Category Archives: Media Criticism

Mark Whittington’s Tourette’s Syndrome

Isn’t it amusingly stupid how he is unable to write the phrase “commercial crew” without using the word “subsidy”?

What’s funniest of all, of course, is that he seems to actually believe that space policy will be a significant, or even debated issue in this election.

[Afternoon update]

Awwwww, isn’t that cute? Mark still fantasizes both that I have a “chain,” and that I ever “leap the length” of it. It seems to be one of his favorite expressions. That’s the autism, rather than the Tourette’s.

[Update on Tuesday morning]

I know what metaphors are, Mark. I was simply pointing out that your attempt at it was insane, and bore no resemblance to reality.

Irony Challenged On Space Commentary

Check out the comments over at my National Review piece. It’s almost as though some of the commenters are going out of their way to prove my thesis, by engaging in exactly the ignorant, straw-man behavior that opponents of the new policy have been for going on three years now. I love the notion that because I correct misstatements of fact, I am “attacking” the commenter. I especially love the latest insane redefinition of “subsidy” — that because SpaceX didn’t reinvent every single wheel in its vehicles, instead building on technology developed over the past decades, that it has been “subsidized” by NASA for decades.

The “Debates”

Roger Simon writes what I was thinking when I saw the list of “moderators” for this fall’s “debates.”

What would happen if Romney/Ryan played hardball and said, “You know, ABCBSCNNPBS? Here’s the deal. If you want us to debate on your airwaves or cablewaves, we’ll do it on condition that the candidates choose the topics. The only thing we need a moderator for is to time things. If you don’t want to do that deal, we’ll look for another network, and we’ll point out to the public exactly why we’re doing so. We’ll let the White House try to explain why it needs a biased moderator.”

Paul Ryan, Extremist

Thoughts from George Will on Romney’s pick:

When Ryan said in Norfolk, “We won’t replace our Founding principles, we will reapply them,” he effectively challenged Obama to say what Obama believes, which is: Madison was an extremist in enunciating the principles of limited government — the enumeration and separation of powers. And Jefferson was an extremist in asserting that government exists not to grant rights but to “secure” natural rights that pre-exist government.

Romney’s selection of a running mate was, in method and outcome, presidential. It underscores how little in the last four years merits that adjective.

With a bonus discussion of what Barry Goldwater and Martin Luther King had in common.