Althouse: "... Ron Johnson, a plastics manufacturer and one of those rich political virgins who have been popping up in races across the country, waving a checkbook and a copy of 'Atlas Shrugged.'"

October 24, 2010

"... Ron Johnson, a plastics manufacturer and one of those rich political virgins who have been popping up in races across the country, waving a checkbook and a copy of 'Atlas Shrugged.'"

A NYT description of the Wisconsin senatorial candidate.

ADDED: What's the opposite of a "political virgin"? Also, why aren't we worried about politicians who are private-enterprise virgins?

43 comments:

I'm Full of Soup said...: If Eliot Spitzer, a media virgin, has the qualifications to be hired by CNN, then Johnson, the political virgin [I thought that was a good thing], has the qualifications to be elected by the voters.

BTW - what did the NYT call Jon Corzine when he first ran for the Senate?; 10/24/10, 12:11 PM
Daniel Fielding said...: well, I am not at all surprised that the NYT would try their damnest to portray a Republican challenger in poor light.; 10/24/10, 12:13 PM
Anonymous said...: The NYT so marinated in far left blather doesn't realize that most voters are searching for "political virgins" as the the "political pros" just dumped us into a multi trillion dollar hole.

WV: raingles, that's that "pro" up in Harlem.; 10/24/10, 12:18 PM
ricpic said...: Okay, it's an opinion piece, but doesn't "fairness" call for one word, a single word, spoken by Johnson defining Johnson? Especially since what we get is both the author and Feingold crapping on Johnson?; 10/24/10, 12:20 PM
Unknown said...: Yes, how dare someone use his/her own money, unlike the Zero, who sold himself to the people with the big money?

WV "affendom" What Ann is doing to all the National Socialists today.; 10/24/10, 12:25 PM
Sal said...: Daniel, how is being a manufacturer and an fan of Altlas Shrugged a bad thing? He proud of both via his ads and in the debates.; 10/24/10, 12:30 PM
garage mahal said...: Yes, how dare someone use his/her own money, unlike the Zero, who sold himself to the people with the big money?

Ron Johnson used his wife's family money, and government money. I know I know, using your wife's or applying for government money is different if you're a conservative.; 10/24/10, 12:36 PM
Anonymous said...: Johnson ... virgin ... heh! I get it. They're talking about penises!

Those New York Times homos are at it again. You just gotta love 'em. Everything is a penis to 'em.

Penis. Penis. Penis.; 10/24/10, 12:53 PM
YoungHegelian said...: "...rich political virgins..."

As opposed to "rich poltical whores"?; 10/24/10, 1:20 PM
Michael Haz said...: This statement "... Ron Johnson, a plastics manufacturer and one of those rich political virgins who have been popping up in races across the country, waving a checkbook and a copy of 'Atlas Shrugged.'" begs for a comparison.

Here's mine. Russ Feingold, a Harvard Law graduate and one of those sneeringly-entitled progressives who have been holding seats in Congress for decades, waving a copy of 'Rules For Radicals' and George Soros's telephone number..; 10/24/10, 1:36 PM
Michael Haz said...: Garage Mahal said: I know I know, using your wife's or applying for government money is different if you're a conservative.

Check with John Kerry regarding wife's money. Or Herb Kohl regarding inherited money. Or Teddy Kennedy.....and so on.; 10/24/10, 1:38 PM
garage mahal said...: Exactly my point Haz.; 10/24/10, 1:46 PM
JAL said...: ... one of those ...

Aren't those the code words used by bigots of all stripes?

(Was careful not to write "colors."); 10/24/10, 2:00 PM
Michael said...: Plastics!! Rich!!! Checkbook!!! Waving! The horror....; 10/24/10, 2:15 PM
Revenant said...: Ron Johnson used his wife's family money, and government money.

What an odd claim to make.; 10/24/10, 2:17 PM
David said...: opposite = political whore.

You knew that, Althouse.; 10/24/10, 2:29 PM
Anonymous said...: I believe Feingold has already won. He is counted in the 54 seats for Democrats.

Johnson will lose by 5%,

My record is 100%.

N.B.: I hope to be part of the 2012 re-election.; 10/24/10, 2:51 PM
traditionalguy said...: One must ask an intellectual question that she is skirting around so gingerly, which is why do First Time Candidates do so well against both the Tweedledee and the Tweedledum party hacks of old? And what happened here when plantation owners, merchants and printers popped up in 1773-1776 to be first timers challenging even the best among long time Royal Governors who ended up run out of town.; 10/24/10, 2:56 PM
Wince said...: "...Johnson, plastics manufacturer and one of those rich political virgins who have been popping up in races across the country..."

The image I'm getting is dildos, plastic dildos.

