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You are here: Home / You think that I’ve got no respect

You think that I’ve got no respect

by DougJ|  September 28, 201212:43 pm| 135 Comments

This post is in: Pink Himalayan Salt

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A bunch of you have told me that I should stop making fun of Megan McArdle, that she’s beneath me and not worth it, but come on, this is too good not to pass along (via).

Suspect that there’s a non-zero chance that Romney’s 47% remark turns out to be quite popular with swing voters.

— Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) September 19, 2012

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Previous Post: « Those faces pressed against the window, they are just my friends
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Reader Interactions

135Comments

  1. 1.

    maurinsky

    September 28, 2012 at 12:44 pm

    I suppose it could be less than than zero percent popular with swing voters, which is a non-zero number.

  2. 2.

    Chris

    September 28, 2012 at 12:46 pm

    *snort.

    She thinks conservative voters are “swing voters.” That’s good.

  3. 3.

    jayjaybear

    September 28, 2012 at 12:46 pm

    Do not eat the pink salt! We’re told that the pink salt is bad!

  4. 4.

    jlow

    September 28, 2012 at 12:46 pm

    I think it’s more likely to be partial zero. (Tangentally- I don’t think I could ever buy a car that claims to have “partial zero emissions”.

  5. 5.

    ding dong

    September 28, 2012 at 12:48 pm

    Megans daddy should have sent her to kumon fòr math tutoring.

  6. 6.

    MattF

    September 28, 2012 at 12:48 pm

    This is really one of those alternate-universe things. How can any biological entity with a sensory apparatus and a non-zero percent of functioning neurons reach that conclusion?

  7. 7.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    September 28, 2012 at 12:50 pm

    The Impact of the “47 Percent”

    What is McCardle saying? That it won’t have much of effect or that whatever effect it does have will be small?

  8. 8.

    Hunter Gathers

    September 28, 2012 at 12:50 pm

    McArdle will be the first to claim a Romney Debate Victory when he blows a circuit in the first 15 minutes of the first debate when he gets asked about that video. And it will be the very first question asked.

  9. 9.

    SatanicPanic

    September 28, 2012 at 12:50 pm

    “It’s possible not everyone will hate them!” is an endorsement if I’ve ever heard one

  10. 10.

    Sad_Dem

    September 28, 2012 at 12:50 pm

    I’d do her gig if the Kochs offered me the non-zero amount of money they pay her.

  11. 11.

    Omnes Omnibus

    September 28, 2012 at 12:50 pm

    Pure title wine. “Calling Mr. Oswald…”

  12. 12.

    Tractarian

    September 28, 2012 at 12:51 pm

    I laughed so hard at this I think I contracted gastritis.

    You’ll have to forgive Megan, her calculator doesn’t have a zero, only a non-zero.

  13. 13.

    Mike G

    September 28, 2012 at 12:51 pm

    Shades of Darth Cheney’s morally-bankrupt “One Percent Solution”.

    The talking points have been handed down from Koch Propaganda Central, and Megan dutifully pumps it into the national discourse.

    This is part of the “Romney comeback!” meme coming soon to a corporate media outlet near you.

    This is no more notable than a worker at the sewage plant pulling a lever to open a spillway.

  14. 14.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    September 28, 2012 at 12:52 pm

    @Hunter Gathers:

    McArdle will be the first to claim a Romney Debate Victory when he blows a circuit in the first 15 minutes of the first debate when he gets asked about that video. And it will be the very first question asked.

    No, Jen Rubin will be the first.

  15. 15.

    PeakVT

    September 28, 2012 at 12:52 pm

    There’s a non-zero chance in the mirror universe, where all swing voters are upper-class libertarians. Here, not so much.

  16. 16.

    Violet

    September 28, 2012 at 12:52 pm

    There is a non-zero chance that McMegan is an entitled, government-money-reared, taking nitwit.

  17. 17.

    Chyron HR

    September 28, 2012 at 12:54 pm

    Sure, people claim that they find Mitt’s rant about crushing the 47% cockroaches to be “disgusting” and “unpresidential”, but the Unskewed Opinions site says that swing voters LOVE this stuff! Suck on that, libs!

  18. 18.

    NorthLeft12

    September 28, 2012 at 12:54 pm

    @J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: I’m with you Rusty. WTH is she actually trying to say?

    I speak Canadian, so I am at a distinct disadvantage here.

  19. 19.

    azlib

    September 28, 2012 at 12:55 pm

    Yes, and there is a non-zero chance I will be hit by a meteor in my living room. Why is this person employed doing what she does?

