The Slate Irrelevantism Of The Day; Update: The Slate style guide
posted at 9:25 am on March 21, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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I guess I would have caught this before Mark Steyn if I paid more attention to Slate. Jacob Weisberg bravely spoke Truth to Power for the last eight years by writing his Bushism Of The Day column, in which he would catch our president torturing syntax and waterboarding vocabulary. Now that power has passed to the Democrats and Barack Obama lives in the White House, where has Weisberg decided to focus his Truth to Power efforts?
Why, on George W. Bush, of course:
“This is my maiden voyage. My first speech since I was the president of the United States and I couldn’t think of a better place to give it than Calgary, Canada.”—As reported by the Associated Press, Calgary, Canada, March 17, 2009
In the first place, I’m not really sure what’s wrong with that sentence. I might have said “Calgary, Alberta,” as I would not say “Minneapolis, America”, but that’s hardly an egregious error, either. If that’s really the level to which Weisberg has to stoop to exercise his particular strain of Bush Derangement Syndrome, he needs to find a hobby, preferably one with soft implements and rounded edges.
Besides, no one at Slate seems to have informed Weisberg that Bush stopped being President two months ago. It was in all the newspapers; maybe Weisberg was too busy scraping the bottom of the barrel for Bush quotes he could scorn to notice. Bush isn’t the story any more, which we all saw this week when President Barack Obama compared AIG to a terrorist suicide bomber and made a tasteless comment about the Special Olympics.
So when will we see the Obama-ism of the Day at Slate? Or does Slate want to proudly announce its irrelevancy on a daily basis by indulging its primary BDS sufferer indefinitely?
Update: After thinking about it for a while, I decided to check Slate’s own style guide by doing a search for references to the city of Sydney in Australia. It’s the capital of New South Wales, and so should be referenced as Syndey, NSW … at least according to Weisberg’s criticism here, right? Well, judge for yourself:
- Joel Achenbach, June 2008: Sydney, Australia.
- Travelbox, April 2007: Sydney, Australia
- Jack Shafer, March 2009: Sydney, Australia
- David Plotz, August 2000: Sydney, Australia
And the piece de resistance:
- Jacob Weisberg, Bushisms, March 2009: Sydney, Australia.
Slate articles with “Sydney, NSW”: 0. Slate articles with “Sydney, New South Wales”: 0.
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I’d take the tortured syntax of our former President over the incompetent classless “elegance” of our current President anyday.
CarolynM on March 21, 2009 at 9:29 AM
Jacob Weisberg is a douchebag.
A Balrog of Morgoth on March 21, 2009 at 9:30 AM
Anything to distract attention from that abject failure currently occupying the White House.
rplat on March 21, 2009 at 9:30 AM
Meanwhile the Royal Canadian Mounted Police refuses to bring charges against Bush for warcrimes
If the canadians lack the will just imagine the democrats in this country.
William Amos on March 21, 2009 at 9:31 AM
this reminds me of that ben stiller sketch about yakov smirnov dying on stage as he tries to reconcile his act with the fall of the berlin wall.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1_-TlqdIvM
eh on March 21, 2009 at 9:31 AM
gutter ball.
Mord on March 21, 2009 at 9:32 AM
Maybe some of them actually think Bush is still president…
O_0
blatantblue on March 21, 2009 at 9:34 AM
Racist!!!!!
I’m first to say it.
ladyingray on March 21, 2009 at 9:34 AM
How much you wanna bet Weisberg is a member of JournoList?
BigD on March 21, 2009 at 9:34 AM
Oh yeah! Obummer is such a great speaker without the use of the teleprompter. uh…ummmm…..derrrrr…uhhhhh….
Color me impressed!
conservnut on March 21, 2009 at 9:34 AM
Libs don’t criticize other Libs, you know that. I think Hot Air should start an Obama’s Hosannas, Malabarackisms, or Chauncey’s Garden. Whatever. A feature that focuses on the current administrations ministrations with language.
