Is it me, or does our President look kind of like Sad Alfred E. Newman? That's not a good look.Some time ago, I promised a series featuring examples of excellent writing. I highlighted Gen. Douglas MacArthur's sympathy telegram to Mrs. Kennedy upon her husband's assassination. Then didn't publish anything else.
Most days I read just legal briefs and pleadings, which generally don't display much creative or poetic writing. Actually, for the most part, lawyers write with an appallingly bad style. At one end of the scale of writing quality, we have Shakespeare (and Hunter S. Thompson). At the other end, frantically searching through a thesaurus to figure out a different word to use instead of saying "good" for the fifth time in a sentence, would be the average lawyer. "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? First, like the summer, you're hot. Second..." See, it kind of goes nowhere fast.
Most political writing is near the lawyer end of the scale. Political writing is generally hackneyed, sophomoric, and cliche-driven. But this year's election season just produced a real gem, which I reproduce below (copyright laws be damned).
Courtesy of the Pajamas Media blog (via the Wall Street Journal e-mail bulletin), this missive occurs in an October 20th post predicting that the Republicans would roll at election time. Certainly not a bold prediction, but the post essentially makes the case that the Republicans, for all their warts and flaws, would win because they suck less than the Democrats. Let's get to the payoff point:
So the Democrats sucked. But not just plain old, usual politician sucked, but epic levels of suck where it’s hard to find an analogue in human history that conveys the same level of suckitude. It was sheer incompetence plus arrogance — and those things do not complement each other well. We’re talking sucking that distorts time and space like a black hole.
It’s Godzilla-smashing-through-a-city level of suck — but a really patronizing Godzilla who says you’re just too stupid and hateful to see all the buildings he’s saved or created as he smashes everything apart. Or, to use Obama’s favorite analogy, you have a car stuck in ditch, so you call the mechanic, but the only tool he brings with him is a sledgehammer. And then he smashes your car to pieces and charges you $100,000 for his service. Finally, he calls you racist for complaining. Obama and the Democrats have been so awful, it’s hard for the human brain to even comprehend.
Yowsah! That's just creamy goodness. Everyone take note. You know, I knew Godzilla was mean enough to knock over buildings, but I certainly was not aware he could be so patronizing while doing so. Its one thing to be mean, but quite another to be insufferable at the same time. Later, the author compared the Republicans to a dog barking, while the Democrats are like a "zombie apocolypse." Both suck, of course, only one is a whole lot worse.
Leave aside the political point made here. That's just really outstanding writing. You may go another five years before you read a better phrase than "a really patronizing Godzilla."
OK, straighten up and fly right readers. Hopefully soon, we'll conclude the travel posts with my report on Charleston, SC.
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