  20. 20.

    different-church-lady

    September 28, 2012 at 12:56 pm

    A bunch of you have told me that I should stop making fun of Megan McArdle, that she’s beneath me and not worth it…

    At a certain point one has to assume that when a person repeatedly puts on an orange fright wig, a red nose, large bulbous shoes, and clown makeup, said person wants to be laughed at.

  21. 21.

    Jay C

    September 28, 2012 at 12:57 pm

    I suppose that a figure of 0.00001% (which by my estimate of the size of the US electorate should come out to about 140 people in total) is “non-zero”, in which case McArdle would be correct.

    However, in terms of actual relevance to the upcoming election, its net effect would probably be at about the usual level accorded Megan McArdle’s punditry: of which “zero” is a useful working metric…

  22. 22.

    shortstop

    September 28, 2012 at 12:59 pm

    Yes, this had to be mocked vigorously — no question about it and no need to apologize.

  23. 23.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 28, 2012 at 1:00 pm

    Too fucking stupid to live.

  24. 24.

    Violet

    September 28, 2012 at 1:00 pm

    Does McMegan’s calculator have a special button for non-zero? Probably.

  25. 25.

    different-church-lady

    September 28, 2012 at 1:00 pm

    Question: what is an order of magnitude off from “less than zero?”

    Whatever it is, I’m sure that’s the amount she really meant.

  26. 26.

    Chris

    September 28, 2012 at 1:00 pm

    shameproject.com/profile/megan-mcardle/

  27. 27.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    September 28, 2012 at 1:00 pm

    I love a woman who does what she’s told, with no fucking backtalk.

    Must be an extraordinary experience being one of the Koch brothers, owning actual slaves like this.

  28. 28.

    John O

    September 28, 2012 at 1:01 pm

    More than zero!

    Good news for Mitt!

    What a moron.

  29. 29.

    tony in san diego

    September 28, 2012 at 1:02 pm

    The way this woman talks! She crab walks around her point in a weird passive-aggressive way. She means to say that the 47% sound bite will resound with people who don’t hate Romney yet (and that that is a good thing), but she can’t bring herself to make a positive assertion.

    Her essay writing is just as nail-scratching.

  30. 30.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 28, 2012 at 1:02 pm

    @azlib:

    Why is this person employed doing what she does?

    Because the Koch Brothers are paying handsomely to rent whatever venue she’s soiling with her cretinous stupid.

  31. 31.

    Joseph Nobles

    September 28, 2012 at 1:02 pm

    I@different-church-lady: I was going to say no clown-shaming, but this website would dry up and die – myself along with it.

  32. 32.

    Corey

    September 28, 2012 at 1:02 pm

    I dunno, I seriously think she’s right. Have you ever met a “swing voter”? They’re mostly animated by hatreds of other people and racial animus, and “47%” gives them the opportunity to hate on all the “lazy” people they know as well as the Welfare Queens.

  33. 33.

    Steeplejack

    September 28, 2012 at 1:03 pm

    Those crucial swing voters still have questions.

  34. 34.

    Violet

    September 28, 2012 at 1:04 pm

    @Forum Transmitted Disease:

    I love a woman who does what she’s told, with no fucking backtalk.

    She’s no wildcat let out of her cage. She knows her place.

  35. 35.

    Corey

    September 28, 2012 at 1:04 pm

    My “swing voter” family thinks Mitt is right on, for instance (these are the same people who complain about “urban youths” sagging their pants and their friend of a cousin of a friend who “lives off disability” and drives a BMW)

  36. 36.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 28, 2012 at 1:05 pm

    @Chyron HR:

    the Unskewed Opinions site says that swing voters LOVE this stuff! Suck on that, libs!

    McArglebargle is quite the duckspeaker, is she not?

  37. 37.

    Violet

    September 28, 2012 at 1:06 pm

    Saved by Zero

  38. 38.

    DPS

    September 28, 2012 at 1:06 pm

    As long as people keep hiring her and lending her credibility, she’s worth mocking.

  39. 39.

    Tonybrown74

    September 28, 2012 at 1:07 pm

    A bunch of you have told me that I should stop making fun of Megan McArdle, that she’s beneath me and not worth it, but come on, this is too good not to pass along

    I’m with you, Doug.

    If they are going to give me material, I am going to make the dress.

  40. 40.

    PaulW

    September 28, 2012 at 1:07 pm

    Ah, yes, Ms. McArdle, this 47 percent statement was really popular with swing voters. So much so that OBAMA is getting more swing voters with each passing day since this story broke.

    BTW, non-zero is a double negative. Churchill would not approve.