EMD on March 21, 2009 at 9:34 AM
They love Bush hatred, it defined them and they can’t give it up. What do you think the Will Ferrel show is about?
rob verdi on March 21, 2009 at 9:36 AM
Look Paris Hilton isn’t wearing any panties!
artist on March 21, 2009 at 9:37 AM
Personally, I think Ferrell does a pretty poor Bush impersonation.
That other guy Frank Caliendo does a good one
blatantblue on March 21, 2009 at 9:38 AM
A window into the elitist left… you can be an incompetent boob bankrupting the country, theatening private industry, dispatiching with campaign promise after campaign promise… so you long as you do it aticulately and in some “academic” way… damned if it’s work or not.
My dad used to say that he wished he spoke German… he could never understand how Hitler could keep an entire nation in a trance with only speeches… well, we may be seeing the English version in 2009.
mankai on March 21, 2009 at 9:39 AM
“articulately”
I guess I’ll never get any respect at Slate now.
mankai on March 21, 2009 at 9:40 AM
One day , Bush hate is all what’s left. A bit like the Nazis and the Jews.
the_nile on March 21, 2009 at 9:46 AM
Good grief…they need to let it go!
becki51758 on March 21, 2009 at 9:47 AM
The Obamism of the day will take a different form. Given that the B.O.D. was focused on malapropisms such as “strategery”. Think of a daily “What if Dubya said it?”
Kid from Brooklyn on March 21, 2009 at 9:48 AM
look, the very second our country can rid itself of bambi hussein, i will be tickled to stop bashing the current TOTUS. i will pretend that bambi & the First Clydesdale were all a horrible dream created by trying to quit smoking.
these Bush bashers don’t have anything else to do. obviously, they didn’t lose everything they had in the stock market over the past 3 mos.
kelley in virginia on March 21, 2009 at 9:48 AM
57 states.
BTW, sethstorm. This is why Conservatives are jumping on every damn word that comes out of obamas mouth.
hawkdriver on March 21, 2009 at 9:50 AM
Still can’t find anything substantive wrong with President Bush. This type of story tells more about the journalists than the President.
Tommy_G on March 21, 2009 at 9:50 AM
He sure isnt getting many kind comments. haha
becki51758 on March 21, 2009 at 9:52 AM
I noticed Dave Letterman isn’t doing Great Moments in Presidential Speeches, either. Now we have a black prez so that would be too politically incorrect or racist if parody would be attempted. As for this Jacob guy, never heard of him until today…sounds like a genuine butt boy drone…so I’ll pretend I never read this post.
RepubChica on March 21, 2009 at 9:53 AM
If Obama says it, it must be okay.
If Obama says it, it must be okay.
If Obama says it, it must be okay.
Droned by the Zombie Media, over and over, in a soporific monotone
profitsbeard on March 21, 2009 at 9:53 AM
Let’s be careful what we say here, people. TOTUS has many many electronic friends.
Patrick S on March 21, 2009 at 9:53 AM
In the first place, I’m not really sure what’s wrong with that sentence.
What’s wrong with the sentence is “since i was president.” First off, it’s just poor grammar. Second, taken at face value, it seems to mean that it’s the first speech he has given since becoming president of the US. He meant to say “since I left the office of the presidency” or something along those lines.
I agree that it’s kinda stupid to keep nit-picking on “Bushism” now that he’s gone. We all know he’s not the most articulate. Probably should just let it go at this point.
Tom_Shipley on March 21, 2009 at 9:54 AM
My aunt, a very educated lady, thinks Bush is a dolt. and she was horrified that someone so “uneducated” as Palin could even be nominated for nat’l office.
but alot of our enlisted soldiers have high school education only & they belong at the top of my list! she doesn’t have her priorities straight.
kelley in virginia on March 21, 2009 at 9:54 AM
Is it because his first speech as a citizen after being president was in Canada or something?
amkun on March 21, 2009 at 9:55 AM
Well, according to Slate, its “primary BDS suffer” is “chairman and editor-in-chief of the Slate Group…”, so I guess he’ll do whatever the hell he wants.
flipflop on March 21, 2009 at 9:55 AM
Pathetic Lefty loser clinging to a dead bit.
marklmail on March 21, 2009 at 9:55 AM
I know people just like that too, i.e. all of my professors.
