April 12, 2010

I'm slightly frazzled... but I'm doing this thing anyway.



Bloggingheads, with Emily Bazelon, talking about a Supreme Court without a Protestant, why Obama should pick an out-and-proud liberal, the causal connection between bullies and suicide, and those terrible Tea Partiers.

88 comments:

JAL said...

That's what happens when Meade says it's time to stop blogging and you make that one last comment.

You're "frazzled" in the morning.

Fred4Pres said...

My guess remains Diane Wood. Janet Napolitano would be good because I consider her weak and she is also a Protestant. Judge Sears may also be in the running. She a smart liberal who would probably be easier to confirm than Woods.

Ann Althouse said...

This was recorded last night at 7:40 pm, right after I woke up from a nap, cutting it too close. The thing you refer to was hours later.

Anonymous said...

Dear Ms. Althouse,

I am a longtime reader and lurker of your blog. Today is my twenty first birthday. My friend and I have a bet to see if I could get you to wish me happy birthday. You are under no obligation to do so, and I will still love your blog if you don't. However, if, in the infinite kindness of your heart, you do wish me a happy birthday, I will be most grateful.

- Dane Davis

Opus One Media said...

Dear Dane:

You'll love it more when Meade ceases to influence the fair Ms. Ann and her moderate ways.

Honestly, since the right wing has descended here it is far less of a read.

MikeR said...

Ann, you didn't mention Breitbart's challenge, offering $100,000 for anyone with video evidence of the n-word claim.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Honestly, since the right wing has descended here it is far less of a read.

Why? You still having trouble with the big words?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

When asked about the portrayal of the tea partiers as angry violent racists Bazelon said..

"I think it really depends on what the underlying facts are.. I think the underlying facts are what matter in terms of the portrayal.. and I just feel.. I'm surprised to hear that you think that that incident with Lewis didn't happened because I certainly was.."

Main Entry: un·der·ly·ing
Function: adjective
Date: 1611
1 a : lying beneath or below b : basic, fundamental
2 : evident only on close inspection : implicit
3 : anterior and prior in claim

The use of the word underlying here reminds me when liberals use the term root causes as an expiator.

In this case Bazelon used underlying to mean what Obama described as - "bitter clingers".

".. it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Bezalon essentially ended up repeating the MSM Tea Party meme.

jeff said...

"Why? You still having trouble with the big words?"

Apparently. Used to be a bit more interesting when HDhouse could formulate a reasonably defense of his liberal inclinations. Looks like those days are also gone.

YoungHegelian said...

I find it truly frightening that someone as "in the loop" media-wise as Emily Bazelon had not yet heard about the doubts cast on the veracity of the Cong. Black Caucus/Tea Party encounter.

If she had said "Oh Ann, I can't believe you agree with that right-wing BS" and explained why she believed it happened, well, okay. But to not know at all about the doubts cast on that incident, a story that's been all over Breitbart, Fox News, right-wing talk radio, and political blogs of every political leaning, that's amazing!

Where does she get her news from --- DC cocktail parties? She really is smarter than this.

Alex said...

You know as soon as the left winger descending into the blog it was all ruined. Yeah man.

Alex said...

BTW, Beth is considered a moderate by our lefty trolls. Anything to the right of Beth is an evil right whinger.

traditionalguy said...

Facts are powerful things. The easy ability for the Left wing Media and friends to run a false story and thereafter quote from the false story's facts as alledged even after the facts were proved false is the newest change we see. Fox and Breitbart are doing the grunt work of calling out the liberal's Myths and Memes as hoaxes. Never let that stop being diligently done. It matters a lot.

Jason said...

At the end of it, when you were talking about the tea partiers, Bazelon kept saying "I hear you."

No, she didn't hear shit. Her mind has been corroded by years of intellectual leftard inbreeding and she can't tell shit from shinola.