  41. 41.

    penpen

    September 28, 2012 at 1:07 pm

    @Corey: Ah yes, I know of these swing voters. One election they vote for the compassionate conservative. The next they swing to voting for the tough on terror candidate. The next they swing to voting for the maverick. Finally they swing to voting for full on teabaggers.

  42. 42.

    Cargo

    September 28, 2012 at 1:09 pm

    If someone is animated by racial animus and hatred of the ‘lazy’, and goes off about welfare / disability cheats and “”urban” “youths”” they’re not swing voters, they’re wingnuts. They were already voting for Rmoney.

  43. 43.

    Joel

    September 28, 2012 at 1:09 pm

    Us west coasters come on board with like 5 posts already up for the day.

    Anyways, this is from mistermix’s Sam Wang linkage:

    Slate‘s editorial policy is to be contrary – even if it means being wrong.

    My favorite thing from Wang, yet.

  44. 44.

    Hill Dweller

    September 28, 2012 at 1:10 pm

    OT: Benen, in a blog post otherwise ridiculing Willard, points out Dubya has a 46% approval rating in a new Bloomberg poll.

    How does Dubya, who had what was easily one of the five worst presidencies in history, have a 46% approval rating?

  45. 45.

    eric

    September 28, 2012 at 1:10 pm

    Equally true: there is a non-zero chance that unemployment goes to 6% by the election, but it is such an insignificant percentage that rounding would put it at 0%. Same is true for McMuffin’s observation

  46. 46.

    LanceThruster

    September 28, 2012 at 1:11 pm

    Non-zero electorate, is non-zero plussed.

  47. 47.

    Corey

    September 28, 2012 at 1:11 pm

    @penpen: Like I said, have you ever met a “swing voter”? They’re politically ignorant, typically have no serious principles, and are easily swayed by appeals that make them sound like ubermenschen. Do you think any white “swing voter” hears Mitt’s 47% comments and identifies themselves as part of that group? No one’s going to consult their tax returns then say, wow, he was talking about me. No, they hear “47%” and think “black people” (people are wildly inaccurate about what percentage of the population minorities make up).

  48. 48.

    Maude

    September 28, 2012 at 1:14 pm

    Popular and Romney do not belong in the same sentence.

  49. 49.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    September 28, 2012 at 1:14 pm

    Saved by Zero

    @Violet: One of my all time favorite songs by one of the best bands ever. And so appropriate!

  50. 50.

    Violet

    September 28, 2012 at 1:15 pm

    @Hill Dweller:

    How does Dubya, who had what was easily one of the five worst presidencies in history, have a 46% approval rating?

    Because he looks good compared to Romney.

  51. 51.

    Rafer Janders

    September 28, 2012 at 1:16 pm

    @Corey:

    Like I said, have you ever met a “swing voter”? They’re politically ignorant, typically have no serious principles, and are easily swayed by appeals that make them sound like ubermenschen.

    In a word, they vote Republican.

  52. 52.

    Hill Dweller

    September 28, 2012 at 1:16 pm

    @Corey: I’ve run into people like that. The thing that always seems to work is pointing out who is in the 47%, and explaining that they still pay lots of other taxes. If that fails, ask them if they think military personnel in a combat zone are victims.

  53. 53.

    different-church-lady

    September 28, 2012 at 1:18 pm

    @Hill Dweller: 46% approval rating among conservatives is what I read.

    I’ll be right back with confirmation of that after I once again prove that Google has some kind of grudge against me…

  54. 54.

    LD50

    September 28, 2012 at 1:19 pm

    If the swing voters love Mitt’s 47% speech so much, why isn’t Mitt storming around Ohio and Florida repeating it at top volume, promising people he’ll take away their food, shelter and medical care?

    Yes, yes, I know, Megan will spend the first month or two after the election saying that would have fixed everything.

  55. 55.

    Citizen_X

    September 28, 2012 at 1:19 pm

    There’s a non-zero chance that Angelina Jolie will walk up to me today, hand me a $20 million check, and declare her undying love. But I’m not betting on that happening, either.

  56. 56.

    different-church-lady

    September 28, 2012 at 1:20 pm

    @Citizen_X:

    There’s a non-zero chance that Angelina Jolie will… (etc.)

    I’m pretty sure your math is off on that.

  57. 57.

    Violet

    September 28, 2012 at 1:21 pm

    @Corey:

    Do you think any white “swing voter” hears Mitt’s 47% comments and identifies themselves as part of that group? No one’s going to consult their tax returns then say, wow, he was talking about me. No, they hear “47%” and think “black people” (people are wildly inaccurate about what percentage of the population minorities make up).

