Quote of the day
posted at 10:45 pm on August 21, 2007 by Allahpundit
“She said liberals tend to be policy wonks who ‘can’t say anything in less than paragraphs. We really want the whole picture, want to peel the onion.’”
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Peel the onion spoil the liberal ?
BTW reading alot of fiction (socialism) doesnt make you smarter
William Amos on August 21, 2007 at 10:47 PM
BTW if you read this graph its people from the NORTH EAST
who read the least
pic
William Amos on August 21, 2007 at 10:50 PM
Pat Schroeder was a clown when she was in the House. She hasn’t changed much. Here’s one of her more recent gems:
we really thought meanness was cute, and somehow it was masculine
jaime on August 21, 2007 at 10:52 PM
Rrright, Patsy. If lefties are so smart, how come they can’t debate the issues, but typically hide behind ad hominem attacks (such as ‘racist’, ‘sexist’ ‘homophobe’)?
petefrt on August 21, 2007 at 10:54 PM
So if liberals can’t say anything in less than paragraphs, why do they cover their POS cars in stupid, nonsensical bumper-stickers?
Kimmer on August 21, 2007 at 10:57 PM
All hail the superior intellect of our political overlords!
Thank God there are some book-readin’ folk around to run things for me while I watch the trains pass, drink warm beer and beat my wife. Golly, without them readin’ types from the big city I don’t how me and mine would ever get by. I learnt all I know from when my Pa used a stick to draw it for me in the dirt behind the outhouse.
What silly and abject bigotry. Patricia needs to have her head surgically removed from up there. I read in a book that a blockage of that size ain’t good for you.
Thomas the Wraith on August 21, 2007 at 11:00 PM
(peels onion) what a load of crap.
That reminds me, I’m just finishing up Manhunt-the 12 days after the Lincoln Assasination.
Can anyone recomend my next book. I like books about history, politics, and war. For non-learning purposes I like sci fi and fantasy. Eldest (2nd in Eragon series) was the last of these I read.
sunny on August 21, 2007 at 11:00 PM
I remember hearing Pat Schroeder and she was, certainly, no intellectual. If she wants to start arguing brain power, she’s definitely going to come out on the short end. Of course, she’s not even smart enough to realize that.
progressoverpeace on August 21, 2007 at 11:05 PM
Sunny–
A good biography is The Last Tsar, by Edvard Radzinsky, written shortly after the end of the communist era in Russia.
Then there’s Peggy Noonan homage to Ronaldus Magnus, When Character was King.
Kimmer on August 21, 2007 at 11:06 PM
Oh wait…..I clicked on the link above and got The Onion news desk…. there must be a mistake.
..It would take me more than one paragraph to explain how that happened..
Mcguyver on August 21, 2007 at 11:08 PM
If she’s right then liberals are boxed out from the 27% of American adults who didn’t read a single book last year.
Mmm, interesting.
Thomas the Wraith on August 21, 2007 at 11:13 PM
Oh it gets better…
The Karl Roves of the world have built a generation that just wants a couple slogans
F15Mech on August 21, 2007 at 11:17 PM
WOW
Damn you Karl Rove(s) for teaching my phrases like…
Make love not war
Give peace a chance
It’s my body
racist
sexist
homophobe
No Blood for Oil
01/20/09
etc…
All work and no play makes F15Mech a dull boy (I threw this in just because)
F15Mech on August 21, 2007 at 11:18 PM
Let’s not forget:
“We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it.”
“Not my President.”
“Condeleeza Rice: Not my sister.”
“Bush Lied, People Died”
Vincenzo on August 21, 2007 at 11:19 PM
Kimmer on August 21, 2007 at 11:06 PM
Thank you. You know what else I like to read, when in a new city I’ll pick up a cheap local author’s history of the city. Can usually read it in three to four hours at night. Let’s me bring something other than a sunburn or hangover home.
sunny on August 21, 2007 at 11:20 PM
Unfortunately they’re works of fiction written by truthers to neatly fit a narrow ideology of group-thinkers. The only reason to really “peel” that onion is to seek out that one, small morsel with which to tear down an otherwise better – and conservative – plan.
thedecider on August 21, 2007 at 11:25 PM
For those that like a nice little horror/suspense story, I highly recommend “The Ruins” by Scott Smith.