Maybe Collins is using the plastics imagery provided by Johnson (pun intented?) as an oblique way to attack the rich women running in other states?

wv- "spingel" = personal lubricant used by spinsters on their dildos? (honestly, that was it); 10/24/10, 3:24 PM
roesch-voltaire said...: Interesting to read the comment links in the JS after the last debate between Johnson and Feingold, where some observed that Johnson only utters slogans and few concrete examples of his plan, so I guess the NYT is not alone in its observation about Johnson. Recent polls show that at last it is a close race. Our state sends a lot of its children to college and I do not think average voters want to give up the extended insurance coverage, or the improved student loan system for starters.; 10/24/10, 3:38 PM
Michael Haz said...: Our state sends a lot of its children to college and I do not think average voters want to give up the extended insurance coverage, or the improved student loan system for starters.

Right, and I have utterly no interest in paying for part of the healthcare costs and student loan costs for other peoples' college-age children.; 10/24/10, 4:22 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Gail Collins thinks "policy wonk" is the bestest compliment you could say about one of her beloved liberal Democrats.; 10/24/10, 5:30 PM
roesch-voltaire said...: Haz, the loan costs have been dramatically cut thanks to the reform, in case you hadn't noticed so this does not come out of your pocket.; 10/24/10, 5:51 PM
SteveR said...: Plastics..mmm I see he took the advice Benjamin Braddock did not.; 10/24/10, 5:57 PM
Penny said...: Reading this was akin to reading my local newspaper's Editorial Board opinion on candidates running for a county power position.

They annihilated an extremely successful local businessman running for office because "he didn't seem to understand the role of someone holding said position."

It occurred to me that it was instead the Editorial Board that was operating in the dark. Specifically, operating in the dark recesses of doing what we've always been doing, and continuing to fail.

The new blood wants to CHANGE the system, not figure out how best to work within it.; 10/24/10, 6:00 PM
rhhardin said...: [Peggy] was twenty-nine, a Queens Irish spinster of the type I should call relentless, and unless she had lost her fleur while competing the the high hurdles as a parochial schoolgirl, she was yet in formidable possession of it.

Who Is Teddy Villanova? Thomas Berger p.3

Villanova would be the opposite of Alhouse.; 10/24/10, 6:02 PM
Roadkill said...: What you should have noted, Ann, was the columnist's description of Johnson's opponent (Feingold) as an "independent." The fact is, the only time that Feingold is independent is when he's so far left ideologically that he finds himself voting against both parties.

He's a big spending, big government, social engineering type, just like most of the political class. His biggest claim to fame was his Incumbent Protection Act (a.k.a. McCain-Feingold), a classic example of the lengths to which the political elite will go in order to protect their jobs.

By the way, the columnist -- Gail Collins -- is a dyed-in-the-wool liberal too. Sympatico....; 10/24/10, 6:08 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: RV said:

"They cut the loan costs so it's not costing us money."

Haha, do you honestly believe Arne Duncan and his education dept will spend less on college grants and loans?; 10/24/10, 6:20 PM
victoria said...: Quite honestly, I suspect that all of these people reading "Atlas Shrugged" have never actually read it. If they did it is the greatest cure for insomnia known to man.

Vicki from Pasadena; 10/24/10, 6:39 PM
Robert Cook said...: I don't think the phrase "political virgin" is what presents a candidate for office in a poor light...after all, by definition, a virgin has not yet lost his or her "virtue."

It's the description of the candidate waving around (as if it were something to be proud of rather than hidden) a kook book that promotes S & M and jungle ethics as behavior worthy of emulation--and a terribly written book, besides.

Any adult who admits to admiring ATLAS SHRUGGED admits thereby to being an imbecile.; 10/24/10, 7:41 PM
Robert Cook said...: Michael Haz said,

"Russ Feingold, a Harvard Law graduate and one of those sneeringly-entitled progressives who have been holding seats in Congress for decades, waving a copy of 'Rules For Radicals' and George Soros's telephone number."

Has Russ Feingold ever been seen with a copy of RULES FOR RADICALS or George Soros' phone number, much less been seen waving them around? If not, your comparison is dead in the water right there, bub.; 10/24/10, 7:44 PM
Roger Zimmerman said...: @victoria

You are so cool to pan Atlas Shrugged with such a nonchalant (not to say trite) turn of the phrase ("cure for insomnia" - wow, can I quote you?). That Rand predicted the world we are now watching, and wrapped these predictions in a compelling mystery, with indelible characters and some excellent writing, guarantees that she will be sneered at by those that could not be bothered to lift her intellectual luggage.

I don't know if Johnson actually read or understands Rand's ideas, but I doubt Obama or Clinton really grasped Alinksy either. But, a politician that can tout her work, given its undeniable cultural significance, is certainly a step in the right direction.; 10/24/10, 7:55 PM
Robert Cook said...: "...some excellent writing...."

