Richard Cohen's editors, if there are any, have clearly thrown up their hands and given up on the dunderheaded typist. Maybe they simply run his stuff through a spell checker and call it a day?
He's got this totally confusing thing on the "Post Partisan" blog about Sarah Palin quitting/never getting into the presidential race. Lucky for us, it's only the second paragraph that makes us click "close tab" this time:
It would be a mistake, however, to bid her farewell without noting her accomplishment. She was maybe the first of our celebrity politicians — not, mind you, a politician who achieved celebrity but one who did it the other way around. It’s true she was governor of Alaska when John McCain selected her for his ticket, but no one knew that. She had the name recognition of a dead dog catcher.
Got that? Sarah Palin was an unknown politician who then became a celebrity. Wait, no, she was a celebrity who then became a politician! Which is it, Richard? It isn't the former, because plenty of people had heard of the Thrilla from Wasilla well before McCain chose her as his running mate: Wonkette had already, by that time, posted several items about this new, wacky governor who was dumb and funny; Talking Points Memo had already published, like, four hundred things about "Troopergate"; Vogue had already done a feature on her, not an honor generally bestowed upon "unknown" politicians. Oh, also: she was chosen by McCain to be his running mate.
How about the second concept, where she was "maybe the first of our celebrity politicians – not, mind you, a politician who achieved celebrity but one who did it the other way around"? Let's see: Sonny Bono, Ronald Reagan, Al Franken, Jesse Ventura, Clint Eastwood, and even Gopher from the Love Boat all spring quickly to mind.
So Cohen has managed to squeeze into a single paragraph two concepts which not only contradict each other, but are each inherently incorrect. Good work if you can get it (you can't get it)!
14 comments:
I really thought Steve Jobs overload would totally put Sarah in the "Q" section of American newspapers.
I guess I was wrong.
Steve, thanks for getting her off the front page, though.
But you overlooked the cherry on top of this mangled-English sundae:
"She had the name recognition of a dead dog catcher."
Hmmm. Was Palin a zombie who pursued dogs, or a living dog catcher who nabbed dead dogs?
I find that the only way to make sense of a Cohen piece is to read it while rip-roaringly drunk. Though, on the downside, it's a total waste of perfectly good booze.
Richard clearly doesn't think much of Ah-nult.
Oh, duh, right! I knew I left out somebody big.
2 LAZY 2 B 4gotten?
Tennessee Thompson boob with booby wife.
Let's not forget about Michelle Bachmann, who I believe originally rose to fame in the 1960s during her long-running role as Dudley Do-Right's horse.
Wow, that paragraph you quoted just.... makes.... no.... sense... whatsoever. Why is the WaPo paying him good money while those of us who know what we're talking about blog for free?
Let's start Occupy the Post. Our demand: jettison Richard Cohen and give those inches to Princess Sparkle Pony to write any damn thing he wishes!
AND GET PAID!
Note: Somehow, Blogger is confused and thinks I'm this profhubbard person. As any regular can tell from the picture, it's me, Matty Boy.
Checking in again - that photo, of course, dates from 2008. It's nice to see that very exaggerated Bumpit again; her hair has been looking like crap lately.
Either way, Old Rebel, this is somebody people will definitely have heard about!
Or to quote the dead catcher non pareil, "I never said most of the things I said."
Larry, I think you mean Yogi Berra. He's still alive.
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