    I agree in general about your statement, that poorly informed white voters will generally think of non-whites as the moochers. However, Mitt’s 47% statement is so broad that it’s affecting people in a different way. People think of minorities as a smaller percentage of the population than 47%, because that’s damn near close to half and that’s far too scary for scared white people to contemplate (even if it’s true or going to be true). Therefore, when Mitt says 47% is kind of has to be including some white people.

    If Mitt had said 30% or less, I think the comment would have worked for him, as egregious as it is. But he went too high with 47%. At that level people start looking around and thinking, “Wait…is he talking about me or my family?”

  58. 58.

    bobbo

    September 28, 2012 at 1:22 pm

    She puts the “closure” in “epistemic closure.”

  59. 59.

    Greg

    September 28, 2012 at 1:23 pm

    @Hill Dweller:

    How does Dubya, who had what was easily one of the five worst presidencies in history, have a 46% approval rating?

    I approve of almost everything that Dubya has done in the last four years. I.e. acted embarrassed, and gone the fuck away…

  60. 60.

    LD50

    September 28, 2012 at 1:23 pm

    @Hill Dweller: Since the election is imminent, everyone who’s decided to vote for Romney feels obliged to say they approve of Bush 2.

    It’s for the same reason that 15% said that Romney deserved the credit for the Bin Laden kill.

  61. 61.

    Corey

    September 28, 2012 at 1:23 pm

    @Cargo: These people voted Obama in 2008, and Clinton in 1992 and 1996.

    They are absolutely “swing voters”.

  62. 62.

    shortstop

    September 28, 2012 at 1:24 pm

    @Joel: I enjoy his cranky-old-geezer-in-a-young-man’s-body routine.

  63. 63.

    different-church-lady

    September 28, 2012 at 1:25 pm

    @Hill Dweller: @different-church-lady: Nope, I got it wrong: 46% among general population. [shakes head]

  64. 64.

    LD50

    September 28, 2012 at 1:25 pm

    @Corey: ah, but if they’re that easily swayed by a one-off speech from last May, they’ll be just as easily swayed by a couple dozen other breezes that will blow through in the next 5 weeks. No net gain.

  65. 65.

    beltane

    September 28, 2012 at 1:25 pm

    @Hill Dweller: Bush exudes warmth, wit, and charisma compared to Mitt Romney. Maybe Romney’s whole campaign was not intended to elect him president but to rehabilitate the Bush name so Jeb could run in 2016.

  66. 66.

    Scott de B.

    September 28, 2012 at 1:27 pm

    “I suspect there is a non-zero chance” is a good candidate for a meme.

    I suspect there is a non-zero chance that Kristen Bell will be waiting for me naked in my bedroom when I get home from work.

  67. 67.

    Comrade Jake

    September 28, 2012 at 1:29 pm

    McMegan’s twitter feed really is something to behold. Most political writers comment daily on politics in their feed. Megan, meanwhile, talks about lost dogs and brussel sprouts. I’m not kidding.

  68. 68.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    September 28, 2012 at 1:30 pm

    How does Dubya, who had what was easily one of the five worst presidencies in history, have a 46% approval rating?

    @Hill Dweller: Nostalgia. I must admit that Bush was a far better campaigner, seems human instead of android, seems to be far less of an asshole, and had a hell of a lot more on the ball WRT governance than Romney has turned out to.

  69. 69.

    Dennis SGMM

    September 28, 2012 at 1:31 pm

    It is a source of pride for me that technology has advanced to the point where a moon-faced cow like McArdle can instantaneously make a fool of herself with 144 characters or less.

  70. 70.

    reflectionephemeral

    September 28, 2012 at 1:31 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I gather that’s “pure title win”? Agreed. Everything she says means less than zero.

  71. 71.

    different-church-lady

    September 28, 2012 at 1:32 pm

    @Comrade Jake:

    Most political writers comment daily on politics in their feed. Megan, meanwhile, talks about lost dogs and brussel sprouts.

    Think about it for a second: it’s McArdle, and you’re saying this like it’s a bad thing.

  72. 72.

    beltane

    September 28, 2012 at 1:32 pm

    @Comrade Jake: Given her skill set, lost dogs and brussels sprouts are more appropriate topics for McMegan to discuss than are politics and economics.

  73. 73.

    penpen

    September 28, 2012 at 1:32 pm

    @Corey: Oh I hear you. I’m just curious how people that talk like that would ever find themselves swinging to the Democratic side. I guess maybe they could feel good voting for Dems after welfare reform.

  74. 74.

    PaulW

    September 28, 2012 at 1:36 pm

    Swing voters = those who dance to 1940s big band music.