Sunny, if you like history, “The Johnstown Flood” by David McCullough was excellent. If you like alternate history, “Ruled Britannia” by Harry Turtledove was good as well.
Slublog on August 21, 2007 at 11:27 PM
I should add that I find it hysterical that just before proclaiming herself part of the scary-smart intellectual elite that reads books, she paints an exceedingly cartoonish picture of conservatives.
Nuance.
Slublog on August 21, 2007 at 11:30 PM
Herodotus…The Histories a good early one
Gregory of Tours…The History of the Franks early “dark ages”
Josephus…The Jewish War ad 66
BL@KBIRD on August 21, 2007 at 11:34 PM
Really? “Blood for Oil”? “Bush lied people died”? etc. etc. Which groups speaks by sending college kids and aged hippies out in to the streets with signs filled with nothing but slogans, liberals or conservatives? Yeah. And of course, there aren’t tons of extremely successful conservative writers cranking out books left and right. And do slogans pass the time while hosting lengthy daily radio shows? Yeah, all slogans, no onion peeling going on there… and who dominates talk radio? And who’s network FAILED MISERABLY? And which side supports the fairness doctrine, to force their onion peeling past our slogan chanting?
Stupid.
RightWinged on August 21, 2007 at 11:35 PM
Patsy, when you peel an onion, there’s nothing left.
Is that really what you want to convey? Faux-Zen?
Your energies spent on uncovering nothing but your own failure to grasp the essential meaninglessness of your endeavor?
sunny-
A good book to add to your reading list is “Arab Historians of The Crusades” – by Gabrieli, to get a taste of the primal Jihad mindset.
profitsbeard on August 21, 2007 at 11:36 PM
I just started reading “Exegetical Fallacies”. It’s gonna take me a while cause their ain’t no pictures.
GoodBoy on August 21, 2007 at 11:42 PM
A poll like this one would have been the ideal trial run to insert a questionnaire into every other book sold at a local book store during a set time period. A telephone poll to see who is reading just seems kind of humorous.
Bradky on August 21, 2007 at 11:53 PM
What books do liberals read? Race-Baiting for Dummies and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Political Correctness?
Megan on August 21, 2007 at 11:54 PM
Kimmer thats beautiful
Zetterson on August 21, 2007 at 11:54 PM
My books are all horses.
Limerick on August 21, 2007 at 11:57 PM
More Rove slogans:
Culture of Corruption
Kick Rick Out in 06
I’m Already Against the Next War
Coexist
Chimpeach
Impeach
Somewhere in Texas a village is missing its idiot
Kerry/Edwards – A Stronger America
Don’t Blame Me – I Voted for Kerry
Republicans for Voldermort
1,2,3,4, We don’t want your racist war
No Empire
Stop the War
War is not the answer
No war on Iraq
And those are just the ones in the Philly area on about every other car.
Lemmings.
Good Lt on August 21, 2007 at 11:58 PM
I would fail a high school student who turned in an English paper with a phrase like this in it. I’d be embarassed to have been quoted saying anything like that. Really embarassed. Especially while I was trying to express how stupid the other side was.
progressoverpeace on August 22, 2007 at 12:08 AM
I’ve got it on good authority that CSDeven ghost wrote a book called “Thompson the incredible journey” under the byline Willie Makeit and BettyDon’t
Bradky on August 22, 2007 at 12:09 AM
Try the book “Because They Hate” by Brigitte Gabriel, who lived in Lebanon in the 1980′s and knows firsthand about the “Religion of Peace”.
Check out her website AmericanCongressforTruth.org for more information from someone who isn’t afraid to tell the truth about the threat from the terrorists.
TruthToBeTold on August 22, 2007 at 12:16 AM
The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson
It’s a historical novel, comes in three volumes:
Quicksilver
The Confusion
The System of the World.
Recommended.
jaime on August 22, 2007 at 12:19 AM
I think Ms. Schroeder has peeled her onion one too many times.
infidel4life on August 22, 2007 at 12:31 AM
Yes, liberals love the FEELING of “peeling the onion”, which is why they are so susceptible to conspiracy theories and lunatic ideologies. They confuse complexity with truth. Rube Goldberg devoted an entire professional life to examining the workings of such minds.
progressoverpeace on August 22, 2007 at 12:51 AM
Pat Schroeder :::spit::: I hated her even when I was a Democrat. Perhaps it had something to do with her long-term and documented loathing of the military.
baldilocks on August 22, 2007 at 12:53 AM
We’ll she sorta right, I mean, I always wait till the movie comes out.