She had taken the the n-word incident as a postulate, as an accepted TRVTH, without a shred of evidence that it really happened as the lying leftards say it did. That's bad enough, but then she actually exhibited genuine surprise that you didn't agree with her that it happened.

That childish little brain couldn't even accept that there might be dissent, and that her regular lefttard sources might by lying to her.

Even worse, having first posited the assertion that X happened without a shred of evidence, she then attempts to place the burden of proof on you to prove that it didn't. Thank God that even was filmed, because gullible twits like Bazelon could not have been countered at all.

You mopped the floor with her. She could barely speak at the end, and instead muttered some platitudes about TRVTH. Which she clearly doesn't believe, because if she did, she would have taken a closer look at the outrageous accusations against the tea partiers.

I hope she visits this thread and responds to this, though. I don't think she will, though. The commenters here aren't intellectually inbred enough to suit her tastes.

It's always easy to spot people who spend too much time living in a libtard mutual admiration society. Without real resistance to train against, their critical thinking skills go to shit.

At that point, they become journalists.

It's too bad, because somewhere inside that pile of mush, Bazelon has a brain. There's some potential candlepower there. She just forgot how to use it.

I'm Full of Soup said...

I don't believe Bazelon when she said she has not heard of the doubts about what Lewis and others claimed.

Propaganda is the rule among libs and the pussified MSM pukes.

traditionalguy said...

IMO from personal knowledge, Judge Sears is a traditional Georgian that is polished and worthy by her credentials to sit as a Justice. Give her the chance, and she will pleasantly surprise you. Do not mis-underestimate her from skin color, as I am sure no one here ever would do.

Original Mike said...

I too was struck by Emily Bazelon's apparent position that it was incumbent upon her debating opponent to prove the Lewis incident didn't happen. What kind of evidentiary standard is that?

John said...

"Where does she get her news from --- DC cocktail parties? She really is smarter than this."

No sadly she isn't smarter than this. Maybe she could have been. But, years of living in the liberal echo chamber have eroded whatever intellectual gifts she possessed. Sadly, this is what passes for thinking in many of our political and media circles.

I honestly don't know if she was lying or really that uninformed when she claimed not to know about the doubts surrouneding the incident. But, really does it matter? The result is the same regardless of it is because of her stupidity or her ignorance.

John said...

"Honestly, since the right wing has descended here it is far less of a read."

Well, if it gets boring there is always you House running around threatening to shoot people.

Alex said...

John - the scary thing is people like Bazelon predominate.

John said...

Further, is there a more inane phrase than "underlying truth"? What a stupid phrase. Is there such thing as "over lying truth"? An ordinary intelligent person would say "well it depends on what actually happened". Only a cagey twit like Bazelon would use a phrase like "underlying truth".

Hoosier Daddy said...

I too was struck by Emily Bazelon's apparent position that it was incumbent upon her debating opponent to prove the Lewis incident didn't happen. What kind of evidentiary standard is that?

It's the standard one has when they accept as a foregone conclusion that conservatives are racists in the same manner that the sun will rise in the east each day.

J. Cole said...

Emily Bazelon is totally hot. Is she single?

John said...

"John - the scary thing is people like Bazelon predominate."

Among the media and in Washington they certainly do.

Alex said...

Yeah I was raised to believe that there was just "the truth". But I've learned that "progressive truth" is more equal then that.

Alex said...

Emily Bazelon is totally hot. Is she single?

So what we've got Dana Loesch!

J. Cole said...

Wikipedia says she is married. Dang.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

... but I'm doing this thing anyway.

I just signed up for our NJ Tax Day Tea Party Rally at Johnson Park, River Road, Piscataway Township.

I've never been to a political rally of any kind. I'm a rally virgin.

Mass Transit gets me there.. some of you may know what that means ;)

John said...

"Emily Bazelon is totally hot. Is she single?"


NO she is married and has at least two kids. Her collumns about parenting in slate are straight up self parody. The women worries that her boys are going to be violent because they like Star Wars. She has a list of grievences she lets her kids write on the refrigerator so that they can be aired out once a week. The amount of counseling those poor kids are going to need as adults boggles the mind.

