Althouse: You think the new issue of Rolling Stone is tough on General McChrystal, but how do you think Lady Gaga feels?

June 22, 2010

You think the new issue of Rolling Stone is tough on General McChrystal, but how do you think Lady Gaga feels?

She posed for the cover in a big machine-gun bra and a nearly naked ass and purports to "tell all," yet everyone's talking about McChrystal, whose name isn't even on the cover! Life is so unfair to Lady Gaga!

ADDED: That gun bra made me think of this crotch-gun in "From Dusk 'Til Dawn":

60 comments:

Rialby said...: I didn't realize anyone even read Rolling Stone anymore. I was offered a subscription for $1 the other day and turned it down.; 6/22/10, 12:34 PM
Opus One Media said...: GAGA Agog over Hamptons.

Hide the children. Bury the silver.; 6/22/10, 12:37 PM
shirley elizabeth said...: Um, from the waist down the picture looks like a badly drawn nude cartoon. Actually that is probably an accurate description of the entire picture.; 6/22/10, 12:42 PM
NotClauswitz said...: Half the receiver's missing and there's no trigger - it's all barrel and magazine... That's no gun at all.; 6/22/10, 12:46 PM
Anonymous said...: Celebrity has become so vapid.

The fag and fag hag vision of sex organs as anything but organs of reproduction is completely played out.

Is there anything interesting about this fag hag, other than that she makes money?

Boring.; 6/22/10, 12:47 PM
ricpic said...: The woman is awesome. She spreads for the Yankees. The whole team!; 6/22/10, 12:47 PM
XWL said...: I for one can't wait for Stars and Stripes in depth expose about Lady Gaga's touring manager...; 6/22/10, 12:51 PM
tim maguire said...: Is Lady Gaga's butt a cartoon in real life or just in Rolling Stone? This is one for photoshopdisasters; 6/22/10, 12:51 PM
Anonymous said...: What happens when a rich, spoiled society can't even get it up over the latest boring fag/fag hag non-outrage?

We'll eventually descend into all out war as the only cure for our boredom and nihilism.; 6/22/10, 12:54 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/22/10, 12:55 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: everyone's talking about McChrystal

Maybe in your rarified circles. But I'm sure that among the hoi polloi LG's name recognition is much higher than McChrystal's; 6/22/10, 1:03 PM
Chef Mojo said...: Summer Double Issue

Heh.; 6/22/10, 1:06 PM
Unknown said...: With each passing day, I grow more and more confident that my decision to opt out of popular culture after 1965 was correct.

PS The new pic is very nice.

WV "inect" little bug like moquito and wap.; 6/22/10, 1:09 PM
The Moderator said...: Maybe Lady Gaga can win the war.; 6/22/10, 1:14 PM
Mitch H. said...: Lady Gaga isn't a "fag hag". She's a drag queen who just happens to have an factory-issue set of plumbing.

Back when Obama's people were going on about his ambitions to be like Lincoln, do you think they were thinking of Lincoln's history of military mis-management, violently contentious relationship with the officer corps, small-minded retail politics, and deep personal unpopularity with the political opposition? Throw in his dependence on the 21st Century equivalent of Lincoln's "War Democrats" - Lieberman, McCain, and Graham - and the parallels are un-nerving.; 6/22/10, 1:16 PM
Brian said...: @Mitch H:
Watch it, you'll start a "Obama is like Lincoln" thread. Though, I'm not sure how Obama adjusts. Plus, he doesn't have a civil war to discount the votes of the southern states. Also, I shudder to think of the ramifications if there was an assassination attempt.

As to Lady Gaga's cover, haven't we already seen the "boobs as weapons" in film before?; 6/22/10, 1:29 PM
KCFleming said...: They should show the Islamofascists the new Gaga video for Fernando or Alejandro or whatever and its post-apocalyptic gay hedonism and endless lyric repetition.
Repeat, repeat, repeat.

They will all shoot themselves.; 6/22/10, 1:38 PM
Ron said...: Can we get Giselle Bundschen in a Broomstick Mauser Bra? Ooooooo.....

If we hit the tip jar can we the equiv. Althouse pose? ;); 6/22/10, 1:59 PM
holdfast said...: Does anyone care that those are rifle barrels, and there is nary a machine gun in sight?

Nope?

