July 13, 2011

Of course, smoking all that crack didn't help

Foseti calls my attention to Matthew Yglesias's post that begins (actually, no kidding):
I had of course heard the Legend of Marion Barry before moving to Washington, DC, but something that’s been striking to observe since his return to the city council is the almost shockingly poor quality of his policy thinking, completely apart from any concerns about corruption or the like. 

Of course, self-parody is a possibility.

27 comments:

OneSTDV said...

Have you ever gotten confirmation that Yglesias actually reads your site?

I know he does, but I wonder if he's ever actually admitted to it.

agnostic said...

Has he written a single post that doesn't have the words "of course"? Everything's just so damn obvious to the wonder-dwarf.

Using google to search his blog just for 2011, there are over 1000 results for "of course." Some may be from the comments, but still.

Anonymous said...

you don't get satire, do you?

its clear that Iglesias was joking.

Anonymous said...

"Everything's just so damn obvious to the wonder-dwarf."

Well, he is a supergenius.

It just, you know, doesn't cause him to be right. Ever. But he's a supergenius. How can you doubt him?

Dmitri Shep Shepilov said...

Is this no-duh a typical post for this doe-eyed naif Yglesias?

Just as Y marvels at the Barry's poor quality of policy thinking, Steve's occasional posts on Y make me wonder also about Y.

Surprisingly, Barry got a MS in Organic Chemistry from the HBC Fisk. However, he dropped out of doctoral programs first at U of KS and then at U of TN, Knoxville.

Anonymous said...

Why do we even know about this Yglesias person? I've read his blog a number of times and never once found anything particularly insightful or interesting in it. Neither is it particularly well written. What gives?

Fred said...

Yglesias is 6'2".

dearieme said...

"Yglesias is 6'2"."

Squirt!

Anonymous said...

you don't get satire, do you?

its clear that Iglesias was joking.


I just read the post, its far from clear that MY was joking. You know, Ive got feeling its you that doesnt understand satire.

Anonymous said...

@One

I believe there were two Sailer blog posts that MY linked to, one on the crypto-Jews of Turkey, and I forget the other. There may have been more. This left a lot of his followers extremely butt-hurt. Steve also comments over there with some regularity. It's kinda fun to read responses to his comments.

DB

Anonymous said...

I have a suspicion that there is a common factor in smoking all that crack and the poor quality of his policy thinking, but I just can't put my finger on it.

SFG said...

"steve sailer got me again? the bitch set me up!"

OK, anyone else who can come up with better Barry jokes?

anony-mouse said...

And yet the White Keith Richards has 'written' his own autobiography.

And it's a big bestseller.

Go figure.

Marlowe said...

After the way Bush 43 ran the country, America is lucky it got Obama and not Barry as President, although the latter man would be the more ,appropriate to the times, Idiocracy casting decision.

Reading chemistry seems a wise investment for someone who plans to fool around with his own.

The Anti-Gnostic said...

you don't get satire, do you?

its clear that Iglesias was joking.


Yglesias says his observations of Barry have been "striking" and Barry's policy thinking is "shockingly" poor. Use of these modifiers indicates Yglesias's genuine surprise at finding out that Marion Barry isn't Red Redding. There's the off chance I just don't get progressivist humor though.

James Kabala said...

I don't get it - he's saying, "I heard Barry was bad, but he's even worse than I thought." What's so objectionable about that?

alexis said...

Explains the political/spiritual philosophy behind the DC electorate's continued support for Marion Barry:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MehabAJwrEk

"Only God can judge a man!"

Anonymous said...

Surprisingly, Barry got a MS in Organic Chemistry from the HBC Fisk. However, he dropped out of doctoral programs first at U of KS and then at U of TN, Knoxville.

Wikipedia says that Fletcher Henderson started a Master's program in chemistry at Columbia before leaving school to concentrate on his musical career.

Do you ever get the feeling that we used to be a much better people [Black, White and "High Yeller" alike] before all of these shenanigans in Law and "Finance" came to corrupt our best and brightest young minds?

I was watching FBN [Fox Business News] the other day, and lamenting to myself the fact that so many obviously high-IQ folks were wasting so much talent on a sewer of a career like "Finance".

What a terrible tragedy.

beowulf said...

"I know he does, but I wonder if he's ever actually admitted to it."

Every once in a while he'll link to one of Steve's story. The effect on his commenters (before he chased them all away with the new web design) is like throwing one banana into the monkey house.

Anonymous said...

Of course...

What's really amazing is that Sailer has too much to do today to update his blog regularly.

Are you finally writing the book I wanted you to write?

MQ said...

I don't know, I think Barry probably had a pretty smart reason for this bill that Yglesias is just too naive to understand. Seriously, it's only if you don't understand the world very well that successful/long-lasting politicians appear to be "stupid".

Dennis Dale said...

You mean Marion Barry doesn't display intellect or integrity? Golly!

In reality I suspect the man's corruptibility long preceded the crack use.
It's like the "hats cause baldness" fallacy--it is of course the baldness that precedes and prompts the wearing of hats.

Anonymous said...

I grew up in DC and was always impressed that Barry had a degree in Organic Chem. Is it not legit?? BTW the bitch did set him up.


Dan in DC

Eric said...

"Policy" is much easier to grasp than "politics". It's why people who pride themselves on their grasp of policy are drawn to dictators (e.g. Thomas Friedman's infatuation with China). A dictator can brush aside those pesky political considerations and concentrate on policy.

Son of Brock Landers said...

my family was vacationing in DC the weekend Barry got busted. I was like 9, but the city was electric from the "Bitch set me up" video.

Yglesias is upset that Ezra Klein stole his thunder as young, well educated Jewish pundit beloved by big media. Yglesias must look at Eric Alterman and see his best case scenario for a future.

Lionel H said...

"Of course, smoking all that crack didn't help"

- Yeah, but the liberal delusion du jour right now is equal or superior value for gay behavior, so of course, Yglesias must maintain a positive view of "smoking crack".

jody said...

in more blast from the past news, rodney king got arrested again recently.