And Dana Loesch is about 100 times more attractive and a 1000 times smarter and more sane than Bazelon.

Alex said...

Dana Loesch should be like on the cover of the swimsuit edition or something.

wuzzagrunt said...

I especially enjoyed the way the professor suggested liberals should be "out and proud", say what they believe, and be prepared to defend those beliefs. Ms. Bazelon appears to have taken the bait. Let's hope that all liberals are so gullible.

If Obama had done that in '08, we wouldn't be in the pickle we now find ourselves in.

Anonymous said...

"I find it truly frightening that someone as "in the loop" media-wise as Emily Bazelon had not yet heard about the doubts cast on the veracity of the Cong. Black Caucus/Tea Party encounter."

This is my experience with Slate in general- they have some excellent talent, but the limits of their knowledge is disturbing.

Recently, I was listening to an episode of Slate's (weekly) Political Gabfest, which includes Emily and two other big names at Slate, that had been recorded just before the Scott Brown election. They were discussing health care, and marveling over the fact that one of them had just learned that the mandate (that candidate Obama had criticized his opponent for supporting, and now supports) was important to prevent adverse selection.

It had not occurred to any of the 3 that removing pre-existing conditions would lead to unsustainable adverse selection. ! They had neither figured it out on their own or heard it from other sources until the end of last year! These are smart people, but how do you reason with that kind of ignorance?

I had this debate a few days ago, (when I was trying to get answers about what was edited out of the Acorn tapes to make the allegations against them untrue (the answer was nothing) from Garage and Alpha Lib), but the reason that I read things like Slate (in addition to the fact that it can be quite good) and try to read the lefty comments here is that I fear ever being that ignorant. (I'll note that I don't think that I have ever run into a case where I hear something serious from a lefty and am left floundering because I didn't already hear it from Fox, radio, or one of my many internet sources.)

- Lyssa

Anonymous said...

And John is completely right about her Family column (something with which even most of the Slate commenters seem to agree). It's a hoot to read if can compartmentalize aside the fact that there are real children involved.

She seems like a really nice person with good intentions, and a talented writer, but Jerome, you would NOT want to even risk making babies with her.

- Lyssa

Original Mike said...

"These are smart people, but how do you reason with that kind of ignorance?"

Given the particulars of your story, you have to ask: How smart can they be?

GMay said...

Does someone do transcripts of this stuff? I've gotten to the point where I can only read Obama or any other lefty and the spoken format is just too damn slow.

John said...

Redhead,

Bazelon's article on her sons' interest in space is an amazing example of willful closed minded ignorance. All she could think of was how NASA wastes money when it could be used for whatever brand socialism she is supporting these days. The fact that her sons were interested in hard science or that there was value in knowing about things like the moon went right over her head.

I agree with you that she is well meaning. But I really don't think she is very informed or very well educated. She is a walking example of how our elite schools are failing students. She went to all the right schools, obviously has some base level of intelligence, but seems to know very little about much or anything.

Hoosier Daddy said...

All she could think of was how NASA wastes money when it could be used for whatever brand socialism she is supporting these days.

Anyone who thinks that NASA is a waste of money without being able to name the everyday benefits we get from the space program is an ignorant and ill informed clod who doesn't warrant being taken seriously.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Liberals have an extra helping of the certainty gene but lack the curiosity gene.

TMink said...

I think "underlying truth" is a catch phrase for "I don't know why I believe this and I have nothing to support it but I will cling to it and the phrase makes it look like I am privy to some deeper meaning when really it is just everyone knows these are the facts whether they are or not."

Trey

Anonymous said...

John, that's my point. Her writing, and her education to a degree (Yale Law), indicates to me that she has a good deal of raw intelligence. She has a good education by objective standards, but it has not challenged her in a way that is needed to become well informed, and she has not challenged herself, nor is she self aware enough to realize the echo chamber in which she resides.

