Saturday, November 22, 2008
The return of Pauline Kael
New York Times movie reviewer Pauline Kael once said something about not knowing anybody who voted for Nixon. The usually attributed quotation is probably a hash of this ("I only know one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are I don't know. But sometimes when I am in a theater I can feel them."), but for the right it has become the iconic example of the out-of-touch Manhattan liberal.
Until, perhaps, now.
Kael's legacy is rather seriously challenged by Gail Collins, who has written what is quite possibly the most idiotic column ever published in the New York Times. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, Collins suggests, should resign immediately so that Nancy Pelosi can serve the rest of the term.
Because President Nancy Pelosi would prevent the collapse of the economy.
No, really. Bush and Cheney would do this so as to improve their stature with future historians.
There is only one reason why -- in my fantasies -- Bush and Cheney might do this, and it has nothing to do with their place in history: the sheer entertainment in watching the savage internecine warfare between the "incumbant" Democrat's on President Pelosi's staff and the Obama transition team. That would be a lot of laughs.
It really is hard to believe Gail Collins is paid to write such nonsense.
14 Comments:
By 
Sissy Willis, at
Sat Nov 22, 06:37:00 PM:
“A Republic, if you can keep it."
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Sat Nov 22, 07:21:00 PM:
Maybe Ms. Collins needs some newspaper clippings to send with her resume when she applies for a job at Mad magazine.
By 
, at
Sat Nov 22, 07:36:00 PM:
DEC,
Problem is, not even MAD would hire this woman--she's too idiotic. Hey, even MAD Magazine has a reputation to uphold! ;)
By , at
Sat Nov 22, 07:39:00 PM:
I guess Gail doesn't realize that since Pelosi became Speaker and Reid became majority leader the defecit quadrupled and the national debt has grown faster than under the GOP majority.
By Don Singleton, at
Sat Nov 22, 07:49:00 PM:
Actually she thinks Pelosi would resign too, for the good of the party, and then she is dumb enough to think the Order of Presidential Succession goes to President Elect, not the oldest guy in the Senate they want to get out of the Order of Presidential Succession, and then a whole cabinet full of Republicans, only two of which are inelligible.
By , at
Sun Nov 23, 03:54:00 AM:
"President Pelosi": Just the sound of that gives me cramps.
By , at
Sun Nov 23, 11:13:00 AM:
The "Manhattan Liberal" is a tired smear and ignores the fact that people in such "All-American" places as North Carolina and Ohio are tired of Bush and the Republicans.
As am I, 100% Middle American by way of Texas and Michigan.
By Dawnfire82, at
Sun Nov 23, 11:46:00 AM:
"The "Manhattan Liberal" is a tired smear"
It's not a smear. It's a label. Just because you don't like it doesn't make it a 'smear.' And just because you don't like it doesn't mean it isn't a useful label, denoting a certain set of political beliefs. (and in the case of Manhattan Liberals, the taint of arrogance)
By , at
Sun Nov 23, 12:29:00 PM:
Back in '06 I wrote an editorial, the facetious suggestion of which was that the President and V-Pres. should resign and allow Pelosi all the power she clearly covets.
It would have meant losing the war forthwith, but at Pelosi's and the far Left's eager behest, which in a sane world would discredit them sooner rather than later--likely well in time for the next Presidential election.
By , at
Sun Nov 23, 12:57:00 PM:
After re-reading that so called opinion, and re-packing by mouth with cotton to stop the bleeding, it became obvious that even the "mighty" NY Times is actually admitting that the Big O is not ready for the job. Even more ominous is the way it was written;
"The person who would like this plan least probably would be Barack Obama. Who would want to be saddled with the auto industry’s problems ahead of schedule?"..Ahead of schedule??? Like there was a plan, for a crises? Hmmm, maybe Joe B. said more than we give him credit for?
By TigerHawk, at
Sun Nov 23, 01:27:00 PM:
In the compound noun "Manhattan liberal," which word is the smear?
Just asking.
By , at
Mon Nov 24, 06:04:00 AM:
Far sadder than the idiocy Gail Collins wrote was the number of posters who stated "good idea" or the like.
By , at
Mon Nov 24, 12:11:00 PM:
"I guess Gail doesn't realize that since Pelosi became Speaker and Reid became majority leader the defecit quadrupled and the national debt has grown faster than under the GOP majority."
Don't let fact get in the way of Manhattan liberals fantasies.
CHANGE HAPPENS.
By Unknown, at
Mon Nov 24, 11:38:00 PM:
Kael is frequently quoted as having said, in the wake of Richard Nixon's landslide victory in the 1972 presidential election, that she couldn't believe Nixon had won, since no one she knew had voted for him. The quote is sometimes cited by conservatives , as an example of allegedly clueless New York liberal insularity.
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olivisharis
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