying purposes from the way people actually do things–of putting angels on one side and the bullshit on another–is doomed. Politics descends to us from the world of ritual, not reason. If politics is a conversation, it’s a useful, even an indispensable, conversation, because ritualizing the argument gives it form, makes it part of a public idiom… Politics is much more often a conversation among people of remarkably similar temperament who make ineffectual, sympathetic noises while waiting until the last possible moment to make unavoidable changes. We are generally taught that this is what makes politics frustrating, unresponsive, disappointing, and fraudulent. Oakeshott’s lesson is that this is what makes it politics. What distinguishes Oakeshott from organic folk conservatives is that he has not a trace of sentiment or nostalgia for an old, authentic order. Oakeshott gave to the old British preference for the specifics of experience over the abstractions of argument an almost ethical, life-encompassing dimension, and the dimension of philosophical value that he gave to this practical preference ended by making him a wise guide to the world as it is.

    Read more http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1996/10/21/1996_10_21_194_TNY_CARDS_000377666#ixzz1aVKUP6Yp

  68. 68.

    patroclus

    October 11, 2011 at 3:48 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    What??!! Jack Bauer can’t hold a candle to the dystopian dynamism that Michael Oakeshott delightfully demonstrated daily. Bauer’s ersatz epistemology is egregiously infantile when compared to the seminal skepticism that Oakeshott superciliously showered on his sycophantic students. The cause of modern conservatism has been forever transformed due to Oakeshott and we all owe him so much!

  69. 69.

    jeffreyw

    October 11, 2011 at 3:48 pm

    Thread needs moar pizza.

  70. 70.

    FoxinSocks

    October 11, 2011 at 3:48 pm

    @EconWatcher

    Not that I live in Virginia, but I volunteered for Webb’s campaign so I just called his office. I was told he was undecided as well.

  71. 71.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 11, 2011 at 3:50 pm

    @jeffreyw: Looks delicious, is the crust home-made?

    ETA: Asking because I can never manage to get the crust just right.

  72. 72.

    scav

    October 11, 2011 at 3:51 pm

    The traditional description comes to mind “A Face made for Radio” only the march of technology has proven treacherous to him.

  73. 73.

    handy

    October 11, 2011 at 3:51 pm

    What’s up with the rotoscope look in the photo? Did Sully appear in some lost footage from A Scanner Darkly or something?

  74. 74.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    October 11, 2011 at 3:51 pm

    Well look at it this way, in 2004 you were probably mainlining FOX News, so, you know. One day at a time.

    Andrew Sullivan, methadone of the conservative blogosphere.

  75. 75.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 11, 2011 at 3:52 pm

    @taylormattd:

    So what does he say in the horrifying video, for those of us unable unwilling to access it right now ever?

    Fixed for my use.

  76. 76.

    catclub

    October 11, 2011 at 3:54 pm

    @Legalize: lol.
    Gouts of blood erupting from beneath his ears as the cats hit his jugular _would_get me to try those tasty mangoes.

    Otherwise, not so much.

  77. 77.

    Joel

    October 11, 2011 at 3:56 pm

    Did Oakeshott influence you to glue a terrier to your face?

  78. 78.

    Sasha

    October 11, 2011 at 3:57 pm

    From what I understand Oakeshott advocated conservatism, which he defined as a philosophy grounded in practicality and rational consideration (i.e., modern day liberalism).

  79. 79.

    Jim C

    October 11, 2011 at 3:58 pm

    Is Sully auditioning for the role of James Longstreet in a remake of “Gettysburg”?

  80. 80.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 11, 2011 at 4:00 pm

    @fasteddie9318:

    Michael Oakeshott is actually Chuck Norris?

  81. 81.

    kdaug

    October 11, 2011 at 4:00 pm

    Good for you, John. First step is admitting you have a problem. (Do note the pronoun).

  82. 82.

    Bruce S

    October 11, 2011 at 4:04 pm

    #62 – schrodinger’s cat

    If I want to hear somebody who I know is a lot smarter than me spouting what I also know is utterly wrong-headed or facile bullshit with a British accent, I’ll take Christopher Hitchens. He’s the real deal in elegantly brilliant AND foolish assholes…

  83. 83.

    wrb

    October 11, 2011 at 4:05 pm

    @wrb:

    btw: that is the abstract in front of the New Yorker’s pay wall, apparently summarized for $1/article by one of the thousands homeschooled 10-year-olds they crash-hired to write abstracts of the thousands of articles in their archive when they decided on the pay-wall.

    Gopnick’s article is more coherent.

  84. 84.

    scav

    October 11, 2011 at 4:10 pm

    Working past the fake fur, now I’m getting hints of Jeff Gannon, shit I’m needing the intervention too at this point and I haven’t even clicked, I just keep getting pulled back to this page like velcro with a bad case of static electricity or possibly the strong nuclear force. Aii!