  75. 75.

    Nemo_N

    September 28, 2012 at 1:37 pm

    Also too, running against Bain is disgusting and too political, everyone will hate Obama for it.

  76. 76.

    Corey

    September 28, 2012 at 1:43 pm

    @penpen: Because swing voters have no consistent principles, and vote on “gut” and “common sense”. Right now “common sense” says lazy welfare queens are getting high off the hog from Massa Obama’s largesse while the white man toils unappreciated. In 2008 “common sense” said “folks are hurting, and we should give someone else a chance”.

    I can’t find it, but at some point in 2004 Chris Hayes wrote a long piece about canvassing swing voters in Ohio, where he really does a good job of explaining this dynamic. Swing voters have no consistent principles, don’t know what issues are “political” and which aren’t (many seemed to accept the outcomes of a policy process to be as inevitable as, say, the weather), and are very easily swayed by emotional appeals.

  77. 77.

    Dennis SGMM

    September 28, 2012 at 1:45 pm

    @PaulW:

    Swing voters = those who dance to 1940s big band music.

    Also those who are too busy watching reality shows to pay attention to anything else.

  78. 78.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 28, 2012 at 1:45 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    Hey, it could happen!

  79. 79.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    September 28, 2012 at 1:46 pm

    I approve of almost everything that Dubya has done in the last four years. I.e. acted embarrassed, and gone the fuck away…

    @Greg: I’ll say this, and never thought I would as the man destroyed American democracy. I don’t think that was his specific intent, but it WAS the intent of those he chose to surround himself with, and he seemed OK with the results. For that, he cannot and should not be forgiven by the nation.

    That being said, the way his party has treated him is unconscionable. He did everything they wanted. That it all blew up and fell down is not, strictly speaking, his fault, but the fault of the voters who put him in office expecting and wanting him to do things that would destroy democracy and the fabric of the nation. The people who voted for him got exactly what they wanted.

    He got, in return, nothing but scorn and banishment for his efforts. Seems a pretty cruel way to treat somebody who gave you everything you asked for.

    I do not think that GOP Republican aspirants have thought through some of the very negative consequences that winning the presidency could have on their post-presidential lives and legacies.

    The GOP. Party of ingratitude.

  80. 80.

    Publius39

    September 28, 2012 at 1:50 pm

    She has to be high as hell to say something that tone-deaf and idiotic.

  81. 81.

    Eric U.

    September 28, 2012 at 1:51 pm

    Pennsylvania used to have a grossly unfair tax based on your job title. Some people that made a lot of money paid nothing because their job title wasn’t on the list. The local government zeroed out the tax because they couldn’t get rid of it — that was a state function. The local school board sued, asserting that zero wasn’t a number.

  82. 82.

    jibeaux

    September 28, 2012 at 1:53 pm

    You know, there are people all over this country doing actual useful work unrelated to politics, economics, or math, who could, in their spare, unpaid time, generate better analysis and commentary than that. It is a much bigger non-zero number of people, too.

  83. 83.

    Bob2

    September 28, 2012 at 1:55 pm

    @beltane:

    Pretty sure her cooking segments and statements about food and food technology have discredited her on brussels sprouts by this point.
    See: blenderella, how to make poisonous countertops, how to make cheese on rice, how she used to be vegetarian but did it wrong, hilariously wrong video cooking segments, etc.

    Also pretty sure she couldn’t find a lost dog.

  84. 84.

    Chyron HR

    September 28, 2012 at 1:56 pm

    @Corey:

    Do you think any white “swing voter” hears Mitt’s 47% comments and identifies themselves as part of that group? No one’s going to consult their tax returns then say, wow, he was talking about me. No, they hear “47%” and think “black people” (people are wildly inaccurate about what percentage of the population minorities make up).

    If they heard it from Sarah Palin or Rick Santorum, sure. But one of the things that makes Mitt such a great candidate (to run against) is that he makes you absolutely believe that he holds poor/working class white people in contempt, too.

  85. 85.

    AA+ Bonds

    September 28, 2012 at 2:03 pm

    I wish she’d die

  86. 86.

    Michael

    September 28, 2012 at 2:07 pm

    Sam Wang, Nate Silver, the RAND American Life panel, and a massive year-long study of undecided voter behavior ALL disagree with Corey’s assessment.

    But, we should realky worry because…anecdotes and an article he read in 2004. I, for one, am concerned.

  87. 87.

    Paul in KY

    September 28, 2012 at 2:08 pm

    How about .02%. That’s a ‘non zero’ number.

    She really went out on a limb there.