So, (in response to Original Mike), she is intelligent, but not in the way that leads to the self awareness or self questioning necessary to be well informed. This is certainly a way in which Ivy League schools fail- the students so often miss that there are other sides to any given issue, and are not taught to question them.

(It goes without saying that virtually everything I just said about Emily applies equally to the President.)

And please, call me Lyssa.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Lyssa:

I don't think it is just Ivy schools that fail at this. Many many other colleges have gotten caught up in PC thinking especially in the soft sciences and social sciences curriculum.

ken in tx said...

About Judge Sears, my daughter is a practicing lawyer in Atlanta. She has this opinion about her. "..Reasonably moderate; tough on crime. She is a big proponent of strengthening marriage. Her focus on strengthening / encouraging marriage stems from the incredible cost to the justice system (and tax dollars) that she has witnessed from the bench as a result of the deterioration of the family unit (both criminal law and family law usage of the system)." In my opinion, she might be best of the possible choices mentioned.

Original Mike said...

"Underlying truth" sounds suspiciously like "truthiness".

John said...

Lyssa,

It is sadly not just our elite schools. I had brunch with some friends of my wife and their daughter. Their daughter is a really nice, pleasent college freshman attending George Washington University. I talked to her about her coursework and it was appalling. No world history or world civilization. No classics. But an entire year of "women's history". She wants to be a journalist. God help us. She and her parents are being totally ripped off by GW. And they don't even know it.

MikeR said...

Well, I don't think that NASA is a waste of money, but I think they've botched it big time. Top down government control. When I saw the moon landing I was a little kid. I never would have imagined that they get bogged down as they did. Heart-breaking.

GMay said...

John said: "It is sadly not just our elite schools.... No world history or world civilization. No classics. But an entire year of "women's history".... She and her parents are being totally ripped off by GW."

My favorite resource to highlight the deteriorating curriculum standards in our colleges and university systems is this:

http://www.whatwilltheylearn.com/

avwh said...

Hmm. It depends on the 'underlying truth", when she didn't even QUESTION the accusation, although there is zero evidence of it?

Sounds more like, "I'll take their word for it; even if it's fake, it sure sounds accurate".

MadisonMan said...

No world history or world civilization. No classics. But an entire year of "women's history". She wants to be a journalist. God help us. She and her parents are being totally ripped off by GW.

How is GW ripping her off? She's an adult and can choose what she wants to take. If GW teaches no World History classes, or no World Civ classes, then GW is at fault. I do agree it's an appalling list of classes to take for a whole year. Why go to college to narrow your viewpoint?

Original Mike said...

How is GW ripping her off? She's an adult and can choose what she wants to take.

She's what, 20 years old? Doesn't GW have a responsibility to define a base curriculum? We do in our department, and we take that responsibility very seriously. Seems to me, that's a lot of what we provide: "This, at a minimum, is what we feel you need to know."

David said...

Hey, Diane Davis, Happy Birthday!! But what's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this? You can see what a bunch of self absorbed clods we are by the lack of response to your birthday.

If Althouse were to respond to your post, she would probably say that she really does hope you have a very happy birthday and a great life but she can't respond because if she did every Tom, Dick and Diane would ask too and then what would she do?

That doesn't excuse the rest of us. So Happy Birthday!

David said...

AJ Lynch said...
I don't believe Bazelon when she said she has not heard of the doubts about what Lewis and others claimed.

I do. That's why it's called "the bubble."

Alex said...

Yeah "the bubble". Well I read all the blogs, even Jeff Rense(horror the horror).

JAL said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JAL said...

Oops. That's Brazelon.

Shanna said...

the reason that I read things like Slate (in addition to the fact that it can be quite good) and try to read the lefty comments here is that I fear ever being that ignorant.

Indeed. I did debate in high school and I think the one thing I really took from it is that you absolutely DO NOT understand an issue until you can credibly argue both sides of it. If you can’t argue both sides you need to go back and do more research. I fear most of the people don’t even realize there IS another side to things.