Didn't think so.; 6/22/10, 1:59 PM
As my whimsy leads me.. said...: Let's stop talking about her. She's had enough attention. If she could sing like Bette Midler, it would be a different matter, but she can't. She's getting stale.

Toy; 6/22/10, 2:17 PM
Daniel in Brookline said...: holdfast:

Yep, it bothered me too. Those are parts of AR-15s, as near as I can tell -- not machine guns -- and even at that, they're props. No triggers, no stocks.

If Prof. Althouse had said "automatic weapons" instead, I wouldn't have cared. But calling a rifle a "machine gun" bothers me, just as it would if an automatic were called a "revolver". It's like calling a Mini Cooper a "truck", or calling a hundred-dollar-bill a "coin"; it's a mistake anyone with basic familiarity with the subject matter wouldn't make.

respectfully,
Daniel in Brookline; 6/22/10, 3:29 PM
Jennifer said...: On French radio, the DJs say her name La-DJEE Gah-GAH and it sounds so lovely that it oughta make up for a little thunder stolen.; 6/22/10, 3:31 PM
Sigivald said...: It's valid to call a fully automatic weapon a "machinegun" under US law, even if it's based on an AR-15 ... or even if it's a pistol - because the term is defined that way in the National Firearms Act.

That military usage is much more specific is irrelevant in other contexts.

Now, the things in the picture aren't machineguns, because they're not capable of firing, but that's another issue.

(Certainly the intended referent of the image is an automatic weapon, and thus a "machinegun", and for purposes of artistic interpretation that's what really matters.

It'd be like saying that because a posed picture of a mobster with a fake Thompson uses a fake, that it's "not a machinegun in the picture" - factually accurate but completely irrelevant to the artistic point.); 6/22/10, 3:40 PM
YoungHegelian said...: "Hi, My name is Lady Gaga. I'm the NRA and I vote."

She does has a nicer ass than Wayne LaPierre.

WV: defoisto -- what comes before desecundo; 6/22/10, 4:09 PM
Unknown said...: "Go, go Gaga Gadget Machine Guns!"; 6/22/10, 4:23 PM
Penny said...: "...but how do you think Lady Gaga feels"?

The same Lady Gaga who said she was celibate? If she was being honest about that, it seems unlikely anyone will come forward to tell us exactly how she "feels".; 6/22/10, 4:25 PM
Penny said...: This is as good a time as any to give Rolling Stone some props for their recent political reporting. The McChrystal interview is all over the internet now, and two weeks ago they gave us
The Spill, The Scandal and the President, another excellent bit of reporting.; 6/22/10, 4:36 PM
bagoh20 said...: Fembots with ballistic bosoms are so 1997, but you can't blame her since "Austin Powers" was such an obscure art flick; 6/22/10, 5:12 PM
Daniel in Brookline said...: No, Sigivald, you're missing my point. I never said anything about legal definitions of machine guns; nor do I particularly care how the National Firearms Act defines them.

Anyone who has actually used an automatic rifle and a machine gun -- meaning military and ex-military people, for the most part -- is likely to be bothered when the wrong term is used. So the military meaning of the term is very much relevant.

It simply feels wrong to someone who has actually used them. It'd be like me saying "here, have a banana", as I hand you an apple. You'd look at me strangely, wondering if I know the difference between the two... and if I don't, why am I pretending that I do?

Or try the same thing with an auto mechanic -- say, point at the exhaust pipe and call it a carburetor. He'll look at you funny, and wonder whether or not to take you seriously.

'Nuff said. Holdfast has the right idea; it's inaccurate, but nobody really cares.

respectfully,
Daniel in Brookline; 6/22/10, 5:25 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: Oh boy. More contempt for the artistic genius of Lady Gaga wrapped up in a sarcastic dig at her.

You've really got to become less transparent, l'artiste Althouse. Why not just try for substance, instead?; 6/22/10, 5:37 PM
Nichevo said...: "the artistic genius of Lady Gaga"

Thanks for clearing that up, monty - uh, Ritmo - but it doesn't matter, because what you've cleared up is, that you need never be taken seriously again. KTHXBAI; 6/22/10, 6:06 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: I always find that the most serious people dress up their comments in the coolest new, teenage-style internet acronyms, Nichevo. Like OMG and KTHXBAI. That's how I know that they're as serious as they are cool up on the latest adolescent trends.