Hahahahahaha!

You obviously have never exposed yourself to any competent writing if you could mistake Rand's maladroit word-spew as having even the slightest kinship with writing that is even "good," much less any approaching that rarer state of "excellence."; 10/24/10, 8:11 PM
AllenS said...: I've noticed on the radio that 3rd District Democrat Congressman Ron Kind is also telling everyone that he is an independent. It's a theme.; 10/25/10, 5:40 AM
Fen said...: "As on so many points, I think the mainstream media have gotten it nearly upside-down. What strikes me about so-called Tea Party candidates — those with little or no political experience who have won Republican nominations by opposing the Obama Democrats’ vast expansion of government — is not that some of them are bumblers but that so many of them seem to have terrific political instincts"

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/250496/tea-party-neophytes-outshine-dems-old-pros-michael-barone; 10/25/10, 8:26 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: What is interesting to me is that the NYT would, still, think that being a political whore, instead of a political virgin, would be a political advantage this election cycle.

But it isn't surprisingly that the newspaper of elites would try to convince all those who still read it that only elites have the intelligence and training to lead this country in the right direction.

Never mind that those same elites, the political whores who currently run the country, are the reason that we are so deep in a recession, and squandered so many trillions of our grandchildrens' money on paying off political constituents, esp. government employees.

And, so, I think that is is very clear to many in this country that the country would be far better off if the political whore he is running against is turned out of office.; 10/25/10, 8:53 AM
Jay Vogt said...: Ann, odd that you didn't pick up the obvious reference to the Byrd's classic, "So you want to be a rock and roll star".

Mr. Johnson is appearently the one who's sold his soul to the company and is "waiting there to sell plasticware".; 10/25/10, 9:31 AM
Calypso Facto said...: "Plastics manufacturer" the NYT sneers with elitist disdain for the working.

I like the Ron Johnson ad where he points out the current 57-lawyers composition of the Senate and asks, "Is there any wonder they can't balance a budget?"

I'm thinking of putting up Feingold sign in my yard to accompany those of my NYT reading neighbors, except that a large subscript on mine would be, "Because 30 years in politics and $14 Trillion in debt just isn't enough!"; 10/25/10, 9:56 AM
former law student said...: Also, why aren't we worried about politicians who are private-enterprise virgins?

The stockholders should be worried, not us. The chief examples of politicians turned executives are Donald Rumsfeld, who changed from a career in politics to CEO of G.D. Searle, and Dick Cheney who went from a life in politics to CEO of Halliburton.; 10/25/10, 3:24 PM
former law student said...: The biggest sources of Feingold's campaign committee donations: the dreaded University of Wisconsin, lawyers, dentists, and unions. Slicing the data other ways shows Feingold's funding comes from the retired, and from pro-Israel groups.

1 University of Wisconsin $124,320 $124,320 $0
2 Foley & Lardner $22,700 $20,200 $2,500
3 Marshfield Clinic $22,350 $22,350 $0
4 JStreetPAC $21,700 $20,700 $1,000
5 NorPAC $20,640 $10,000 $10,640
6 Dermond Property Investments $15,200 $15,200 $0
7 Monroe Clinic $14,750 $14,750 $0
8 Council for a Livable World $14,601 $10,100 $4,501
9 Habush, Habush & Rottier $14,550 $14,550 $0
10 American Dental Assn $14,000 $0 $14,000
11 League of Conservation Voters $13,050 $10,050 $3,000
12 Laborers Union $13,000 $0 $13,000
13 Medical College of Wisconsin $12,650 $12,650 $0
14 American Postal Workers Union $12,500 $0 $12,500
15 Delta Dental Plans Assn $12,300 $4,800 $7,500
16 National Education Assn $12,150 $7,150 $5,000
17 Cravath, Swaine & Moore $12,050 $12,050 $0
18 State of Wisconsin $11,350 $11,350 $0
19 Jenner & Block $11,050 $11,050 $0
20 Epic Systems $10,875 $10,875 $0; 10/25/10, 4:41 PM
dick said...: Garage,

Johnson worked with his brother-in-law to develop the Pacur company and then bought his brother-in-law out and owns the company. Not quite the same thing you were trying to imply on his using his wife's money. He is not a John Kerry who uses his wives' money to finance his political career and has never earned a paycheck on his own. Johnson actually worked and when the company started was actually doing the accounts, handling sales and running the production line. He knows whereof he speaks.; 10/25/10, 8:12 PM
Largo said...: Robert Cook:

Would any adult, who admits to admiring some (or any) particular aspect, or particular passage, of ATLAS SHRUGGED, admit thereby to being an imbecile?

You seem to be drawing a very broad net with a very find mesh.; 10/26/10, 5:32 AM
Largo said...: (forgot to check the email thingy again); 10/26/10, 5:33 AM