She has a list of grievences she lets her kids write on the refrigerator so that they can be aired out once a week.

That’s kind of hilarious.

avwh said...

"No world history or world civilization. No classics. But an entire year of "women's history". She wants to be a journalist."

Not many colleges require world history or Western Civilization anymore. Too damn many offer "women's studies" and other non-major majors.

I'm convinced my younger son got into UC San Diego only b/c he applied to Revelle - which is the only UCSD residential college that still has a Western Civ & foreign language requirement.

So most students "in the know" applied to one of the other 5 colleges - and admission to them was tougher b/c of a bigger applicant pool.

Anonymous said...

AJ Lynch and John,
You're right that it's not just the Ivy Leagues. It was apparent even at my little state U in Tennessee. But it's worse in the Ivies because they get to claim the mantel of having a "great" education, when they have nothing of the sort.

FWIW, as far as law schools go for expanding the mind, I'd put my school (U. Tennessee Law- I had Glenn Reynolds!)against any of them. Even our liberal professors were generally begging for an opposition argument. My very liberal constitutional law prof would, almost every day, give his POV and then ask if someone disagreed, and would be visibly disppointed if no one did.

- Lyssa

Shanna said...

Their daughter is a really nice, pleasent college freshman attending George Washington University. I talked to her about her coursework and it was appalling. No world history or world civilization. No classics. But an entire year of "women's history

I graduated from GWU and had to take a year of world civ. I never took womens history, it sure as hell wasn’t required. I didn’t actually have to take any history at all, which I thought was strange, but I read history on my own, so I think that makes up for it. I was a business student, so I took econ and math instead.

kristinintexas said...

Poor Dane! The only person to wish him a happy birthday thinks he's a girl named Diane.

At least, I'm assuming Dane is a him.

But, David gets an A for effort, which seems appropriate given the direction this thread has taken.

Dane, I hope you have a very happy birthday and that the year ahead of you has good things in store.

themightypuck said...

Seems to me, that's a lot of what we provide: "This, at a minimum, is what we feel you need to know."

Isn't that what high school is for? I've never been a fan of breadth requirements. I have no problem with a particular degree taking up all or most of a students time though. An electrical engineer should know about western civilization and philosophy but they shouldn't have to know it to be awarded a Bachelor of Science degree.

mesquito said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mesquito said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mesquito said...

Igot a a degree in Government and History w'out having to read The Federalist Papers, Jefferson, De Toqueville, Locke, Machiavelli, Burke, or Montesque. I did, however, read Fanon, Rawls, Lenin, Marx. Plus I go to sit through a guest lecture by Jim Hightower.

My instructors were sexists, evidently.

Deborah M. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Deborah M. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Titus said...

This entire episode would of been much hotter if the two of you would of got your grievances out on a mud/chocolate wrestling floor where bosoms would of fell out of blouses.

Michael McNeil said...

Liberals have an extra helping of the certainty gene but lack the curiosity gene.

Now that may be likely and oftentimes the case, but it just ain't always true. I know liberals who are fascinated with the physical sciences, astronomy, and space. And there are many scientists in those fields who are liberal (e.g., Sean Carroll, general relativist at Caltech, comes to mind, just as one I happen to know).

bagoh20 said...

Ann is definitely the more attractive one, physically too.

traditionalguy said...

Ben "the Stud" Rothlesberger is a free man with no charges to be filed on the assault charge from the drunken co-ed. His defense team did another fine job. They are the same defense team of Eddie Garland and Don Samuel who successfully shepherded Ray Lewis thru the system 8 years ago.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the birthday wishes!

Dane is actually a guy's name, and accordingly, I am a male. But I appreciate the birthday wish nonetheless.

I recognize that Ann is very busy and does not have the time to respond to everyone. I just thought that miracles sometimes come true!

- Dane

Chennaul said...