I don’t understand — well, I do.
They are very smart when it comes to their fields of study, but they are absolute idiots when it comes to policy, politics, etc.
blatantblue on March 21, 2009 at 9:57 AM
Well point out to auntie that the most educated people in the world are responsible for this mess we’re in now.
Patrick S on March 21, 2009 at 9:58 AM
They can’t let it go because it is all they have. The curtain has been pulled back and the light is on their cipher and they don’t really like what they are beginning to see. They’re definitly not pleased but damned if they are going to admit it out loud.
thomasaur on March 21, 2009 at 9:58 AM
There is nothing wrong with saying Calgary, Canada.
If you through old video for the Calgary Olympics I’m sure you will find plenty of reporters referring to it in the same manner. People routinely drop the county, state, province designation when speaking of a country not their own.
If it had been Palermo instead and he said “Palermo, Italy” instead of Sicily would there be anything wrong with that?
No. Weisberg is a dolt.
Rocks on March 21, 2009 at 9:59 AM
He’ll have his own reality show on as a Summer replacement for Dancing With the Stars, and his first guests are slated to be a psychic microwave and a laptop that vibrates whenever porn sites are accessed.
He reads all gmail now~ and soon will have access to the rest.
Hail, TOTUS, our new lexan overlord!
profitsbeard on March 21, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Such nit picking. Meanwhile, our once great country is sliding into oblivion.
BetseyRoss on March 21, 2009 at 10:00 AM
OMG, you are kidding right?
Has there ever been a man who had better intentions and been treated more unfairly?
Let me just say when obama “articulates” his position on International Criminal Courts and the US Military, you’ll find a whole lot more people in my ranks uncomfortable with the way he speaks, and the things he says than they were with President Bush.
hawkdriver on March 21, 2009 at 10:01 AM
Slate still does a lot of traffic because it’s an echo chamber with The Fray as an established pissing ground. But it’s video-cousin, SlateV, doesn’t do shit compared to HA. So as long as they remain a source of re-affirmation, they’ll have an audience.
budfox on March 21, 2009 at 10:02 AM
My microwave knew you were going to say that.
Patrick S on March 21, 2009 at 10:02 AM
It would seem that if there is something wrong with saying “Calgary, Canada” then the AP itself was also guilty since that was how they described the location also.
I suspect the author was making a subtle dig at the best place for Bush to talk being Canada.
OBQuiet on March 21, 2009 at 10:07 AM
The psychology of the totalitarion is ominous.
When the Nazi party won a decisive political victory in Germany, Hitler took the microphone to answer questions from the assembly.
What are you for? was the question.
Hitler snapped back. We are for nothing. We are against them (gegen Ihnen).
Think good and hard about this: our government is outraged at us, at individual citizens.
Not a good omen.
jeff_from_mpls on March 21, 2009 at 10:09 AM
I guess this moron does not know that how Bush Jr said it is the norm? Does anyone say “Caen, Normandy”? No, they say “Caen, France”. People say New York, New York because that is the correct syntax since New York the state IS a state.
Jim708 on March 21, 2009 at 10:12 AM
Poor Weisberg. He is desperately clinging to his old routine when it’s become clear to everyone else outside his cult that Obamisms are far more hilarious that Bushisms. Even Obama people know this. Ergo, the addiction to TOTUS!
pearson on March 21, 2009 at 10:13 AM
Ummmm…didn’t you hear you were supposed to “lay off” the Messiah on that?
It's Vintage, Duh on March 21, 2009 at 10:17 AM
Obama: Gutter Presidency
faraway on March 21, 2009 at 10:18 AM
Not at Slate; here:
http://obamasgaffes.blogspot.com/
jgapinoy on March 21, 2009 at 10:18 AM
I’ll blow the whistle on this one.
Where’s the faulty grammar? Keep in mind, AP punctuated Bush’s oral remarks, so any fault you find may lie there.
Second, your suggestions for fleshing out his shorthand seem misplaced. Maybe you could apply your superior copy editing skills to helping your boy with his off-script oral remarks.
