Looks like Jim Manzi at the NRO ate his wheaties and went the full Bartlett on Mark Levin, and you will never guess what happened:
The other day, Ross called for other conservatives to be more critical of Republican politicians and conservative “entertainers,” and Jim Manzi made the mistake of taking up this challenge and applying intellectual rigor and honesty to a prominent conservative radio host’s book on a subject he understands fairly well. The inevitable circling-of-the-wagons that has followed illustrates perfectly the problem Manzi was trying to address in Levin’s work. Not only do Manzi’s colleagues automatically defend Levin’s sub-par arguments, but they regard it as horribly bad form to dare criticize those arguments with the vehemence that their poor quality would seem to merit. Small wonder that there are so few “magazines and conservative columnists…willing to call out Republican politicians (and, to a lesser extent, conservative entertainers) for offering bromides instead of substance, and for pandering instead of grappling with real policy questions.”
Someone failed to do their audience analysis before trying to argue with, well, facts and data and actual arguments. Manzi should understand by now that all the Corner expects from their contributors are pom poms and the occasional starbursts. And no, you sick bastards, not those pom poms
(via the Sullamatic).
beltane
This is getting fun. Anyone want to guess who the next defector from the Soviet Republic of Wingnutistan will be?
JK
One of the all-time great putdowns of Mark Levin is Dahlia Lithwick’s wonderful review of his pathetic book Men in Black
“The reason it may take you only slightly longer to read Men in Black than it took Mark Levin to write it is that you’ll experience an overwhelming urge to shower between chapters… Men in Black never gets past the a.m.-radio bile to arrive at cogent analysis.”
h/t http://www.slate.com/id/2116087
Martin
@beltane: When they kick out Glenn Beck for being too rational, I give you all permission to find me and smother me in my sleep.
rob!
When this happens, and the Wingnuts turn on their own, does the ostracized one (in this case, Manzi) ever fully realize how intellectually and morally bankrupt their side is, or do they just shrug it off?
Mark S.
Wait, am I supposed to believe that Levin doesn’t know anything about climate change or foreign policy? He sounds so knowledgeable on his radio show.
Oh wait, no, he sounds like a homeless man screaming on a street corner.
Other things Levin knows nothing about: the law and the Supreme Court.
Mark S.
@JK:
Well thanks for making my comment pretty much redundant!
General Egali Tarian Stuck
I’m sorry, did you say Pom poms? Is there any way on earth that I can get rid of these half naked women sliding back and forth across my BJ screen. It is interrupting my concentration and snark production? A button to click? something.
I am all for commerce and have never complained about ads here before. Not once. But Jeebus h christ.
John Cole
@General Egali Tarian Stuck: It’s a non-realistic fucking cartoon of a woman in a bikini for a random weight loss ad in a new ad group I just joined. You want them to go away? Paypal is on the left. You drop 20k in it I’ll take down every single ad for a year. That will be a hell of a lot more than I make in two years off this website, but you will not have a cartoon bothering your delicate sensibilities.
So sick and god damned tired of you all complaining about ads. I take down ads people find offensive. I got rid of project wonderful because it pissed you all off that occasionally there would be someone publishing a cartoon of something that could be deemed offensive in a monastery.
You all want this site ad free- paypal. Right there on the the left.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
Nice trick…
You mean that he took the bait, making it easier for the wingnuts to purge the impure? His mistake was that he thought Ross really meant what he said, he forgot that wingnuts don’t ever mean what they say when it comes to taking their own to task. The intent was for Ross to put that ‘out there’ and then whenever wingnuts are called on their bullshit he can then point to the ‘fact’ that they are ‘policing their own’.
Never take a wingnut at their word, it ain’t worth shit. Or a chicken.
beltane
@rob!: I suspect the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of the right might be dawning on David Frum, though it could be a temporary phenomenon.
JK
@Mark S.:
Mark Levin is a thug with a capital T. It’s no wonder that Sean Hannity’s nickname for Levin is “The Great One”.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@John Cole: It is the very first time I have complained about ANY ad, so how about calming down some. If you need cash, there has never been a time that BJ has not come through when you put up a paypal, but I am not gong to do it, if I have to listen to talking ads and wall to wall naked women while trying to comment about politics and puppies and stuff. My porn time is separate.
Jeebus, you are grumpy.