Do you hang out at the mall, too, Nichevo? We can, like, totally find some neat stuff to dress you up in.; 6/22/10, 6:11 PM
Hoosier Daddy said...: The girl does have a fine boo-tay.; 6/22/10, 7:07 PM
Anonymous said...: " ... but how do you think Lady Gaga feels?"

She should feel a great sense of relief that her ginormous ass (matched only by her bulbous nose) is being overshadowed.

madonna (yes, Gaga is Madonna, only with a small m) is the most overrated Jew in New York, which used to be ... well, New York used to be, I guess.

You want hot Jew with machine gun? Look no further than the IDF baby:

http://plancksconstant.org/blog1/2006/08/why_israelis_will_wi.html; 6/22/10, 7:08 PM
lucid said...: I guess the psychological and experiential subtext is that for some gaga fans, boobs are somehow experiened as threatening, intrusive, destructive, malevolent, and dangerous.

Since the female breasts I have known have all been exquisitely sensitive to a finger tip and vulnerable in a way that draws awarenes of the experience of the person whose breasts I am engaging, I completely don't get gaga, nor do I find her interesting nor have much of any reaction to her except that she is very odd.; 6/22/10, 7:25 PM
bagoh20 said...: There is something hot about IDF women. The fact that they are prepared to fight to defend their nation without some crazy suicidal ideology is incredibly hot.

This is also what is hot about Palin, therefore it doesn't matter what she wears. So no, I don't care if she reads "The Economist" either.

There is a hotness to the soldier ants, that the queen and her handlers can't match.; 6/22/10, 7:30 PM
Nichevo said...: Wow, you are really on top of things. Loooooving that attention.

I admit, I do like KTHXBAI. So sue me. KTHXBAI!

TW: fower. RB is gonna straightenup and fly right in: Wun, tew, thuree, fower...; 6/22/10, 8:08 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: Comparing IDF soldiers to Palin is like comparing wolves to a moose.; 6/22/10, 8:42 PM
Hoosier Daddy said...: Comparing IDF soldiers to Palin is like comparing wolves to a moose.

Yeah, Palin is hotter.; 6/22/10, 8:46 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: She's so hot that her brain is melting.; 6/22/10, 8:53 PM
traditionalguy said...: Ritmo...Never assume Palin is like a moose. Palin is like a Momma Grizzly Bear. The word bear comes from the word for warrior in Germanic history. And they say she sees the Russian Bear from her porch, or was that an actress's quote? The Lady Gaga just bears it all.; 6/22/10, 8:59 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: I guess she's hot in the sense that instead of actually putting on a uniform and putting her life on the line for her country, she took the route of becoming a talk-show circuit jockey.

That's pretty hot.

And before that she couldn't govern Alaska without taking federal aid, which is something that Israel wouldn't have a problem doing.

Self-sufficiency is hot. Unfortunately Palin doesn't have enough brain cells to survive without the propping up of William Kristol and Roger Ailes. She's just a lazy pin-up girl for what you project onto her after viewing real women in uniform.

She ain't the real thing. She's a phoney. If you find her hot you might as well buy an inflatable doll with pull string responses and vote for (and lust after) that.; 6/22/10, 9:00 PM
Methadras said...: She actually has a nice ass. Outside of that, I suspect her downward descent into debauchery will go nowhere.; 6/22/10, 9:02 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/22/10, 9:07 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: I don't respect Gaga for liking bears and hallucinating about Russia, but for being an original and talented artist - now matter how shallow and materialist the genre.

If Palin where a thoughtful and genuine political leader, that would be one thing. But she is just a personality - something different altogether.

Palin is whatever she says she is. There's no substance. In that sense she is completely the opposite of people who have no option but to say who they are and stand behind it, with their lives.

The amount of petty insults that get under Palin's skin every time she twitters her grievances makes her more like a teenage girl who will never grow up. This can be contrasted with people who at 18 develop the maturity to fight for their lives, articulate their stances and defend their tiny country of a few million from the never-ending violence that lurks in the vast and hostile backwater that surrounds them.

The difference couldn't be starker.; 6/22/10, 9:08 PM
William said...: I understand why Lady Gaga would wish to appear in Rolling Stone. I can't understand why McChrystal would wish to give so much access to a Rolling Stone reporter. Does he intend to transition over to rap after his military career? It just seems an inapt forum to air inept remarks.; 6/22/10, 10:23 PM
Kirby Olson said...: Lady Gaga should be our new general in Afghanistan.