BuckeyeSam on March 21, 2009 at 10:18 AM
Sounds to me like the liberal propaganda media did their job exceptionally well…don’t feel too bad…my mom, God Bless her heart is the same way, but she’s not “educated” in any real world way (Enquirer/Star mag reader)…it’s not just smart people is my point–it’s very dumb ones, too. It’s the media, *stupid*. (*not referring to poster as stupid, just the phrase of the day).
RepubChica on March 21, 2009 at 10:23 AM
This idiot evidently uses Troll Rule #1 as his complete writing style.
Troll Rule #1 – Always Blame Booooosh!
kingsjester on March 21, 2009 at 10:27 AM
Did Obama already give back the Presidency to W because it was too hard? Heck, I figured he’d last at least until April.
Sergeant Tim on March 21, 2009 at 10:27 AM
That’s true, but still a massive understatement
thebrokenrattle on March 21, 2009 at 10:32 AM
Of course this is just a reminder of the “objective media” and their blatant double standards.
Bush pronounces the word “nuclear” exactly the same way as “Nobel Peace Prize” winner Jimmy Carter, who actually had training in nuclear propulsion in the Navy. Carter gets a pass for how he says it, Bush doesn’t.
And in 2004, the Democrats nominated as their “Presidential candidate” an empty suit from Massachusetts who had lower SAT scores than Bush did. This silly man based his entire “candidacy” on his “military record” in a war his Party had hated for decades.
When this candidate refused to release all of his military records to the public, his adoring media fans gave him a swooning pass on it, and happily voted for him anyway. But al-Associated Press sued the evil Bush to force him to release all of his military records to the public.
Bizarro world, indeed.
Del Dolemonte on March 21, 2009 at 10:38 AM
Hey,it feels like Obama has been in office for over a year now! Does anyone else have that feeling?He has done so much damage to our country in so little time!!
beachkatie on March 21, 2009 at 10:39 AM
Weisberg enjoys living in the past. Doesn’t have to confront today’s reality, nor the shortcomings of The Obamassiah.
GarandFan on March 21, 2009 at 10:40 AM
Slate? No wonder you missed it Ed. I didn’t know they were still in business.
el rey on March 21, 2009 at 10:44 AM
First rule of lib media is you don’t talk about lib media.
RobCon on March 21, 2009 at 10:44 AM
I think they have turned off the tips email – because I tried to email a tip – here is what came back:
This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.
Delivery to the following recipients failed.
bushisms@slate.com
Final-Recipient: rfc822;bushisms@slate.com
Action: failed
Status: 5.1.1
From:
Date: March 21, 2009 10:40:16 AM EDT
To: bushisms@slate.com
Subject: Think you ought to know
Bush left office on January 20th of this year. I was not sure if you aware of this. We have a new President who also has humorous rhetorical lapses… There is a funny story about him comparing his bowling skills to mentally challenged children. You might want to investigate and use for a new column.
All the best -
djl130 on March 21, 2009 at 10:46 AM
Weisberg=Special Olympics caliber writer
redrock on March 21, 2009 at 10:49 AM
hey, I agree with beachkatie that it seems bambi has been in office forever. We cannot let him & his minions or his controllers wear us down. take a deep breath & re-focus on the task at hand.
kelley in virginia on March 21, 2009 at 10:50 AM
Jacob Weisberg. Just the name tells me he is probably a Hamas supporter, and a Bush hater, among other ironies.
keep the change on March 21, 2009 at 10:53 AM
We already are blessed with such a site which is to which I have been tuned in to for at least nine months now.
larvcom on March 21, 2009 at 10:54 AM
I see this as a trend- I’ve read it several times lately. “This is all Bush’s fault, Obama’s just trying to clean up his mess” Such a classic sign of a loser to blame somebody, anybody else. Truth is, Barry and his inept henchmen OWN this mess. I shudder to think what will happen when we add international disasters to the domestic crisis. Barry is not, and never was, qualified to be the POTUS.
anniekc on March 21, 2009 at 10:55 AM
To the Left, GWB is Emmanuel Goldstein and he will be a constant video figure even once the actual man is no longer making appearances anywhere. You do have to have someone as the object of the Two Minutes Hate, and this is who the Left has settled on.
