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In the category of "stand next to fat people, you'll always look thin," Lynn Hirshman's eye-rolling gender basher of an article in the Washington Post's Outlook section received short shrift for having had the good fortune to be published the same day as Charlotte Allen's. But as Somerby notes, together they present but the latest installment in a compelling argument that John Pomfret's tenure at the Post has been something of a grand embarassment:
IT’S TIME FOR POMFRET TO GO: Who on earth is John Pomfret? Since he took over the Post’s “Outlook” section, we’ve repeatedly mentioned the gruesome bad taste displayed in the pieces he publishes. Yesterday, he did it again, with a pair of egregiously stupid lead articles about the role of women voters in the current election.
Are women stupid? Or are they fickle? Pomfret gave you that choice.
[]
No, you can’t get dumber than Hirshman. Which makes her perfect for Pomfret’s “Outlook”—and perfect for a pairing with Allen. Are women stupid? Or are they fickle? That was the choice the Post gave its readers, in a pair of insultingly stupid selections.
Please note: In 1999, many observers dismissed Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick’s final film—but around here, we saw the film differently. We saw it as Kubrick’s study of a certain kind of upper-class elite—an elite which secretly longs to roll back the clock, to return to certain pre-Enlightenment norms and traditions. Indeed: As these Outlook pieces help show, the modern world is crawling with people who want to return to an easier time—a time when silly, stupid stereotypes kept the ladies in their place. The Hirshmans and Allens crawl on our discourse, offering cover for this outlook by virtue of their sex. And people like Pomfret employ them.
But then, Pomfret has made a running joke of Outlook. It’s time for this strange dude to go.
There's got to be a better way for bitter, self-loathing women with meager IQ's to make a living than reinforcing the biases and stereotypes of men with want to work their mental health issues out in print. But be that as it may, as Deborah Howell notes, the Post's circulation is dramatically down on the distaff side. If they're at all interested in doing anything about it, letting Pomfret go work it out with his COBRA plan on some analyst's couch may be the healthier option for everyone involved.
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Vote Democratic.
Lahoma and okk.
Saved by the Belle!
Hi Jane,
Been missing the threads lately. Got a title for this one?
Hi, Jane!
Jane! will never eat cocktail weenies in this town again.
So, looks like Jane is playing another round of “Name This Post”
How about the line from Somerby’s quoted piece:
Dosido’s comment #56 on the previous thread has been awarded, by stupid me, the Charlotte Allen Commemorative Award for her comment:
“Does this blog make me look fat?”
I think the only response the Wapoo will understand is a coordinated effort to cancel subscriptions. I’m not sure they care much otherwise.
Yeah, in fact, they totally insulted my mother.
I posted a letter downstairs, that I’d received today from Sen Inouye, about why he voted for the Telecom Immunity FISA bill… I was furious at his use of WH talking points… He’s a Dem damn it!
everyone’s mother.
Forgive, Jane. I’m so excited! I’m on Bob Hamilton’s campaign committee, and got two pieces of great news just now. (Hamilton is running against Issa.)
1. Francine Busby will be there as our star.
2. I was able to negotiate with catering to get a room at the beautiful Pala Mesa resort for the campaign kickoff/fundraiser for only $100! We’ll use the patio if weather permits.
There are lots of republicans in this district flipping. The fact that Pala Mesa would go down so much on their cost tells me they think there’s at least a chance Hamilton can win.
This is getting fun!!
Whoa. Rachel Maddow just said, wrt the Clinton argument that she’s qualified to be CIC, McCain is qualified, but Obama can only make a speech — that “that’s what you say if you want to be McCain’s running mate, not the Democratic nominee.” KO just let it sit there and sink in.
She really cuts through the bullshit.
Unity, ain’t it sweet?
I just heard that! Her answer took my breath away. And she’s right.
There is video of her saying it. Isnt that just a little too disloyal?
Maybe those two bimbos are trying to score gigs with Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum.
[Mod Note; let’s be careful with the terms we use, even on a foul-mouthed fem blog.]
Ya’ll ought to meet my woman (I’m her man). She’s the sharpest individual I know or have ever met. She dwarfs me.
She wouldn’t dare….yes, she would.
She said it and I said to Mr. Rev. “Rachel doesn’t pull any punches, does she?”
When does she get her own teevee show?
It’s very depressing. The saddest part is that I think these tactics have been working.
Rachel, smachel, she’s gonna need botox soon anyway, what does she know. I wonder where she gets her hair cut?
I hate to see Dems attack their own this way.
I have a theory about the Washington Post. It’s offices could be located in a special time/space warp called “the land that time forgot.” But they don’t know it.
This is making me tear up, and my mascara is running…dayem.
Soon, I hope! She is so much better than everyone except Keith out there. Fingers crossed.
Not real fond of ugliness on this blog. Rachael is my heroine.
Ill go somewhere more positive.
How can MSNBC allow KO to anchor tomorrow’s election night coverage?
He is entitled to his opinion. But, having expressed it so clearly in favor of one candidate, he has no business serving in the anchor position.
