Atlas Shrugged: The Mocking

Monday, April 20, 2009

In Hot Water

Megan McArdle is not amused by the rabble.
I haven't been a big booster of the tea-parties. Hell, I haven't been a small booster. I think that protests and street theater are, while a sacred civil right, usually counterproductive. And I don't have much sense of identification with either the right wing grass roots, or the organizers.

Umm, Megan----?
Full disclosure: as I've mentioned, before we dated, my boyfriend worked for Freedomworks. Freedomworks is one of the organizers of the tea parties, though not, as some would have it, a shadowy secret organizer--it's on the front page of their website. Neither Peter nor I have now, nor ever have had, any involvement with the tea party movement, though some of our friends have organized and attended them.

You don't have a sense of identification with your boyfriend or you guys' friends? Now, is that a nice thing to say?

And remember, every time you support the tea parties by pooh-poohing their critics, you are forced to discuss your sex life with strangers. That's why reporters often avoid stories with conflicts of interest altogether. But that's getting into professional ethics, so we understand your problem.

Also, it's not always the best idea to remind one's readers that one's associates are tea-baggers. Even former tea-baggers.

6 comments:

Ken Houghton said...

Why do you assume Peter S. is a former Teabagger?

Susan of Texas said...

True, there's no way of telling what he does privately.

Righteous Bubba said...

Ooo, no sex tonight.

clever pseudonym said...

Does Petey run a "full disclosure" notice before his articles that are published in the Atlantic these days?

Also - did you see her poo-pooing post whining about how no financial journalists were awarded Pulitzers this year? She's so incompetent at her supposed profession that she doesn't even know how the biggest awards in journalism are decided.

Julia said...

It's kind of sweet that she thinks protests are a sacred civil right, insofar as she thought not all that long ago that they were appropriately responded to by a two by four (as though anyone she knows would have the vaguest idea where to find one of them).

Susan of Texas said...

RB, it must be tough to sleep on the couch when you're that tall.

CP, that was funny. It's pretty clear that she isn't really interested in being a journalist. No curiosity, no attempt to write well, no knowledge of the field in general. What a waste.

Julia, these are the right type of protestors, who are not against the rich and powerful. That's totally different.