And we have always been at war with EastAsia, too…
Haven’t we?
ajacksonian on March 21, 2009 at 10:57 AM
Funny, but you’re going to get in trouble for it.
anniekc on March 21, 2009 at 10:57 AM
If I had to guess, I’d say Jacob Weisberg is mentally ill.
Zorro on March 21, 2009 at 10:57 AM
Whoever reads that column and doesn’t shake his head is either an Obamabot or in need of serious psychological therapy.
It’s pretty pathetic that low lives in the media can’t leave this good man alone.
Richard Romano on March 21, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Slate voted 90% for Kerry so what do you think?
Speedwagon82 on March 21, 2009 at 11:01 AM
I am Canadian here. Lots of people do that. Not just Americans. They say Toronto, Canada; Regina, Canada; and Calgary, Canada. So Bush didn’t say the province. Lots of people don’t even know that Canada has provinces.
P.S. Does the Einstein who wrote this realize that Canada now has three territories instead of two? I doubt he cares.
mjk on March 21, 2009 at 11:01 AM
President TelePrompter really, really thinks a lot of himself.
TOTUS: “I like me. I really, REALLY, like me”
TN Mom on March 21, 2009 at 11:02 AM
I’m expecting a prominent medical journal to come out with an article proclaiming that Bush Derangement Syndrome is a serious mental disease. Obama will add billions to his nationalized health care debacle to combat it, and the first official clinic will be called THE JACOB WEISBERG SANATORIUM FOR INCURABLE DISEASES.
Rovin on March 21, 2009 at 11:06 AM
It’s like Slate’s Jacob Weisberg missing deadline and blaming it on his assistant, who quit TWO months ago.
Idiot. Personified.
TN Mom on March 21, 2009 at 11:10 AM
The funny thing is, if obama does not get reelected in 2012, the left will say it was because America was racist. That narrative will never die. Watch out for riots.
keep the change on March 21, 2009 at 11:12 AM
In the back-and-forth arguments whether ebrawer’s TOTUS wiki entry should be deleted, someone brought up the fact that “Bushisms” remains. Barry’s enforcers there arguing for deletion essentially said “But Bush was and idiot, so what?”
Christien on March 21, 2009 at 11:15 AM
They still have one decent writer, namely Mickey Kaus.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/kausfiles/
Del Dolemonte on March 21, 2009 at 11:23 AM
As we’ve recently learned, the perception that a politician speaks well is often not really even accurate and a supposedly smooth talker is sometimes the dumbest man in the room. People have made fun of President Bush for awhile now but I think we all know who’s having the last laugh now…but for the fact that he has too much character and decency to enjoy the bumbling mess Obama is making for the rest of us.
Bennett on March 21, 2009 at 11:26 AM
This brings up something I’ve noticed quite a bit in SNL as of late:
Republicans in power —-> make fun of Republicans.
Democrats in power —-> make fun of (yup,) Republicans.
kurtzz3 on March 21, 2009 at 12:12 PM
Calgary, Canada is just fine. As is Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Sidney, Australia ring a bell? It’s actually Sidney, New South Wales, Australia.
Krydor on March 21, 2009 at 12:30 PM
At long last the libs have replaced Nixon as the butt of their stale jokes. Weren’t we all getting tired of those Nixon jokes after 30 years?
rockhead on March 21, 2009 at 12:31 PM
What’s wrong with the sentence is “since i was president.” First off, it’s just poor grammar. Second, taken at face value, it seems to mean that it’s the first speech he has given since becoming president of the US. He meant to say “since I left the office of the presidency” or something along those lines.
It may not be the most elegant way to phrase it, but “since I was president” is absolutely good grammar. It’s no different than saying “since I was living in New York”, and in no way implies a description of a current state.
I agree that it’s kinda stupid to keep nit-picking on “Bushism” now that he’s gone.
Frankly, it was kinda stupid to keep nit-picking on his manner of speech while he was president.
All of us make inarticulate remarks but we’re not on mic or camera almost 100% of the time. I write professionally and I’ve done a bit of public speaking and it’s almost impossible, particularly when speaking off the cuff, to avoid occasional awkward speech or imprecision.