Dane-

Dude- 21!?

Have a Happy and safe Birthday.

Beth said...

Mass Transit gets me there.. some of you may know what that means ;)

That tax-payer subsidized transit is your mode of choice? Are you going to the Tax Protest to protest taxes, or to protest the protesters?

Irene said...

Dane, drinking will never be as interesting as it was before you turned twenty-one.

Happy Birthday!

GMay said...

Are you going to the Tax Protest to protest taxes, or to protest the protesters?"

Don't the T, E, and A in TEA Party stand for "Taxed Enough Already"? Or am I just unaware that they've changed their agenda to abolishing taxes?

Ann Althouse said...

Happy birthday, Dane.

Anga2010 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anga2010 said...

The protestants are the largest denomination. YAY! The Lutherans, Methodists and Episcopalians will be kinda suprised about finding Baptists, LDS and Jehova Witnesses in their church methinks.

David said...

"How is GW ripping her off? She's an adult and can choose what she wants to take."

Like an adult, she's paying her own tuition, right?

No, she's not an "adult" even though it's legal to have sex with her and she can vote. The idea that 18-21 year olds should "design" their own curriculum is absurd. Plus it's limited to the so called liberal arts. They know better than to let you design your own physics or chemistry education.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Since families tend to borrow big bucks to pay tuition at schools like GWU,perhaps the guvmint could require the selling party [the colleges] to provide a disclosure statement to the family. It would lay out the school costs including tuition and fees, interest expesnse over the life of the loan and the prospects for employment for all majors including women's studies.

But ...nah, who am I kidding, the govt will never require that.

Andrea said...

"...drinking will never be as interesting as it was before you turned twenty-one."

Funny, I was never "interested" in drinking before I was 21, though when I went to Europe with my mother for my 18th birthday gift I did drink some wine. But the whole big deal about underage drinking was never part of my mental makeup. Maybe it's because I associated underage drinking with teenage boys downing six-packs of Coors and falling asleep on the lawn in their own vomit. Not my idea of fun.

Samuel said...

Dear Ms. Althouse and commenters:

I would like to apologize on behalf of my fraternity brother Dane Davis for spamming your comment thread through his blatant fishing for birthday wishes. I will beat him up later today.

Sincerely,
Samuel Gilleran

SUBHRA said...

My friend and I have a bet to see if I could get you to wish me happy birthday. You are under no obligation to do so, and I will still love your blog if you don't.
NAATS

lemondog said...

2010 Pulitzer Winners Announced

Here's the full list of literary winners and finalists (as always, the finalists are announced at the same time as the winners):

•Fiction: Tinkers by Paul Harding (Finalists: Love in Infant Monkeys by Lydia Millet and In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin)
•History: Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed (Finalists: Fordlandia by Greg Grandin and Empire of Liberty by Gordon S. Wood)
•Biography: The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T.J. Stiles (Finalists: Cheever by Blake Bailey and Woodrow Wilson by John Milton Cooper Jr.)
•General Nonfiction: The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy by David E. Hoffman (Finalists: How Markets Fail by John Cassidy and The Evolution of God by Robert Wright)
•Poetry: Versed by Rae Armantrout (Finalists: Tryst by Angie Estes and Inseminating the Elephant by Lucia Perillo)
•Drama: Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey (Finalists: The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo by Rajiv Joseph, and In the Next Room or the vibrator play by Sarah Ruhl)

Paco Wové said...

"Don't the T, E, and A in TEA Party stand for "Taxed Enough Already"? Or am I just unaware that they've changed their agenda to abolishing taxes?"

The TEA Party: it's anything a liberal wants it to be!

Original Mike said...

"I would like to apologize on behalf of my fraternity brother Dane Davis for spamming your comment thread through his blatant fishing for birthday wishes. I will beat him up later today."

Lost the bet, eh Sam?

Phil 314 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Thank you Ann!! You made my life and my night!

kristinintexas said...

Aw, I love happy endings :)