{"id":613,"date":"2008-03-06T10:03:51","date_gmt":"2008-03-06T14:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/?p=613"},"modified":"2008-03-06T10:04:19","modified_gmt":"2008-03-06T14:04:19","slug":"mind-numbing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/?p=613","title":{"rendered":"Mind numbing"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m out of my territory here a little bit, but yesterday’s excursion into press narratives (although only to make a kind of side point) inspired me to read a little more of it.  With that in mind I stumbled across Gail Collins’<\/a> column in the New York Times.  She is another card-carrying (remember that phrase anyone?) of the liberal media.  Let’s read:<\/p>\n

\n

It\u2019s all up to Pennsylvania!<\/p>\n

Yes folks, over the next seven
\nweeks \u2014 the amount of time it takes a normal country to conduct an
\nentire national election \u2014 we will be obsessing about the critical
\nupcoming Pennsylvania primary. Harrisburg! Altoona! The Poconos! Did
\nyou know that in the Poconos, some hotels have bathtubs shaped like
\nhearts or Champagne glasses? We actually plan on bringing that up a lot.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That’s really how the article begins.  I think it’s pastiche of the kind of irrelevance we will be subjected to in the coming days.  The kind of irrelevance the following paragraphs provide: <\/p>\n

\n

\nOf all the things that went right for Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, the
\nOhio primary win was most impressive. Although Ohioans politely tiptoed
\nout of Hillary\u2019s more boring round-table discussions<\/strong>, they came to
\nbelieve<\/strong> she could be a president who would fix things, no matter how
\ncomplicated or frustrating. The mere fact that she had the staying
\npower to keep her eyes open, they felt<\/strong>, was a good sign.<\/p>\n

In
\nresponse, the Obama campaign has reportedly decided to do far fewer
\nexciting rallies and lots more mind-numbing round-table discussions<\/strong> in
\nPennsylvania. I\u2019m sure I speak for everyone when I say we are all
\nreally looking forward to that.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Collins’ fact-free insight and vast power of generalizing amazes me.  Notice two things.  First, she knows what Ohioans are thinking, believing and feeling–in detail "no matter how complicated or frustrating."  Was that a poll question?  I doubt it.  Beyond that, she’s intolerant of meaningful discussions of policy–they’re boring!  Mind-numbing!  And on that point–who is the "we" who is not looking forward to these discussions?  Maybe it’s Collins, who wants to talk about the Poconos.<\/p>\n

Maybe I’m just impatient with this stuff, and I miss the larger points Collins is making.  I guess I’m a conservative that way.  I like my assertions supported by evidence.  <\/p>\n

Keep in mind, of course, that while the liberal media over here at the New York Times can’t even bother to discuss matters of policy, George Will<\/a>, conservative luminary, is busy eviscerating such leftist heroes as Oliver Stone, Norman Mailer, and Jean Paul Sartre, for their admiration of Fidel Castro, or Cuba (or something).  What’s wrong with them?  Well, Cuba has basically sentenced people to jail after one-day secret trials.  I know, I know.  That sounds awful to be stuck in Cuba in some kind of extra-legal limbo and convicted after a Stalinesque<\/a> one-day secret trial.
 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m out of my territory here a little bit, but yesterday’s excursion into press narratives (although only to make a kind of side point) inspired me to read a little more of it.  With that in mind I stumbled across Gail Collins’ column in the New York Times.  She is another card-carrying (remember that phrase … Continue reading Mind numbing<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89,7,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gail-collins","category-will","category-inexplicable"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}