It’s interesting that all those comedians like Stewart and Colbert who act as though they are brave when they take no risk speaking “truth to power” when mocking conservatives or Republicans now obsequiously support President Obama.
Even more interesting is that the supposed patron saint of irreverent comedians, Lenny Bruce, often skewered the sacred cows of the left as well as the right. Bruce was arrested by Democratic pols in Chicago because he angered them with a routine that mocked JFK’s widow. He did a routine called “The Movement” that poked fun at liberals whites in the civil rights movement. One of his most trenchant routines starts out, “Are there any niggers here tonight?”.
There are few orthodoxies that are as intolerant of perceived heresies as the left.
rokemronnie on March 21, 2009 at 12:38 PM
addendum:
Lenny Bruce also did a routine called “Love me, I’m a liberal”.
rokemronnie on March 21, 2009 at 12:38 PM
Everybody knows Slate is a bunch of douchebags.
The Wall on March 21, 2009 at 12:47 PM
The present resident of the White House is already making me long for the days when the worst thing coming from the White House was the occasional mangled word.
philwynk on March 21, 2009 at 1:05 PM
Oh that’s rich. Kudos to Mr Morrisey.
Woody on March 21, 2009 at 1:39 PM
I’m enjoying the double-irony of “irrelevantism” being decried by a blob with a dozen posts about a single joke — by the very people who whine about the perils of “political correctness” at every opportunity.
benny shakar on March 21, 2009 at 1:43 PM
They can’t help themselves, the libs where I work are still bi***ing about Bush, how terrible he was, how all our problems today are because of him. If Obama is their savior, I guess they still need a Devil, too.
Socratease on March 21, 2009 at 1:49 PM
By the way, I’ve noticed the term “misremembered” seeping into everyday conversations. Who knew Bush was a grammatical trend-setter?
Socratease on March 21, 2009 at 1:50 PM
Who knew a guy like GWB could evoke such strong emotion after-the-fact without mass murdering an entire race of people? It’s quite a feat indeed.
tmq on March 21, 2009 at 2:12 PM
Totus, btw, is Latin for “totally.”
Barry probly, like, rilly likes it.
warbaby on March 21, 2009 at 2:16 PM
Excuse me, Slate Mag, but exactly WTF is the supposed gaffe here by Bush?
Mike D. on March 21, 2009 at 2:45 PM
HA!
Buy Danish on March 21, 2009 at 2:56 PM
So then. How does that shoe on the other foot feel?
hawkdriver on March 21, 2009 at 3:28 PM
So Sate is so irrelevant that Ed has written a post about it? :)
radiofreevillage on March 21, 2009 at 4:13 PM
Good question. I don’t think it’s the “Canada” part. I think it’s that Slate missed the irony of the statement, thinking it unintentional. “Of course Bush would think Canada is the best place to give his first speech.” Or maybe they found the irony weak. Or maybe Bush saying something amusing is a Bushism, whether or not it’s wrong. Or maybe they think that it looks bad upon the page, being spoken rather than written.
We may never know.
calbear on March 21, 2009 at 4:59 PM
Too funny! Thanks, Ed.
Christian Conservative on March 21, 2009 at 5:10 PM
Slate continues to misunderestimate the rich vein of humor in the comedy stylings of Obama & Biden. Those two seem to alternate days in which they utter jaw-dropping stupidities.
cruadin on March 21, 2009 at 5:23 PM
Sorry Ed,
I don’t think Weisberg was nit picking Calgary, “Canada” or Bush grammar. He was playing up the fact that after being Prez of these United States. Bush couldn’t come up with anyplace but Calagary ~ in another country ~ to speak. I thought it was pretty funny, myself, in that old endearing GWB way. I really miss that guy!
You’ll find Weisberg doing Obama in The Big Idea
Socratease:
“I’ve noticed the term “misremembered” seeping into everyday conversations.”
Ditto for Rumsfeld’s oh-so-shocking Old Europe/New Europe ~ which has become a positive staple of foreign policy discussions.
JM Hanes on March 21, 2009 at 6:00 PM
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