Kieran Healy

The Cliche Kid, Part XI, Redux

Apologies for the recent lack of posts. It’s good to be back from my hiatus. The question everyone is asking is, where are the WMDs? But the real issue is whether the comparison of Israel’s actions to recent comments by Howard Dean about fiscal reform is yet another example of moral equivalence at its worst.

In the meantime, I just ran across a characteristically thoughtful post by Eugene Volokh on a related topic. Here’s the nut graf:

The answer to yesterday’s puzzle was “An Everything Bagel”—the only foodstuff to be mentioned in a widely-misquoted interview with Charles Schumer, a landmark 7th circuit case on the 2nd amendment and the “Quick and Easy Recipies” section of the Muqaddimah. Atrios is the winner (again) and receives a copy of Academic Legal Writing, for $18.95.

Read the whole thing.

The normally moderate Kevin Drum was shocked—shocked!—at some of the more left-leaning right-wing commentators who weighed in on this topic, many of whom probably wouldn’t hesitate to use the “Q” word, even though it’s surely far, far too early for that. I got your moral clarity right here guys. I suppose it has something to do with the Hidden Agenda I keep hearing about—or not hearing about, thanks to the SCLM. (NJ Dems call your office!) I don’t normally blog about that sort of stuff, but in this case I’m willing to make an exception. Would Jonah Goldberg, or indeed anyone on the left, do the same? I think not.

All of this came about, of course, in response to an insightful comment by Mark Kleiman—itself much worth reading—debunking the recent brouhaha at the New York Times. In sharp contrast, as even the liberal New Republic has been quick to point out, mainstream media have been slow to pick up on this startling fact about typical gun owners. “I’ve been saying this for years,” a correspondent writes by email. Indeed.

More on this tomorrow.

You’re scaring us.

>You’re scaring us.

Or at least “confusing us”.

Or at least “confusing us”.

Well I wanted to see if I could write a blog post using nothing but blogging cliches. (Though the Volokh quote drifted off into a bit of parody instead.)

The Irish Sure Can Write

Kieran Healy has written a post consisting of nothing but blogging cliches. Needless to say, as a blogger, I’m not the least bit amused, nor am I going over my own posts to see how many of those cliches I’ve used. Be sure to avoid Kieran’s post. Thanks…

Jonathan Swift, meet Kieran Healy.

And get ready for the same reactions that meet other Swift-emulators, e.g., the people who take that post seriously in some fashion. (In fact, you could probably write a great parodistic blog reply to it…)

This is why I don’t want to ping people and syndicate and do all that stuff: I think it’s too easy to get swept up into writing that sounds just like this, a kind of nightmare epistolary form that makes the old Point-Counterpoint parodies on Saturday Night Live look substantive and thoughtful by comparison.

Actually, Kieran, you’re pretty good at this. If you wrote like this more often, you might even reach the rank of Higher Being at TTLB.

You did have me fooled. I was asking myself whether I was drinking too much coffee, or maybe whether you had forgotten to take your medication. I was trying to figure out a polite way to ask,

Oh okay… reading it with that in mind it’s quite funny (and indeed hard to figure out why I didn’t get it before)—I am apparently not yet deeply enough immersed in bloggery. (Yes! I’ve been looking for a chance to use that noun!)

Fiancee remarks, “but it makes more sense than everything else you make me read.”

Welcome back Kieran!

The question everyone is asking is, where are the WMDs? But the real issue is whether the comparison of Israel’s actions to recent comments by Howard Dean about fiscal reform is yet another example of moral equivalence at its worst.

Did you forget the sarcasm tags? Don’t even get me started on the whole Dean thing. We’ve been down this road before, folks. Can’t we all just get along?

Would Jonah Goldberg, or indeed anyone on the left, do the same? I think not.

I posted about this at HitchensWatch just yesterday. FWIW, I don’t disagree that you can support the troops and oppose the war, but in my view the “extreme left” is just a strawman here. So what if some Jacksonians wanted to “attack France”? Smart liberals won’t fall into that trap.

“I’ve been saying this for years,” a correspondent writes by email. Indeed.

Take THAT, old media! “Road-map”? ROFLMAO! You’ll never outfisk the blogosphere.

Well, it’s 3 AM, I’d better go to bed.

Joe Bloggs

This is too damn funny and like some others I didn’t really get it at first.

Sometimes I read Kaus and think that he’s just working with a whole new language/communication protocol.

Happy 4th.

Great post, but I have to agree with Joe (much as it pains me). ;)

I Repeat

Recalling Kieran Healy’s post made of cliches, The Poorman has written Every Damned Weblog Post Ever. And, he has a great post up about the 9-11 commission….