    I think you must be getting to her, Doug.

  88. 88.

    El Cid

    September 28, 2012 at 2:11 pm

    Swing voters may see a non-zero reaction positively to the “47%” comments, but what about flappers? Toddie voters? Charleston voters?

  89. 89.

    Sentient Puddle

    September 28, 2012 at 2:11 pm

    As far as appropriate musical choices go, I would have gone with Elvis Costello.

  90. 90.

    Anoniminous

    September 28, 2012 at 2:11 pm

    But is that a non-negative zero or a non-positive zero?

    Computer architects need to know.

  91. 91.

    scav

    September 28, 2012 at 2:11 pm

    That “suspect” bit just makes me think of Colbert’s from the gut based reasoning. And how old is that and still ticking over? O help this is funny.

  92. 92.

    Tone in DC

    September 28, 2012 at 2:12 pm

    @Dennis SGMM:

    LULz.
    How about a columnist at The Atlantic that actually has functioning neurons? Just sayin’.

  93. 93.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    September 28, 2012 at 2:13 pm

    I wish she’d die

    @AA+ Bonds: That outcome is assured, my friend. Be patient.

  94. 94.

    LD50

    September 28, 2012 at 2:13 pm

    I suspect Megan is also pretending that “swing voter” = “independent voter”, which has been proven to be nonsense. Polls this year have shown that most “independents” now are Republicans who don’t want to be called Republicans.

    Sort of an old white people’s answer to ‘Libertarian’.

  95. 95.

    rumpole

    September 28, 2012 at 2:18 pm

    Uh, I never said stop making fun of her.

  96. 96.

    Legalize

    September 28, 2012 at 2:20 pm

    I’m in the camp that believes that McMegan needs to be vigorously mocked whenever appropriate, i.e. always. This thing clearly satisfies that standard.

  97. 97.

    Betsy

    September 28, 2012 at 2:22 pm

    @Bob2: oh please, linky please

  98. 98.

    Comrade Jake

    September 28, 2012 at 2:22 pm

    How the heck she has 10k+ followers is beyond me. I’d think after the thirtieth post on slow-cooker goulash most people would elect to unfollow.

  99. 99.

    Cargo

    September 28, 2012 at 2:23 pm

    “swing voter” = Republican but embarrassed about it
    “independent” = Republican but embarrassed about it
    “voted for Clinton, Rs ever since” = Republican but embarrassed about it
    “hate politics” = Republican but embarrassed about it
    “socially liberal, fiscally conservative” = Republican but embarrassed about it
    “b-b-but the deficit” = Republican but embarrassed about it
    “I hate both parties” = Republican but embarrassed about it

  100. 100.

    1badbaba3

    September 28, 2012 at 2:30 pm

    Perhaps she is Oswald’s sister. At any rate, brainy women like her give me serious wood. I’m sure DougJ can relate.

  101. 101.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    September 28, 2012 at 2:31 pm

    @NorthLeft12: Whatever you want it to. She’s a master of weasel words and ambiguity so she can always deride her critics for not interpreting her correctly. Nice gig, if you can get it.

  102. 102.

    Just One More Canuck

    September 28, 2012 at 2:32 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: reminds me of the line from Ruthless People: “This could very well be the stupidest person on the face of the earth. Perhaps we should shoot him.”

  103. 103.

    Shawn in ShowMe

    September 28, 2012 at 2:32 pm

    McMegan may be fan of Romney but I doubt Romney is a fan of hers. For one, she’s not the right height.

  104. 104.

    Aldorossi

    September 28, 2012 at 2:33 pm

    You guys must be way smarter then I am, because I’ve read that a non-zero number of times and I cannot for the life of me figure out what the frag she’s trying to say.

  105. 105.

    AA+ Bonds

    September 28, 2012 at 2:33 pm

    I fully wish to disambiguate my views from those of most of her other critics when I state my serious desire that she would roll her misbegotten carcass under a bus

  106. 106.

    hueyplong

    September 28, 2012 at 2:34 pm

    Megan should teach us a lesson by making sure each one of her columns between now and November 6 is about the winning message shared in the 47% video.

    Each column should include a link to the actual video so as best to claim all the advantages of the non-zero chance that swing voters will be charmed thereby and virtually compelled to cast a proud vote for Mitt.

    But only if Megan has the courage of her convictions, and isn’t some kind of weak-kneed RINO for whom Ayn Rand would have shown nothing but contempt.

  107. 107.

    kindness

    September 28, 2012 at 2:54 pm

    Megan…..oh my…. We could point and laugh but then there’s Jen Rubin and the whole Fox victims unit and it goes on and on. And these are the ‘reasonable’ crazies as was pointed out earlier.