Now, that would frighten the Taliban!

Ra ra oh la la!

We should just blast their TV and radio with Lady Gaga. That would completely corrode their theology in about 15 minutes.; 6/22/10, 10:24 PM
Rich Vail said...: What's "Rolling Stone"...isn't that something hippies used to read?; 6/22/10, 10:53 PM
el polacko said...: ummm...isn't the "bullet bra" straight out of the 1950's ? lady caca is a one-woman recycler..a little grace jones.. a LOT of madonna..all poorly processed through the vision of your run-of-the-mill art school reject. sad what passes for innovation and talent these days. the problem is that the kids don't know or care about anything that happened the day before yesterday..it's all new to them..and the word 'quality' no longer has any meaning. sigh. i guess this means that i am officially an old man.; 6/23/10, 1:05 AM
Methadras said...: Ritmo Brasileiro said...

I don't respect Gaga for liking bears and hallucinating about Russia, but for being an original and talented artist - now matter how shallow and materialist the genre.

Uh, no. Madonna outshines anything GaGa does. Original and talented? She has talent, but isn't original. Now you can see all of them; Christina, Katy Perry, Rhianna, et al. trying to out-Madonna each other.; 6/23/10, 1:42 AM
Methadras said...: el polacko said...

ummm...isn't the "bullet bra" straight out of the 1950's ? lady caca is a one-woman recycler..a little grace jones.. a LOT of madonna..

Grace Jones? That woman is an icon. Period. GaGa couldn't hold the sun against that woman. Between her, Debbie Harry, and a couple of others, they were the trendsetters, but Grace Jones was awesome and still is. I love that woman. Warm Leatherette be damned.; 6/23/10, 1:48 AM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/23/10, 2:06 AM
James said...: She looks like a blow-up sex doll. Was that the intention?; 6/23/10, 2:07 AM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: Meth clucked:

Uh, no. Madonna outshines anything GaGa does. Original and talented? She has talent, but isn't original. Now you can see all of them; Christina, Katy Perry, Rhianna, et al. trying to out-Madonna each other.

Yep. Comparing GaGa's first year of celebrity to the 25+ of Madonna's makes a lot of sense. That's what I do. I think... Lucky Star... Borderline... great hits. So much talent shining through in those two or so songs that anyone actually bothered to listen to before Madonna broke it big - especially when compared to the paltry 5 or more written/performed and produced by Gaga in the first.

Back to serious - The others aren't even worth mentioning. Anyone who can't bother to write a tune will be forgotten. Hasn't 30 years of having an obsessive love-hate relationship with celebrity taught you Republicans anything? Those who can't write go the way of "stars" as big as... Tiffany, the Rhianna/Katy Perry/whatever of her day. And Christina Aquavelva is just cashing in on weird and nasty, rather like a Cindy Lauper who spent too much time with her clothes off.

Man. You guys don't even recognize talent either, let alone separate quality from bubble gum. And in pop music - the most proliferated medium accessible.; 6/23/10, 2:09 AM
Clyde said...: Hey, Lady Gaga!

Madonna called. She wants her schtick back.; 6/23/10, 7:33 AM
Nichevo said...: And wow! You don't like Christina Aguilera? Well honestly I have no interest in any of 'em but I surely did enjoy the "Candyman" video.

Then again I am old. Who was the last singing chick I took half serious? Mmm...Sinead O'Connor.; 6/23/10, 9:30 AM
Nichevo said...: Also the outfit is poorly done and unattractive.

Then again so is she.; 6/23/10, 9:31 AM
The Dude said...: I'll bet she feels greasy and smells like salty garbage. Thank you, Family Guy for ruining my life.; 6/23/10, 10:08 AM
Trooper York said...: I met Grace Jones when she had her taxes done by the firm I was working for at the time. It was right around the Conan movie.

She was one scary freakin broad.; 6/23/10, 11:26 AM
Tibore said...: "ricpic said...
The woman is awesome. She spreads for the Yankees. The whole team!"

Doesn't that just prove she's a Madonna wannabe?

"Trooper York said...
I met Grace Jones when she had her taxes done by the firm I was working for at the time. It was right around the Conan movie.

She was one scary freakin broad."

Grace Jones is a broad?
[/kidding]; 6/23/10, 1:20 PM