![]() PRANK CALL, PRANK TRANSCIPT/PRANKED NATION! First, a governor got himself pranked. After that, the deluge: // link // print // previous // next //
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2011 Prank call, prank transcript/pranked nation: Just for a moment, step back from your views on the Wisconsin fight and consider the way we now conduct business. How do we discuss serious issues like the ones at the heart of this fight? Yesterday, we got one part of our answer; we now discuss these serious issues through the medium of prank phone calls. A prankster called Governor Walkers office, pretending to be billionaire David Koch, a major source of Republican funding. Governor Walker took the call and spoke for about twenty minutes. The tape of the call was released by the Buffalo Beast, which had conducted the call. The Beast also posted a transcript. How much can we learn about Walker from that call? Well offer our view below. But how apt! After Walker fell for the Beasts prank call, a whole string of journalists fell for the groups prank transcript! One of the first to get himself pranked was Jonathan Chait, a very smart policy analyst whose post at the New Republic now runs beneath this self-critical headline:
The liberal world has certainly been awash in self-correction! In this case, what did Chait feel forced to correct? Without listening to the actual tape, he had posted this chunk of transcript. Based on his link, he got this text from the Buffalo Beast:
Good lord! Walker had affirmed Kochs remark about Mikas hot ass, engaging in the rough talk of real men! In his post, Chait had of course been appalled. But wouldnt you know it? Chait had been pranked, much like Walker before him! At some later point, he crossed out the text weve posted in bold and offered this update/apology:
First Walker got prankedthen Chait did too! Nor was Chait alone in this posture. That totally misleading chunk of transcript had quickly been posted all over the webeven at the august National Journal, whose august web site isnt responding at present. Most strikingly, Greta Van Susteren even fell for the prank; last night, on her Fox News program, she actually interviewed Walker (on tape), chiding him for what he had said concerning Mikas keister. After the taped interview ran, she offered her own live retraction:
Duh! Chaits update/apology plainly was right. Presumably, the Beast had hoped that Walker would follow its lead concerning Mikas smokin hot ass. This would have produced some embarrassing tape. But alas! The attempt plainly failed. We liberals have been self-correcting at a remarkable rate! In this case, even someone as smart as Chait was willing to post a transcript without checking the actual tape; its hard to believe, at this late date, that anyone is so trusting. (Posted transcripts are often wrong in various ways, even when theres no motive.) Of course, in an increasingly tribalized world, tribal players leap to believe the very worst about The Other. In fact, Walker didnt second that quip about Mika. But the world truly believed. (Dylan: Well, time passed and now it seems/Everybodys havin them dreams.) What can we learn about Walker from that prank call? Not very much, we would say. Quick note: Except for old tapes on C-Span radio, none of us have ever heard Big Pols speak on the phone. We may not be especially skilled at interpreting such conversations. Just a quick guess: Major pols of both major parties will play along with the varied dumb comments offered by their biggest funders; well guess that very few pols rush to confront their sponsors various flaws. We know, we know! Old Reagan/Bush-voters like Big Ed Schultz were urging you on last night; Big Ed is now paid to play the fool by saying dumb things on your side. But we heard very little on that tape beyond what Walker himself later said. In fact, we were surprised by what we heard. But we mainly heard that Walker believes in what hes currently doing. We also heard him repeatedly fail to second that pranksters rough talk. Drat! Even though he thought he was speaking in private, he just kept refusing the bait. For our money, Greg Sargent swallowed the outrage whole. In the updates to this post, he runs you through all the times Walker failed to challenge Kochs bad manners. This is his first example:
Thats right. And major Democrats dont bat an eye when their big supporters spout on the phone. Big office-holders arent the Church Ladythough very smart people who are somewhat young have been scolding The Other for that. How do we discuss big issues? Yesterday, we all got a lesson. The pranking was general over the web as the Beast played several tricks.
First, a governor got himself pranked. After that, the deluge! PART 2LORD MILBANK AND LADY ARUGULA (permalink): Last week, Rush Limbaugh was peddling his usual crap all around, talking his smack for millions of listeners. Yesterday, at the Washington Post, Lord Milbank began to fight back:
Were Rushs ripostes fair-and-balanced examples of good old political satire? Was he just looking for a way to discuss an actual issue? Before he finished his column, Milbank quoted several more of El Rushbos thoughtful pronouncements:
In truth, its a whole new form of political satire when a major figure like Rush talks about a first ladys bust linewhen he explicitly takes his jokes below the belt. That said, Milbanks analysis was itself a bit light; he quickly noted that Limbaugh himself is too fat to discuss such a topic. And sure enough! He quickly recalled his own inane thoughts concerning the first ladys food:
Deftly dishing standard pay-back, Milbank gained revenge on Lady Arugula, recalling the day when her agents dared to criticize Milbanks own nonsense. For the record, Milbank was referring to this inane column from September 2009. Opening paragraph: Let's say you're preparing dinner and you realize with dismay that you don't have any certified organic Tuscan kale. What to do? Lets get back to yesterdays column, in which Milbank judged that Rush is too fat to say the same about Obama. Before he was done, Milbank engaged in standard both sides do it conduct, noting that Lady Arugula is criticized about her food choices from both the right and the left. (Youre rightthis involved quite a stretch on Milbanks part.) From that point, the finish line was near! He closed his column with a quip about Obamas current corpulent criticand another bit of fly-weight work was ready to run in the Post. Limbaugh routinely plays the clown, on major and minor issues. Over the past three decades, he has had an enormous influence on the shape of our low-IQ discourse. During that same period, Maureen Dowds simpering, silly-girl playbook made her our most influential print journalist; her silly approach to the nations news has been copied all over the nations news rooms. But Limbaugh has been our most influential broadcaster. He has helped shape a world in which groaning factual misstatement is put in the service of hard, dumb, hyper-partisan politicsa world in which average people are misled, dumbed down, played for fools. Milbank comes from the world of Dowd; her simpering ways were reflected as her acolytes barbs were aimed at Lady Arugulas corpulent critic. Back in the day, Milbank spent his time complaining about the way Al Gore used too many confusing words and phrases in his speeches. (Example: the marketplace of ideas. See THE DAILY HOWLER, 5/30/07.) Yesterday, he burned a column with silly quips about fat peoples figures. The fatuous were chasing the vile when Lord Dowdinpanz penned his newest column. It made us think of the various things Michael Lind said. Last week, at Salon, Lind wrote a very worthwhile column. We thought he was making some very good pointsbut we dont think he made those points well.
Tomorrowpart 3: The good and the bad which Lind said
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