Kini on August 22, 2007 at 1:11 AM
As far as the reading thing goes, I always take a book with me whenever I know that I may be forced to sit and wait. (I hate being bored and I especially hate the reading fare that exists in most waiting situations.)
At present, the two books that I take with me are as follows: Milton Friedman’s Free to Choose and the Great Ideas: A Syntopicon I: Angel to Love. (I’m trying to understand why the Western way of thinking is worth defending; I didn’t find out why during my years of formal schooling.)
The description of my reading habits may be anecdotal, but I don’t think that I am so different from the majority of those who subscribe to the identical or similar conservative ideology which I do.
Also, it would be nice to know the number of the sample surveyed, And, and, and…how many conservatives would actually be inclined to take an AP (Associated Press, not Allah Pundit) survey?
baldilocks on August 22, 2007 at 1:24 AM
What can we do about those cerebral hoity-toity liberals and their imagined superior intellect? We can’t bust heads like we used to. But we have our ways. One trick is to tell stories that don’t go anywhere.
Like the time I caught the ferry to Shelbyville during the war. I needed a new heel for m’shoe. So I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days.
So I tied an onion to my belt. Which was the style at the time. You couldn’t get those white ones, you could only get those big yellow ones, because of the war.
Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on ‘em. Gimme five bees for a quarter, you’d say….. where was I? Oh yeah. The important thing was that I had an onion tied to my belt, which was the style at the time. You couldn’t get white onions, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones……………………..
SilverStar830 on August 22, 2007 at 1:25 AM
Spill the wine, take that pearl.
TBinSTL on August 22, 2007 at 1:51 AM
I highly recommend for war and politics:
“Charlie Wilson’s War”(movie coming out 12/25/07)
I met Charles Fawcett, a major character, at his home in London in May
“Vulcan 607″ (great read – true story of 1982 Falklands strategic bombing mission using obsolete RAF planes)
“First In” – I spoke with the author the day after starting it – he lives here in Reno. He led the first CIA mission into Afghanistan 2 weeks after 9/11
For news junkies on illegal immigration:
http://www.outragedpatriots.com/
Enjoy!!
fred5678 on August 22, 2007 at 2:20 AM
Well when you take into consideration that all liberal books are fiction, it speaks volumes about where liberals get their ideas for policy making.
sonnyspats1 on August 22, 2007 at 2:44 AM
Because those terms make up half of the volume of the extra volumns the progs are reading.
The other half is, these days, taken up by terms such
as;Immigrationist, Islamophobe, and Climate Change Denier.
It’s the Monkey See principle in action.
soundingboard on August 22, 2007 at 2:58 AM
This poll is useless unless we know the composition of the original sample.
Were the respondents culled from lists of homeowners? Voters? Tax payers? Were the phone interviews done during business hours? Were they cell phones or home phones? What area? Is there a dominant industry in that area? What is the average education of these respondents? How were the questions phrased?
Sure, I know some erudite, literate liberals. But I know others who can’t afford to pay their own phone bill, have never voted and will never see a mortgage.
The Race Card on August 22, 2007 at 2:59 AM
Since you mention my favorite president, “The Words of Abraham Lincoln”, (published by Tess Press, Black Dog & Leventhal publishers) is GREAT. Very thorough. He was truly a great writer/orator/debator.
Ken Follett is one of my favorite contemporary, fiction writers. He writes suspense thrillers often based on historic events.
Oddly, for a conservative fellow like me, after scanning the library shelf for more (I think Follett is closing on twenty works), I found that I had read them all! (Go figure.)
So…itching to read, like absolutely NO other conservative in the world, I scanned the shelves nearby. And, in a bizarre turn of events, I’ve read everything by Frederick Forsythe (sp?), as well. (Forsythe may be closer to what you might like–sort of espionage thrillers. Very good.)
So much for polling samples, huh?
PS–Michael J Nelson has written two hilarious books: “Mind Over Matters” & “Death Rat”.