Now go on and call me an idiot or a drunk.
freelancer
@John Cole:
I’ll pace my rage and save my vitriol for some arbitrary ad that will be introduced next month. Though, you bitching about reader feedback is hilarious to me for some reason.
John Cole
@General Egali Tarian Stuck: Sorry, I’m just tired of people bitching about the ads. They are there. Install an ad blocker.
And wall to wall naked women? A cartoon representation of a woman in a bikini is “wall to wall” naked women?
I don’t even notice the damned ads.
gbear
@John Cole: Yeah, I donated a few bucks via paypal after the health care bill passed. About 10 minutes after I donated, you put up a comment saying that you didn’t need the money and would probably give donations to some other blog. Talking ads suck no matter where they appear, but it’s your blog and you don’t really have to give a rats ass about what we think. So be it.
Comrade Kevin
@General Egali Tarian Stuck: What the hell are you babbling about?
John Cole
And yes, I m cranky. But christ almighty- this is a national ad network. There is nothing unseemly in any of these damned ads. No Pam Anderson boobs, no cartoon upskirts from Project wonderful- IT’s A FUCKING DIET COMMERCIAL.
You’ll find more nudity coming from Miley Cyrus on Disney. Fuckiing grow up.
Mark S.
@DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal):
It’s called Chairman Ross’ Hundred Flowers Campaign.
El Cid
You are NOT supposed to ‘evaluate the arguments’ of a fellow conservative tribesman.
You ARE supposed to judge whether the work proves sufficient loyalty to the tribe, or a possible weakening of the commitment to the tribe.
Thinking, evaluating, sifting, considering — these are things done by the liberal enemy.
Will is what matters. If a people wish to live they should develop a will to power, otherwise they vegetate, live miserably and become prey to a stronger people, in whom this will to power is developed to a higher degree.
El Cid
@John Cole:
No link?
Bubblegum Tate
@John Cole:
I don’t, either. It’s not that hard to train your eyes to ignore them.
MikeJ
Why do I only get ads for the NYT, the NRSC, and “Stop Obamacare”? Goddamn it, I want some b00bies in my ads.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@John Cole: Whatever, I didn’t say take the damn things down, I just asked for some help on a way I can block them and it is the talking ones that are fucking weird, Hi, I’m Amber what’s you’re name.They don’t offend me, they make me think of things other than what we deal with here. Don’t look like any cartoons I saw as a kid. But I will just take a break and let you figure out what to do. I don’t like arguing with you. will check back later.
Omnes Omnibus
@John Cole: Hey, Grand Prix is on TCM, why be cranky?
Brian J
@Mark S.:
I’m almost certain that this past Thanksgiving, one uncle, who seems pretty moderate for Republicans, told me that I should be listening to this really smart conservative lawyer named Mark Levin. (If not him, who could it have been?) This was the same Thanksgiving where this uncle’s wife responded, “Oh, fuck you!” when I asked her where she got the statistic that 95 percent of Ivy League college professors were registered Democrats.
Oh well, as far as the latest potential purging goes, I am just not sure what to say. It’s hard to argue with someone when his idea of an opinion is anything he wants to believe, regardless of its basis in fact.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@Comrade Kevin: Can’t you read?
John Cole
@gbear: Because I don’t want people donating. I’d like the blog to be self sufficient and even turn a nice little profit. I’d like to make enough that I can drop a grand in paypal for Anne, Tim F., Dengre, DougJ and Mister each at the end of the year.
I don’t want anyone contributing, period, except to good causes.
Which is why I run ads. Yet every time I try to run ads, the unending bitching starts. OH MY GOD- THAT PIECE OF MEAT HORRIFIES ME. I KNOW YOU DON’T KNOW THIS BUT I FAIN IN HORROR EVERY TIME I WALK THROUGH A GROCERY STORE!
OMG- THERE IS A CARTOON WOMAN IN A BIKINI! NUDE BITCHES EVERYWHERE! WHAT CAN I DO! I CAN ALMOST NOT WRITE MY PITHY COMMENTS!
THE AD PLACEMENT IS ANNOYING!
Oh, never mind. I don’t give a shit.
New Yorker
The Corner’s reaction to the Manzi piece reminds me of the (possibly apocryphal) story of an American journalist in Japan in the 1930s who signed off a letter he was sending back to a friend in the US by noting that the letter may not make it through because the Japanese censor may open it.
Several days later, the letter was returned to the journalist with a note: “The statement in your letter is incorrect: we do not open letters.”
