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Close Readings: Sarah Palin and “refudiate”

By Dan Brooks in Close Reading July 19, 2010 4 Comments

Sarah Palin, seen here monopolizing a city council meeting in A Just World.

Yesterday, Sarah Palin risked the loyalty of her constituents by announcing her opposition to a planned mosque at Ground Zero, via Twitter. She’s since deleted that post, for reasons the foregoing article makes obvious, but here’s her original tweet:

Ground Zero Mosque supporters: doesn’t it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate.

“Refudiate” is, of course, not a word. It seems to be a concatenation of “refute” and “repudiate,” or just a one-letter typo, although Palin’s subsequent defense (see below) suggests the former. The commentariat regards her use of “refudiate” as a gaffe, and they’re having a pretty good time with it. As is often the case, though, Palin is stupid like a fox. It’s a good thing “refudiate” is in that tweet, because it distracts from the rest of it—and you know what that means. When meaning tries to hide behind language, and also when the Combat! blog headline has “close reading” in it, it’s time for another Close Reading.

Friday links! Specious redemptions edition

By Dan Brooks in Friday Links July 16, 2010 1 Comment

Everybody loves a redemption story. The wrong righted, the villain reformed, the catastrophe undone—these are the themes of our collective fantasy, whether in movies or in the news. The problem with redemption stories is that, statistically, they are unlikely to happen. Your initial sample is “people who did bad things,” and your criterion for success is “person A doesn’t do any bad things in the future.” I don’t want to be a Gloomy Gus or, worse, a Determinist Dave, but that sort of change just doesn’t happen very often. That’s what makes a redemption story so good, but it’s also what makes us willing to settle for off-brand shit—the appearance of redemption, at least, when no actual wrong-righting is available. In preparation for a weekend in which you will almost certainly transgress, apologize, and transgress again, this week’s link roundup is all about questionable redemptions, unsorry apologies, and maybe one genuine turnaround. Won’t you join us after the break?

Congress weighs tax cuts for rich amid ethics investigation

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government July 15, 2010 0 Comment

Rep. Joseph Crowley (D–NY,) who left the floor during December's financial regulatory debate to attend a fundraiser with Wall Street execs, seen here with several men in nice suits

Those of you who can still bear to watch the sausage being made will be disappointed/heartened to know that the Office of Congressional Ethics is investigating eight members of Congress who accepted large donations from financial services companies while debating the financial regulatory bill. Suspect #1 is New York Democrat and Ways and Means Committee member Joseph Crowley. According to the Times, Crowley “left the Capitol during the House debate to attend a fund-raising event for him hosted by a lobbyist at her nearby Capitol Hill town house that featured financial firms, along with other donors.” Don’t worry, though. Once Crowley had finished accepting checks, he made it back in time to vote against several amendments that would have tightened restrictions on Wall Street. And he’ll probably maintain stellar attendance this week, as he and his colleagues discuss extending Bush’s tax cuts for the rich.

Dylan Ratigan on what’s wrong with America

By Dan Brooks in Public Discourse July 14, 2010 4 Comments

MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan, telling people what's what

MSNBC political and financial commentator Dylan Ratigan went all me-after-four-drinks on Representative Kevin Brady (R–TX) Monday, delivering a long rant while the latter clung to GOP talking points and smiled like a man invited over for a big slice of crap cobbler. Props to Pete for the link. Let me first say that I do not usually have truck with MSNBC, for reasons exemplified in Ratigan’s interview style. He begins his segment by pointing out that Wall Street and high finance is one of the few sectors of the economy that is hiring again, which seems kind of ironic given that they were, to borrow a phrase from Shakespeare, the dildo of our original clusterfucktion. Ratigan then advances the thesis that the stock market, originally conceived as a means of encouraging investment capital to flow to new ventures, has become a “giant sucking machine” that draws money from real industry and into a realm of computerized abstraction. Cue Kevin Brady.

Close readings: Michele Bachmann warns of “nation of slaves”

By Dan Brooks in Public Discourse July 13, 2010 3 Comments

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It’s technically unfair that I have used this picture, since today’s Combat! is not an edition of Meanwhile, inside Michele Bachmann’s head, which series is explicitly devoted to things that Michele Bachmann did not say. It’s a terrifyingly confusing system developed by a probably incompetent man, but we’re stuck with it. Today is an edition of Close readings, in which we analyze in detail one particular public statement made by one particular individual—in this case, that most particular of US congresspeople, Michele Bachmann. Speaking to the Western Conservative Summit in Denver on Friday, Representative Bachmann warned that President Obama, the Democratic Party and health care reform were turning the United States into “a nation of slaves.”* It’s possible she was taking a page from Rick Barber. It’s possible she was connecting her remarks to the writings of the Founding Fathers. It’s possible she’s a crazy person whom we have inadvertently vested with the power to make laws. Only the skills we learned as English majors can tell us for sure, and the time has come for us to perform a close reading. Won’t you join me in the study?