RedCrow on August 22, 2007 at 2:59 AM
Why are you folks all getting so defensive? Of course liberals read more books than conservatives. Reading is, after all, a recreational activity. Thus, those with the most time on their hands have the most leisure to read. All those 32 year old lefties with a joint in one hand lounging on the coach in their parents’ basement can get a lot of books read while we conservatives are out making a living and caring for our families.
radjah shelduck on August 22, 2007 at 5:56 AM
You see, Karl Rove leaves one week and the next week all of the liberal cockroaches come out for a meal.
saved on August 22, 2007 at 6:33 AM
I recommend “The Second World War” by Winston Churchill. Six volumes from the end of WWI up through ’45. Churchill kept every scrap of paper form that time and reconstructs his thinking and general impressions of the times through those notes and memos. A real piece of history with obvious lessons for our times.
HerrMorgenholz on August 22, 2007 at 7:43 AM
Liberals read more because they have more topics they want to bone up on.
Socialized medicine, welfare, gun control, tax hikes, etc, etc, etc. Basically cradle to grave policies and controlling every aspect of our lives.
Conservatives want low taxes and less government and leave the rest of our lives for us to run, not the government.
Less is more.
csdeven on August 22, 2007 at 8:06 AM
Y’know, I agree with that! Until I read the article at the link, I thought something was missing from the sentence, as if it should have read, “…can’t say anything in less than two paragraphs.”
BNCurtis on August 22, 2007 at 8:07 AM
If you can’t say anything in less than paragraphs, you must be pretty dumb.
Halley on August 22, 2007 at 8:11 AM
Damn, I better get some book learning. If I don’t I kuld end up stuk in Eye Rack.
So liberals read more books than conservatives. How many “Nancy Drew” books are there in the series?
BobK on August 22, 2007 at 8:14 AM
Hmmm… maybe it’s because they also like to listen to themselves talk?
BNCurtis on August 22, 2007 at 8:15 AM
A History of Warfare by John Keegan
Mark E. on August 22, 2007 at 8:15 AM
Alot of delicate egos here today.
captivated_dem on August 22, 2007 at 8:29 AM
I think the response from White House spokesman Tony Fratto is the money quote in that article:
Or, as God puts it in Proverbs 17:27-28:
kjspeedial on August 22, 2007 at 8:47 AM
Well yeah, if you count comic books.
angryoldfatman on August 22, 2007 at 8:54 AM
Anyone who cannot condense their basic idea into 3 complete sentences is probably full of crap. Yes, many issues are complex and “nuanced,” but that doesn’t mean you can’t state what your goal is, the primary means by which you plan to get there, and what factors you will have to deal with. Details are the only things that should fill any paragraphs following your basic idea.
BKennedy on August 22, 2007 at 8:58 AM
Peel the onion? Maybe that’s why Pat Schroeder cried when she dropped her ’88 presidential campaign.
Attila (Pillage Idiot) on August 22, 2007 at 9:07 AM
Gee, Pat “Tears on Command” Schroeder has a new cause.
Color me mildly annoyed.
Kowboy on August 22, 2007 at 9:08 AM
Actually, I think this is the money quote:
I’d be interested to see what the actual figure for liberals is, not libs with moderates thrown in to skew the results to the lib’s favor.
I’m also surprised that they actually used the “L-word” and not the more “nuanced” term “Progressive.”
crazy_legs on August 22, 2007 at 9:32 AM
I’ve read a ton lately: Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Infidel, Mark Steyn’s America Alone, and David Horowitz’s Unholy Alliance. If you like military items, I have a ton of recommendations…or if you like English History, anything by Allison Weir. Very methodical researcher, and quite an easy read.
For fiction, I recommend: Sharon Kay Penman’s The Sunne in Splendour and the Fire & Ice series by George R.R. Martin.
Her claims that Liberals are more well-read than Conservatives is a gross generalization that is just as offensive as remarking on racial groups, in my opinion. Because it’s too general to be accurate, and is intended to sting.
So you’ll pardon me, as an English Lit. major (English Renaissance focus) with Russian & History minors and an MBA, if I do take offense to her remark. She’s allowed to make it, but I think we’re allowed to refute it. I think my educational background, as well as the books I’ve read, are all I need to produce to rest my case.