That’s the kind of intellectual self-awareness we’re dealing with here.
Mike G
@Omnes Omnibus:
Thanks for the heads-up. One of my favorite racing movies, along with Steve McQueen’s Le Mans.
jl
Everyone calm down. I would remind everyone that Tunch is watching us.
maye
@John Cole: i love it when you rant! put up all the trashy ads you can and be a self-sufficient capitalist. the people who design the ads have to pay their rent too.
Brian J
@MikeJ:
Do you happen to remember the name of that book that gave away the secrets to the chiseled torso? I had been meaning to buy it, but I haven’t seen it in a while. That’s more more important than the gabardine trousers from Brooks Brothers.
DonkeyKong
“Ape has killed Ape, Ape has killed Ape!”-Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Martin
One solution is to install a flash blocker. I use ClickToFlash under Safari and FlashBlock under Chrome.
Rather than immediately run Flash content, they don’t launch the flash runtime until you click on it. You can whitelist sites that have Flash content you always want to run, but otherwise it’s great at blocking Flash ads, which covers all of the talking ones.
Cole will still get revenue from regular ads, and if I’m reading my logs correctly, the browser still loads the flash content, just doesn’t run it, so he might be getting those impressions as well. I think that’s a decent compromise.
rob!
I’d be willing to donate to BJ if Paypal installs a “money to chickens” conversion pulldown menu.
Too soon?
Omnes Omnibus
@Mike G: Yeah, I love both of them. The Stallone flick “Driven” was sort of a remake of GP, but it was an abomination.
Calouste
If you want to see what a political hitjob by the media looks like, have a look at what the tabloids have to say about Nick Clegg tomorrow. (Scroll a bit down, there’s another one there.)
New Yorker
Um, everyone? Can we get back on the topic of wingnuts eating their own? It’s a lot more fun than the stupid ads.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
@Mark S.:
My advice to them: Keep
fuckingplucking thatchickenflower!John, I am laughing at the latest version of Ad Wars on BJ. Advertising never bothers me (I am aware of all internet traditions) but I always laugh at those it does bother.
Make it better John! Fix it NOW! It’s all your fault! Whinewhinewhinewhinewhinewhinewhine…
Hey whiners, get a warm bottle of milk and suck on it!
merl
you run ads?
rob!
@DonkeyKong:
The GOP is becoming that group of irradiated mutants that lived underground in Beneath the Planet of the Apes.
PRAISE BE THE EVERLASTING BOMB!
John Cole
I’m calmer now. Sorry for having exploded on you Stuck. I let this shit build up then I blow up.
Litlebritdifrnt
@John Cole:
Yo – John – chill, personally I will put up with Pam Anderson’s third arm, the “know your meat” stuff and the project wonderful stuff so long as I can continue to read this blog, shit I would put up with streaming SarahPac ads 24/7 so long as this blog was available to me. Whatever you need to do to keep it going have at it. I have no complaints, never have, never will. Personally I would actually like you to make a little money out of it, so if ads to Sarahpac et. al., require that then go for it.
jl
@rob!:
“I’d be willing to donate to BJ if Paypal installs a “money to chickens” conversion pulldown menu.
Too soon?”
Try to pass ‘street squab’ for medical care first. That’s my plan.
Omnes Omnibus
@DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal):
The helicopters aren’t laughing.
Woodbuster
The world would be a much better place if Mr. Cole would finally get laid and we commenters just ignored the fucking ads already. Jeebus, people, it’s a blog.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@John Cole: No problem. I don’t know how you run a popular blog day in and day out. Don’t think I could or would want to do it. You have my gratitude and admiration for keeping this thing going, so I will just make do and complain no more :-)
Comrade Kevin
@General Egali Tarian Stuck: Of course I can read, you dumb fuck. I have never seen an ad on this site that comes even close to what you were whining about.
Blow it out your ass, you prick.
Tim P.
@General Egali Tarian Stuck:
Newsflash: this is not a public service. This is a blog. If you’re going to frequent the site and cost John money while contributing nothing to make up for your appreciation of his work the least you can do is not complain about his ads. “They make me think of things”? C’mon son. At least try to be an adult.
Tim +5
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@Comrade Kevin:
Right back atcha buddy.
Splitting Image
@John Cole:
No.
