A reader writes:
What the hell does hathetic mean? If you do a Google search for the word, it just comes back with your blog. I thought it was a typo the first time, but then you used it again. Please post a definition!
Hathos, a noun. Hathetic, an adjective. Coined by Alex Heard. Meaning: something so unpleasant you can’t help but be riveted by it. As in Lou Dobbs, Bill O’Reilly, Hugh Hewitt and the smell of one’s own farts.
"You know, I was going to vote for Obama and even announced that a week or so ago. But this is a great example of why it’s best to wait and see how things shake out. Not being blinded by candidate worship, it’s easier to sniff out the bullshit. And you have to have your head stuck deep in the sand to deny that Obama is trying to close the deal by running to the Right of his opponents. And call me crazy, but that’s not a trait I generally appreciate in Democrats, no matter how much it might set the punditocracy’s hearts a flutter," – Markos Moulitsas, actually blogging his own opinion.
"Spending is a real problem, but to tie spending to tax cuts is nothing more than a liberal ploy to keep taxes high," – Patrick Ruffini, criticizing John McCain’s allegedly bizarre idea that tax cuts need to be balanced by spending cuts.
"Huckabee then tried to show the gathered media the ad, in a transparent attempt both to get the message out via unpaid media, and to get credit for supposedly taking the high road. I’m sorry, but this is as phony as all get-out. I’ve made no secret of my enthusiasm for Huck’s candidacy, and I hope he wins Iowa, but this smells of Eddie Haskell," – Rod Dreher, Beliefnet.
After thousands of votes, the results are now in.
The Malkin Award for 2007 goes to … Michael Savage for this:
"You know, the Gore-leone crime family is now the number one crime family in the world, when you think about it. He’s about to pull off the biggest scam in the history of the world. It’s bigger than any bank heist, bigger than any drug deal. It’s bigger than any counterfeiting scheme, and he’s doing it all nice and natural with a little help from the socialist perverts in Norway, who gave him a Nobel Prize. Why do I call them socialist perverts? Answer: because they are. By and large, 90 percent of the people on the Nobel Committee are into child pornography and molestation, according to the latest scientific studies."
The Moore Award for 2007 goes to … Keith Olbermann for this:
"Al Qaeda really hurt us, but not as much as Rupert Murdoch has hurt us, particularly in the case of Fox News. Fox News is worse than Al Qaeda — worse for our society. It’s as dangerous as the Ku Klux Klan ever was."
The Yglesias Award for 2007 goes to … Peggy Noonan for this:
"Christian conservatives have been rising, most recently, for 30 years in national politics, since they helped elect Jimmy Carter. They care about the religious faith of their leaders, and their interest is legitimate. Faith is a shaping force. Lincoln got grilled on it. But there is a sense in Iowa now that faith has been heightened as a determining factor in how to vote, that such things as executive ability, professional history, temperament, character, political philosophy and professed stands are secondary, tertiary. But they are not, and cannot be. They are central. Things seem to be getting out of kilter, with the emphasis shifting too far."
And the Poseur Of The Year 2007 is … Michael Ledeen for this:
"Barbara and I went to Indianapolis for a Toby Keith concert, where we partied with something like 25,000 happy rednecks, most of them young, most of them wearing boots and cowboy hats (and cheering Keith’s great song "I Should Have Been a Cowboy"). It’s a great show, and he’s a wonderful performer, not least because of his deeply moving patriotic songs like "American Soldier," "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue," and " The Taliban," etc.
It’s great to get out of the Washington culture of narcissism and spend some time with the rednecks, a.k.a. real Americans."
Thanks to Jessie Roberts, my outgoing Dish-prepper, for setting all of this up. Thanks to all of you who send in these items and to all of you who voted. And congrats to all the winners. I decided to keep the awards named as they are for 2008. A glossary – with the criteria for each – can be read here.
A reader writes:
Would you look once again at the Keith Olbermann quote – carefully, this time – and ask yourself whether you really disagree with it. You haven’t minced words yourself when complaining about what 9/11 has wrought in terms of a totalitarian presidency – and torture – and an ill-fated war in Iraq. You have argued numerous times that President Bush is likely guilty of war crimes. And it seems to me that you come very close at times to suggesting that what has happened vis-a-vis the Bush presidency is perhaps the worst thing that 911 has wrought. And isn’t Fox news part and parcel of Bush and Company? Sure – Olbermann can be a bit of a windbag; but he is a refreshing wind bag in my book – especially for being so early and often a MSM critic of Bush and Company.
Alas, the Awards are just for the quote cited. They can be unfair. And you get to choose.
America’s reigning master of bullshit weighs in on the baseball steroid scandal. It is of course, a metaphor for everything:
Just about everybody, it seems, is on one kind of steroid or another these days. They’re trying to find a way around reality with steroids that boost their career, or conceal their motives, or propel them into a crowd that magnifies their personal power. The Stephen Glasses, James Freys, Jayson Blairs, J.T. Leroys, and Scott Thomas Beauchamps inject themselves with the steroid of fake facts. The religious fundamentalists have the steroid of fanatical self-righteousness, and the scientific fundamentalists who react to them have the steroid of, well, fanatical self-righteousness. The political bloggers make use of the steroid of implacable outrage. The libelous, or seductive, or predatory Internet user rides high on the steroid of an "avatar." And there is the steroid of political messianism boosting the pro-Iraq War crowd, and the steroid of cynical groupthink juicing up audiences addicted to the "comedy" news shows. And there is that most American steroid of all — the one that seems to give you a way to triumph over your own limitations — the credit card.
Lee Siegel has won the Poseur of the Year Award before. But the prize for 2007 is still open. Today is the last day for voting. Have at it.
An early contestant for 2008:
Say what you will about the looming catastrophe facing the world as the pace of global heating and polar melting accelerates. There is a silver lining.
Look at a map of the US.
The area that will by completely inundated by the rising ocean—and not in a century but in the lifetime of my two cats—are the American southeast, including the most populated area of Texas, almost all of Florida, most of Louisiana, and half of Alabama and Mississippi, as well as goodly portions of eastern Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina … What we see is that huge swaths of conservative America are set to face a biblical deluge in a few more presidential cycles.
One more day to vote for 2007’s contestants! Right now, it looks as if the award may be renamed the Olbermann. There go my cable invites. Check it out.
The Dish 