Miss_Anthrope on August 22, 2007 at 9:33 AM
Anything by Jeff Shaara. I loved the Civil War trilogy he wrote with his Dad. Dad Michael wrote “The Killer Angels” the book that the Gettysburg movie was based on, son Jeffery wrote “Gods and Generals,” and “The Last Full Measure.” Jeff’s Revolutionary War series is excellent, too. The first book is more political thriller than combat, but the second is all about the war.
crazy_legs on August 22, 2007 at 9:35 AM
Well, Pat…offending potential customers ain’t the way to increase sales. Just a hint for ya.
Miss_Anthrope on August 22, 2007 at 9:36 AM
So, I guess we can assume, the “onions” she talks about “peeling” are the little ones that come in her Gibsons.
franksalterego on August 22, 2007 at 9:40 AM
crazy_legs on August 22, 2007 at 9:35 AM
Good choices! I also love Stars in Their Courses by Shelby Foote and anything by James I. Robertson, Jr. He focuses on the Army of Northern Virginia, especially the Stonewall Brigade. He’s the Director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies at VA Tech. (Can you tell I spent 4 years reading just about the Civil War???)
I thoroughly enjoyed Robertson’s biography of Stonewall, Standing Like a Stone Wall: The Life of General Thomas J. Jackson. When my family went to the Battle of Sharpsburg/Antietam, his depiction of the battle was so vivid we could recount all major military movements throughout the day. Very moving.
Miss_Anthrope on August 22, 2007 at 9:49 AM
Miss_Anthrope on August 22, 2007 at 9:33 AM
Point taken. I, personally, am way past, needing to prove myself to anyone. Knowledge is one thing; the wisdom to apply it is another. The efficacy of your actions will, ultimately rest your case.
captivated_dem on August 22, 2007 at 9:57 AM
Another thing conspicously abscent in this “poll” is what kind of books are being read. High-brow intellectual stuff, or the latest Danielle Steele?
crazy_legs on August 22, 2007 at 9:58 AM
Well, I suppose anything written by a liberal is a book if it can’t be written in less than paragraphs :-)
BKennedy on August 22, 2007 at 10:00 AM
Thanks, and I hope you knew my comment wasn’t directed at you personally. I gathered you did, but covering my bases just in case.
Miss_Anthrope on August 22, 2007 at 10:03 AM
Miss_Anthrope on August 22, 2007 at 10:03 AM
Wasn’t defending the article; just the recognition of posters being overly sensitive to the results of a poll. People often times lash out, if their veracity is questioned. If they harbor doubts of their own, which we all do, then, to me, it becomes apparent they are trying to convince themselves as much as others.
captivated_dem on August 22, 2007 at 10:18 AM
Yeah, I know…I was just making sure because my “offense” at Pat could’ve sounded displaced. We’re good, yeah?
Miss_Anthrope on August 22, 2007 at 10:25 AM
Miss_Anthrope on August 22, 2007 at 10:25 AM
No prob.
captivated_dem on August 22, 2007 at 10:30 AM
Ah, I see Grandpa Simpson has joined us.
infidel4life on August 22, 2007 at 10:39 AM
Forgive the shameless plug….
http://www.curtyengst.com
CurtZHP on August 22, 2007 at 11:04 AM
In Colorado, we’re still embarrassed by her rhetoric.
And she is NOT a Coloradoan.
shooter on August 22, 2007 at 11:09 AM
Exactly. That reminds me of the ancient test for sound philosophy, which is stating its fundamental tenets while standing on one foot.
We could avoid liberals by looking out for the limp.
angryoldfatman on August 22, 2007 at 11:23 AM
thanks for all the book recommendations everyone, I’m good for a year.
shooter on August 22, 2007 at 11:32 AM
excellent, shooter! if you have any recommendations, i’d love to hear them…sounds like we read similar stuff. i’m always up to read something good.
Miss_Anthrope on August 22, 2007 at 1:40 PM
The only onion Ms. Pat Schroeder peeled back is the one in her martini, because that is the level of a liberals attention span.
He claim, liberals read more books than conservatives, gives raise to two questions?
1. Do they consider Cliff Notes equal an entire book?
2. Are they claiming book smarts trump street smarts? If so their book smarts will not protect them when walking the mean streets of the society they are trying to create.
MSGTAS on August 23, 2007 at 9:34 AM