We’re Republicans. Paying so that this site can stay free is the government’s job.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@Tim P.: Drink some more dude. And kiss my ass, you and fuckwit Kevin. I have never complained about anything on this blog for 3 years and simply asked for some help to block, especially the talking ads.
Mark S.
I miss that dog with the BBQ fork.
Mike G
When I see mention of SarahPac I’m always reminded of Serapax, a pharmaceutical for the treatment of anxiety and insomnia and in the control of symptoms of alcohol withdrawal. How appropriate.
Yutsano
Sheesh folks, can’t you focus on happier matters?
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/21/senate.wall.street.reform/index.html?hpt=T1
/Obot
matoko_chan
wow……who knew Ramesh Ponnuru and K-Lo were really the same person….I’m sure that’s her voice.
No wonder you never see them together.
Meh
Wanna see fewer ads? Buy more shit through the amazon link..I got amazon prime for the holidays, decided to keep it and nowwhen the company I work for needs shit, boom, hop over to the bj amazon link and order with the free 2 day shipping. It’s a win sammich – my org gets shit with free 2 day shipping, bj gets some link throughput dollars, I get the Amex points on the purchase, and tunchy gets baconators…if u don’t like the ads stfu and help out someway
timb
Anyone see the irony in us making fun of dumbass morons who eat their own while actually eating our own?
I agree that ads are fine and John can do what he wants and all, but the irony just stood out.
We need to get back to making fun of Levin
Instantly Moderated Commenter
@General Egali Tarian Stuck:
lolwut?
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@Instantly Moderated Commenter: Not about ads,
Sly
Manzi should have just called Levin Cabin Boy and he would have been done with it.
erlking
Shit….John, you deserve 20 bucks for putting up with the bullshit day in and day out, which I happily put in paypal.
I come here every day for a reason–John and the underbloggers are smart, funny people who write well. I sure as shit get my money’s worth.
Mazel tov and gods bless.
erlking
Shit….John, you deserve 20 bucks for putting up with the bullshit day in and day out, which I happily put in paypal.
I come here every day for a reason–John and the underbloggers are smart, funny people who write well. I sure as shit get my money’s worth.
Mazel tov and gods bless.
El Cid
Don’t you have any ads with pictures of both naked women and meat? I mean, that’s the bifecta, right?
erlking
@El Cid: Or is it the bi-curious-fecta?
Midnight Marauder
If this is how they are going to act to Jim Manzi hurting poor Mark Levin’s fee-fees, then hot damn, I cannot wait to see what happens
ifwhen Charlie Crist throws his Independent, Joe Lieberman-of-the-right hat into the Florida governor’s race!That is going to be fucking awesome.
+6
jl
@El Cid: Boehner is always there, right over Tunch.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Helicopters have a crappy sense of humor. On the other hand, escalators…
jl
@Midnight Marauder: Don’t insult Charlie that way! Lieberman?
Yutsano
@Midnight Marauder: I think even if he goes indy he’s still going for the Senate. He could probably get re-elected as guv (unless he’s limited, I’m not sure) if he ran, but the Reps would be gunning for him hard and getting anything out of the legislature would be its own circle of hell. Plus the popcorn moments of him vs Rubio in the election will be priceless.
Midnight Marauder
@jl:
Not for us. Certainly not for us.
But for them…oh, for them…
Midnight Marauder
@Yutsano:
I definitely meant to say Senate (I’m sure that’s where the +6 comes in and all). Nevertheless, the only election I’m more excited about than that Florida Senate race, is the battle for the governor’s mansion in Texas. I think Bill White can most definitely take Rick Perry, especially if Perry is going to be spouting off like this the rest of the campaign:
I know it’s Texas, so you can never really be entirely sure how something like this will go over, but come on…we are still talking about one of the most universally loathed human beings on the planet in recent history. That is a tough spoonful of bullshit for anyone to swallow. I want Rick Perry to go down in defeat so badly, I could almost move back to Texas to see the deed done up close and personal. But I will leave that to far braver souls.
But between this quote and Rubio being investigated by the IRS (and maybe the FBI?) (and the US Attorney’s office?!), neither of these guys is in good shape for the early going of the general election. It’s going to be excited watching the glazed-eyed defections from Wingnutistan make their way over as the Lord of the Flies routine kicks into higher gear.