WHat time does the botox advice post go up?
I’m thinking their offices are located in an undisclosed bunker . . . .
What is wrong with you, don’t you have your snarkometer running? I love Rachel!!! The post is about a woman who has written a stinging article saying that women are stupid by design. *g*
Time warp. That was my exact feeling about McCain too. He’s stuck in one. Neither he, nor the WP are on top of what is really happening in the world.
Located right next to Cheney’s…!
I’ll never joke again.
too many cocktail weenies can rot your collective brain. They are all suffering from weenie rot.
that’s kind of what I was thinking. And Timmeh’s office is in the next bunker over.
My mom has been dead for two years and if there was such a thing as talking to the dead, she’d have woken me up screaming “I’m insulted” from the other side!*g*
hiya Jane, from Paris–
–heading back. finally, to Minneapolis, MN today, Tuesday, March 4, 2008. Will be in just in time to soak in results for Sper Tuesday in America. Everyone in France is for Obama…
It’s nice to see Shuster back on the job…!
Super Tuesday—
Hi there Raven!
Congratulations and good luck Loo Hoo. Darrell Issa is the evil incarnate.
Go get him LooHoo!!
Stop it. We recognize your snark full well.
Honestly, I feel bad…Snowbird…come back!!!!!
Stoller on Hillary’s comment about her and McCain being ready and Obama not:
Ya think?
I was raised by strong, intelligent and powerfull women. My father passed away shortly after serving in WW II. The people in my life, in my formative years which were then, and now, are women. These woman taught me to be smart, strong and brave and most importantly, ingrained in my very being a sense of the difference between right and wrong. I have no regrets. Grandma and mama, I miss you.
Thanks, the demographic of the district is changing rapidly too. It includes the Inland Empire (fastest growing area in California and maybe the nation) and now is much younger.
WPITW
Bronze: Bill O comparing Goebels & Arrianna
Silver: Karl Rove on $200/barrel oil
Gold: Doughy Pantload
AP - Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton reached for the finish line of contentious Ohio and Texas primary campaigns on Monday as senior Democrats expressed concern the party could suffer this fall if their struggle goes much longer.
I adore Arianna. ;0)
Go Get Him and Crush Him ;-)
BBC World Service: Political debate has shifted dramatically to the Left….
Listen to the BBC World Service Radio live now here…
It’s 2:50 AM Tuesday March 4, now in Paris…
World Clock Time-Zones…
Me, too, kiddo - my mom was a nurse-midwife in Glasgow before she came to the US in 1948. Always taught us to walk out own path, be our own people and cut through the crap.
I don’t know your Auntie, but I love her!
LS, you just channel your inner Total Woman so well it’s scary. ; )
Silly women.
KO now doing the clip of Hillary on SNL. I saw it and wasn’t impressed.
I like Arianna, too, but Huff Post has turned into something like the National Inquirer.
I like KO generally, but he mirrors MSNBC’s general bias in this respect.
The days of teevee political reporters/commentators even pretending to objectivity are long, looooong gone. I wish someone would make some old tapes or kinescopes available of, say, Cronkite or Huntley/Brinkley covering political news back in the 60s or 70s, before the Reaganoid deregulation rot took hold. It’d be an eye-opener for a lot of people. It would make the elder among us weep for what’s been tossed down the toilet, journalistically speaking.
Li’l Innocent
It always kind of struck me as Buzzflash with famous name writers.
you mean back in the days when the Fairness Doctrine was followed?
Wow, I just got a call from a “something” that was asking for donations to help uninsured women who have breast cancer to help pay for their treatment…I’ve never had that kind of call before…ever….our country is falling apart…God help us.
I hope it’s deep enough into the thread to offer an OT question…
Drive time Nice Polite Republicans ran a story concerning a top Obama advisor meeting with some Canuck Gov’t folks basically saying “Don’t worry about Obama’s campaign rhetoric about NAFTA *nudge, nudge, wink, wink*, we gotcher backs…” Initially Obama’s camp denied the meeting, then copped to it, but says comments taken out of context.
Anybody else hear this?
The auntie would, I am quite sure, take to you right away. She’ll be a hundred this coming September. And she’s an old timey FDR Demo (as am I). We were talking last night about the elections, and she asked who I was going to vote for. I told her either Hillary Clinton or Obama. She asked if I would take her to the polls. This woman dropped out of the third grade to help my grandmother (her mother) with the chores, while her papa and brothers picked cotton. Lord I love this woman.
Who knows what was really said. They are attacking Obama right, left, and upside of the head today. The Canucks apologized or something for how the meeting was reported.
My mother came to this country from Scotland. She met my father while he was in England, on his way to fight the Nazis in Normandy. My mom was Scottish, through and through.
Various stories have been on the wires for at least 24 hours.
Here’s the latest from Reuters.
I just saw that (via Tivo). I was in class for most of the day and missed much of the day’s news. School is really starting to interfere with my news fix.
btw LS, I’m all for you all kicking Issa’s ass back to obscurity