By Michael J. Smith on Tuesday April 19, 2011 10:42 PM
I had intended to give up writing about Melissa Huffle-Puffle for Lent, but if the woman is going to send me email...!
Dear Nation Reader,Oh the pathos of poor old Dad scribbling in the margins of The Nation! I have a horrible feeling this same melancholy scene must unfold daily here on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, within a bagel-toss of my window. "Nice one, Katha!"... "What about the Tadjiks?!?!" ... "Classism!"I will never forget the day Katrina vanden Heuvel called to ask me if I would be willing to write a column for The Nation. I was already a regular blogger on TheNation.com and had published several pieces in the print magazine, but for a progressive political nerd like me, being asked to write a column was equivalent to being drafted by the NBA....
My father is a longtime subscriber to The Nation and I often saw it folded back on his desk, or dog-eared and scribbled in by his bedside.
Comments (9)
Anyone still denouncing "Red China"—not to mention "traitors"—deserves a subscription renewal (ok, she said "Communist China").
Posted by sk | April 20, 2011 2:30 AM
Posted on April 20, 2011 02:30
When I see Melissa on the telly, I experience flashbacks to cringe-inducing conversations with various cops walking the PC Police beat ("appropriate language," "let's call it sex-role socialization," "racism [sigh, reaching for patience but revealing its opposite] is different from prejudice, you see, because a racist....").
I get the distinct feeling of being condescended to, and end up feeling like an old bigot drinking a Schlitz in the rec room.
Posted by chomskyzinn | April 20, 2011 10:30 AM
Posted on April 20, 2011 10:30
MHLP-pa scribblings in the Nation: if true, which I highly doubt, what a loser.
Of course, this alleged scribbling, which my father never did, nor would I ever announce that pathetic "fact" to the world, could be the kind of paternal selflessness that sent the young driven MHLP into merit-class please-the-authorities tenured professorship at Ralph Nader beloved alma mater kind of daughterly behavior. As absurd as it seems, it could have just the spark to launch a thousand imbecilities.
Posted by mjosef | April 20, 2011 6:29 PM
Posted on April 20, 2011 18:29
Jeezus H. Bicycle-Riding CHRIST, Melissa, that last bit damn' near busted my Smarmometer™. She sure is licking old Katrina VdH all to pieces, isn't she? Now I know how a stack of pancakes feels when they pour on the Mrs. Butterworth's. Eeeeewwwww.
I had the occasion to catch an interview with Melissa Harris-Lacewell-Perry-F'tang-F'tang-Olé-Biscuit-Barrel on TV once recently -- on MSNBC, I think it was -- and I was amazed at just how goddamn' bland she was. Her commentary had all the edge of an old Starland Vocal Band record; it was like the crust on Wonder Bread.
Posted by Mike Flugennock | April 21, 2011 12:09 AM
Posted on April 21, 2011 00:09
Melissa is running out of steam as a SMBIVA hot button. Was a time she would have drawn 100+ comments. Need for Smith to threaten the government again and get that site traffic back up.
Posted by Boink | April 21, 2011 9:14 AM
Posted on April 21, 2011 09:14
Mr Flugennock, will you please illustrate that marvelous image of MHLPFFOBB slurping the Lady-Kat-as-Mrs. Butterworth-bottle? Dem sum serious lulz, comrade.
Posted by RedPhillip | April 21, 2011 10:23 AM
Posted on April 21, 2011 10:23
Boink, she's just too bland. The most impassioned thing one could say about her is that she's maddeningly bland.
Posted by chomskyzinn | April 21, 2011 12:12 PM
Posted on April 21, 2011 12:12
RedPhillip sez on 04.21.11 at 10:23:
Mr Flugennock, will you please illustrate that marvelous image of MHLPFFOBB slurping the Lady-Kat-as-Mrs. Butterworth-bottle? Dem sum serious lulz, comrade.
Oh, how I'd love to... only problem is that Ms. Harris-Lacewell-Perry and Ms. Van den Heuvel aren't recognizeable public figures, so that gag would be lost on most folks. Lots of Establishment Liberal/Pwog types would probably know them from their writing, but they aren't instantly recognizeable to millions of people -- like, say, Barack Obama, or John Boehner, or Donald Trump, or Donald Trump's Comb-Over.
Jeez, but that was some blather from Melissa, huh? Christ, it sounds like she's thirteen years old or something, and with a really bad "girl crush".
Posted by Mike Flugennock | April 21, 2011 7:48 PM
Posted on April 21, 2011 19:48
Ms. Harris-Lacewell-Perry and Ms. Van den Heuvel aren't recognizeable public figures, so that gag would be lost on most folks. Lots of Establishment Liberal/Pwog types would probably know them from their writing
I don't really think even that's true, Fluggie, which makes their built-in surrender even more tragic/stupid.
Posted by Michael Dawson | April 22, 2011 3:13 AM
Posted on April 22, 2011 03:13