  85. 85.

    MTiffany

    October 11, 2011 at 4:12 pm

    No one can bring the word salad quite like Sully.

  86. 86.

    flukebucket

    October 11, 2011 at 4:13 pm

    @lacp:

    Yes, Cole rubbed his head and it came up “Reply hazy, try again.”

    Which head?

  87. 87.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    October 11, 2011 at 4:15 pm

    Christopher Hitchens. He’s the real deal in elegantly brilliant AND foolish

    Hitchens writes prose so overstuffed and flowery that reading him is like being smothered by being stuffed into the space between the cushions of a Victorian couch. I’m amazed Americans seem to be so impressed with that stuff, even while thinking he’s essentially an idiot. Which he is.

    It was his “Novak didn’t out Valerie Wilson because he read her name in Who’s Who” column that made me realize he really is just a verbose imbecile. I hated his writing style long before that though.

  88. 88.

    jeffreyw

    October 11, 2011 at 4:25 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:
    It has one of these for a crust.

  89. 89.

    Bruce S

    October 11, 2011 at 4:26 pm

    #87 – I’m sort of an idiot and didn’t go to college, but I enjoy Hitchens’ literary essays. Admittedly, I often don’t have a clue regarding the subject. His political writing is just bizarre – I never thought much of his politics even before he jumped off that Iraq cliff. His Clinton fetish was sick, and I am not a fan of Bill Clinton’s. (Although there was a period when some of Hitchen’s Nation colleagues and the Chomsky types were driving me nuts regarding the initial response to 9/11 where I was sort of on his side. Or thought I was. Didn’t last long, as Iraq became the main event.)

  90. 90.

    quickly

    October 11, 2011 at 4:41 pm

    poseur alert!

  91. 91.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    October 11, 2011 at 4:42 pm

    @jeffreyw: ZOMG – want! perhaps they could wrestle that creature off Sullivan’s jaw. And they might enjoy it.

  92. 92.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    October 11, 2011 at 4:44 pm

    @Bruce S: Here’s a new one I saw the other day: In a review of David Mamet’s book about becoming a right wing conservative, while Hitchens pans it in general as “irritating”, he also writes this:

    Once or twice, as when he attacks feminists for their silence on Bill Clinton’s sleazy sex life, or points out how sinister it is that we use the word “czar” as a positive term for a political problem-solver, he is unquestionably right, or at least making a solid case.

    What’s important here is that Mamet, who claims to have been converted by listening to Glenn Beck, is ranting about “czars” in his book as a sinister aspect of the Obama administration. As many have pointed out, there are in fact no czars in the Obama administration, none whatsoever. It’s a term the press uses, and has used for decades, referring to Republican as well as Democratic administrations, for people whose official titles are things like “Director” or “Coordinator” and so on.

    No one with half a functioning brain cell should need this to be explained of course. Hitchens being critical of a book written by someone who admires Glenn Freaking Beck is to his credit I suppose, but his falling for this most imbecilic of memes with the czar business is sadly typical. He’s not a very intelligent person.

  93. 93.

    birthmarker

    October 11, 2011 at 5:39 pm

    @patroclus: For the effing win!!

    For those of you who can’t access the vid, this is almost a transcript.

  94. 94.

    Ruckus

    October 11, 2011 at 5:40 pm

    John
    Admit the problem. Step one. Done.
    Let go of the mouse. Step Away from the computer. That’s the second step.
    Only 10 more to go.
    Who is your sponsor? If you are still imbibing AS then you probably need to get another. And none of that I don’t need a sponsor crap. You need someone to bust you every time you stray.

  95. 95.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 11, 2011 at 6:16 pm

    @Legalize:

    Unless anyone can GUARANTEE me that somewhere in that clip, birds poke their heads out of Sully’s beard, and start chirping adorably, followed by 1 or more cats attacking said birds, beard, and Sully – I’m not getting out of the boat.

    Here ya go.

  96. 96.

    kc

    October 11, 2011 at 6:18 pm

    WTF is that on his face?

  97. 97.

    kc

    October 11, 2011 at 6:26 pm

    I need help.

    Yeah, you do. But you have to WANT help.

  98. 98.

    Bruce S

    October 11, 2011 at 8:07 pm

    #92 – that’s completely crazy and disgusting, but I don’t actually consider a Hitchens review of that Mamet screed a “literary essay.” Mamet has proven himself capable of writing great literature for the stage, but also of serially saying dumb stuff in the persona of the drunk at the end of the bar. That’s the Mamet who wrote his latest book. Just saying. I’ve found that I appreciate Hitchens writing the more I don’t know what the fuck he’s talking about. I guess that’s a pattern I should consider problematic.

  99. 99.

    Hurm

    October 11, 2011 at 10:29 pm

    Ron Paul says things I agree with too sometimes, but neither asshole is reliable enough for me to proudly say i support the man.

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