    If Buckley was alive today what would he say? I mean, I know he was the secret (openly secret) racist of the thinking conservatives but you’d have to think the intellect of those on his side doing the lifting would cause him to comment. What would he have said?

  108. 108.

    wasabi gasp

    September 28, 2012 at 2:56 pm

    Huh…wut?

  109. 109.

    SRW1

    September 28, 2012 at 2:57 pm

    OMG, she has figured out the scientific notation button on her calculator and has discovered that there must be something to the right of those five zeros!

  110. 110.

    Amusing Alias

    September 28, 2012 at 2:59 pm

    I am surprised that there is not more discussion today about John Sununu’s remark’s yesterday. He said, “Look, an administration as a whole is responsible for what happens on its watch, unless he wants to tell us that the buck doesn’t stop there.”

    He is making Bush responsible for 9/11 and Reagan responsible for the 241 American deaths in the Marine barracks attack in Lebanon in 1983.

    This is something I’ve never even heard implied by a Republican, but Sununu went there. Wow!

  111. 111.

    different-church-lady

    September 28, 2012 at 3:01 pm

    @El Cid:

    Swing voters may see a non-zero reaction positively to the “47%” comments, but what about flappers? Toddie voters? Charleston voters?

    Hang on, I’m pretty sure I’ve got a slide rule around here somewhere…

  112. 112.

    Drew

    September 28, 2012 at 3:04 pm

    Memify it!

    “Suspect there’s a non-zero chance that Paul Ryan will single-handedly cure cancer, defeat Iran, run a sub-2 hour marathon, and erase the deficit before the election.”

  113. 113.

    different-church-lady

    September 28, 2012 at 3:06 pm

    @Cargo: Republican = Republican but embarrassed about it

  114. 114.

    different-church-lady

    September 28, 2012 at 3:08 pm

    @SRW1:

    OMG, she has figured out the scientific notation button on her calculator and has discovered that there must be something to the right of those five zeros!

    When she sees “E4” come up on the display, she probably thinks it’s the margin of error.

  115. 115.

    Randy P

    September 28, 2012 at 3:16 pm

    Intellectually I know that the first “Annie” on Broadway was ANDREA McArdle. But every time I hear Megan’s name, my brain starts playing “The Sun’ll Come Out Tomorrow” which I loathe, and then I lose all focus on whatever the person was quoting from her.

    So what were you saying? Oh yes. Perhaps she is merely a highly trained mathematician and she is making a rigorous mathematical statement. It is also true that there is a non-zero probability that all the air molecules in the room will be on the left half and you’ll suffocate. You can calculate it and it isn’t zero. That doesn’t mean you should worry about it.

  116. 116.

    Jebediah

    September 28, 2012 at 3:18 pm

    @Scott de B.:

    I suspect there is a non-zero chance that Kristen Bell will be waiting for me naked in my bedroom when I get home from work

    I don’t normally check my bedroom first thing when I get home, but from now on I will.

  117. 117.

    LD50

    September 28, 2012 at 3:24 pm

    @Cargo: how you can forget this is beyond me:

    Libertarian = Republican but embarrassed about it

  118. 118.

    Hungry Joe

    September 28, 2012 at 3:28 pm

    You mean “swing voters” doesn’t refer to those couples in “The Ice Storm”? Now I have to re-think everything …

  119. 119.

    James E. Powell

    September 28, 2012 at 3:52 pm

    @Hill Dweller:

    How does Dubya, who had what was easily one of the five worst presidencies in history, have a 46% approval rating?

    Because the people who supported him will never admit that they were morons for doing so.

  120. 120.

    LanceThruster

    September 28, 2012 at 3:58 pm

    @James E. Powell:

    It even bugs me that St. Ronnie, who did a lot of damage to the country long term as well as in the short run, still gets to bask in the glow of the gauze covered lens of history that he’s viewed in.

    It’s bad enough he gets capital ships named after him, and airports, and such, let alone that demented loons still talk about carving his face on Rushmore.

    I still get the dreamy stares from Reich Wing Kool-Aid drinkers when they explain, “He made us feel good about America again.”

    R-tards.

  121. 121.

    John PM

    September 28, 2012 at 4:01 pm

    What the f*ck does that statement even mean? Seriously, I read it four times and I don’t know what she is trying to say…

  122. 122.