+7
Yutsano
@Midnight Marauder: Yeah, my Senate election will be boring and uneventful, so I’m getting my fun in with this election while I still can. All we get is Mom in tennis shoes versus washed up football player turned wheat farmer. Wake me on November 5th for that one.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
Re reading this thread, I wonder if everyone is seeing the Evony ones. But no mind. Time for a break.
Wile E. Quixote
Would all of you stupid fucks who are whining about the ads just shut the goddamned fuck up. Seriously, shut the fuck up. Is this thread dedicated to bitching about ads? No, it’s about the NRO, not that you bunch of retards and degenerates could figure that out, you just had to have your hissy fit here because mommy and daddy didn’t give you enough love.
Now, back to the regularly scheduled topic. Jesus Christ K-Lo and Andy McCarthy are stupid. They don’t even respond to any of Manzi’s arguments, they just complain about how he hurt Mark Levin’s feelings. I’d love to see what they’d do if Manzi ever took on the bullshit in a book by Glenn Beck or Ann Coulter. Oh, wait, taking on Coulter would be OK because she’s persona non grata at NRO after being purged by Doughpants.
I don’t even know why K-Lo or McCarthy bothered to write anything. I mean don’t they know that reading is hard, they should have just posted a “leave Mark Levin alone” video on YouTube and linked to it. It would be at least as substantive as their responses to Manzi.
gnomedad
The asylum guards staged a fake prison break and Manzi was dumb enough to show up.
Oh, wait, am I OT? This thread was about ads, right?
TenguPhule
Although some might say we have enough boobs on BJ, we can always use more!
AJ
I’ve been keeping a file for years that I titled, “Republicans and Governing”; on the philosophy of conservatives and the anti-American insanity of how they govern and rule. They are authoritarians who should never have the levers of power..
The best lines were written by Noam Scheiber in The New Republic, 12.20.02:
Republican “movement conservatives have a genuinely coherent worldview they want to see reflected – in its entirety. …Losing on any issue is enough to rouse their anger, and they take that anger out on any member that does not accept the totality of their worldview. “
Scheiber give examples to back up his argument. I just checked my records. I have 67 more examples. Today, I guess I have 68!
bago
Evint (formerly civony) ads are legendary on the internets for shameless boobage.
handy
I’ve listened to Mark Levin’s radio show a few times. The guy makes Limbaugh sound absolutely sanguine and irenic. No, seriously, I bet there are wingnuts who listen to him and probably think, “Man this guy needs to chill a little.”
He and Malkin would make a great couple, come to think of it.
MobiusKlein
@Martin: Martin, as someone who writes flash code, just loading the .swf file will not always trigger an Ad View. It depends on various other factors. like what kind of metrics they want to send back home. (Mouse over time, etc.) The flash program itself might be sending back the metrics, rather than relying only on the hit to the web server. Most of those things are cached in a variety of ways to reduce bandwidth costs (expensive) so they would rather store & send stuff out of band.
MinneapolisPipe
The Anonymous Liberal has an excellent analysis of current discourse in what he calls the Bubble World. Worth it to read the entire post.
http://www.anonymousliberal.com/2010/04/army-of-trumans.html
Anne Laurie
@El Cid:
Shh… I’ll let you in on a secret: Cole is working on an ad showing a bikini’ed woman with a prime rib in one hand and a rifle in the other. The code is cached under “Operation Peak Moonbat”.
(Of course, now he’s gotten all distracted looking for just the right picture of a chicken to photoshop into the foreground.)
trizzlor
Is there a concept that is precisely opposite to “epistemic closure” because us libtards certainly got it. Here is a softball of a thread right down the middle to mock the truly worst aspects of the GOP and we’ve managed to turn it into a peckin’ party. I’m almost proud.
Yutsano
@Anne Laurie: Just for your edification, I am the proud owner of a rather nice flock of gallus domesticus, including one very beautiful big black rooster. Please insert whatever joke you wish at this point. I can certainly provide a few beauty shots if you would like.
@trizzlor: Nah, we’re all just cranky bitches.
RSA
@John Cole:
I did wonder who that tan newscaster babe in one Web ad was, the one telling me about “incrdeible” discounts in iPads.
Joey Maloney
@Brian J:
“Interesting. Is that peer-reviewed?”
Bobby Thomson
You gotta be kidding me. Someone finds the “weird trick to a flat belly” ads stimulating to the point of distraction? The ad with the illustration that is less lifelike than a Barbie doll?
Back on topic: Manzi should know by now what happens to splitters.