    Chuck Butcher

    September 28, 2012 at 4:21 pm

    I think what the 47% remark has done is to freeze a portion of leaning voters. Undecideds, like Independents, are pretty much emabarrassed to admit a Party affilliation even though they lean toward one or the other. Undecideds are not the same group as the “Won’t Vote” crowd who figure it doesn’t matter – they’re the “I Should Vote” but they don’t want to be “One Of Those.” Despite inattention they do absorb some info and lean but they just don’t want to admit it.

    I don’t think the 47% thing was a nuke to r-Money, I think it was a final freeze point to a dropping temperature. The ones who won’t admit where they want to go still need to either not be further alienated or given a gentle push to seal the deal. I know it is a lot of fun to “Undecided = Emabarrassed GOPer” but if it were true there wouldn’t have been any Dem Prez or many Sen or House members.

    There are some damn good reasons why the percentage of Undecideds is so small this election – a lot of freezing has been done for more reasons than space allows. I won’t bet anything I care about, but if Obama doesn’t step on a landmine I’d call the current Undecideds an even split at election or slightly r-Money. (challenger/under-dog)

  123. 123.

    PeakVT

    September 28, 2012 at 4:22 pm

    @John PM: She’s trying to say, in a pseudo-intellectual glibertarian sort of way, that the 47% tape isn’t as bad as Dems think it is. That’s different from the message that she’s sending (again), which is: I’m a utterly shameless hack.

  124. 124.

    low-tech cyclist

    September 28, 2012 at 4:28 pm

    I knew McMegan wasn’t the brightest tool in the shed, but this opens up whole new dimensions of dumb that I hadn’t previously attributed to her.

  125. 125.

    Downpuppy

    September 28, 2012 at 4:45 pm

    @Comrade Jake: Her followers are bloggers looking for stuff to mock. DougJ, Tom Levenson, Susan of Texas, me – and a few hundred Juce Box mafioso.

  126. 126.

    elftx

    September 28, 2012 at 5:06 pm

    I had a hard time learning negative numbers too.

  127. 127.

    Jamey

    September 28, 2012 at 5:06 pm

    @J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: I have never seen the two together, so I will need actual proof that they’re not the same person.

  128. 128.

    opie jeanne

    September 28, 2012 at 5:22 pm

    I dropped a comment on one of her essays yesterday and then never went back to see what everyone else said.

    It was a reference to a strange little study that pretended that Social Security was responsible for the dropping birth rate throughout the latter half of the 20th Century. I pointed out that the dropping birth rate had a lot to do with improved infant mortality rates and with not having to have 10 children so that at least 8 could survive to support you in your old age, and did we really want to go back to that time.

  129. 129.

    Spaghetti Lee

    September 28, 2012 at 5:25 pm

    For what it’s worth, I’ve met a lot of “don’t care about politics/don’t have a party” people who would likely be Democrats if they did give a damn. People who are really on the far right don’t bother hiding it, because they assume everybody thinks like them and generally have less shame than the average person. Maybe I’m just weird, but I know very, very few people who conform to the “Say I’m independent but I’m really a hardcore Republican” model. I think they’re concentrated in a few Manhattan and DC-area zip codes.

    My Big Theory about politics is that the percentage of people in the country as a whole who actually believe and are willing to fight for the far right is smaller than anyone thinks. If we could mobilize and use all the energy from the large majority (I’m thinking 70-75% of the country here) people who are on the other side, the far right would be blown out of the water. The problem is, a lot of those people not only don’t care about politics, but have a mental block on making themselves care. I would argue that doesn’t make them bad people, just not educated.

  130. 130.

    Bruce S

    September 28, 2012 at 5:36 pm

    McArdle falls into that weird zone of “someone stupid people think a smart person sounds like.”

  131. 131.

    Bruce S

    September 28, 2012 at 5:50 pm

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    Festering resentment – most often steeped in aggressive ignorance – is a helluva drug. Seems to be the Viagra for Right-Wing activism. We Libs don’t have anything quite like it…

  132. 132.

    Unsympathetic

    September 28, 2012 at 5:51 pm

    “turns out?”

    In McArgleBargle Land, the video hasn’t yet had an effect on anyone’s thought? Seriously?

    As the great Ron Burgundy once said, “I’m not even mad: That’s amazing.”

  133. 133.

    Bruce S

    September 28, 2012 at 5:51 pm

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    Festering resentment – most often steeped in aggressive ignorance – is a helluva drug. Seems to be the Vi@gra for Right-Wing activism. We Libs don’t have anything quite like it…

  134. 134.

    Bruce S

    September 28, 2012 at 5:55 pm

    @opie jeanne:

    Also, shift from “farm families” to agribusiness.

  135. 135.

    danielx

    September 28, 2012 at 6:31 pm

    Is this a variation of a Zen riddle?

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