Althouse: "What is the biggest secret you were told and asked not to repeat?"/"That it’s not a surreal practical joke..."

October 13, 2011

"What is the biggest secret you were told and asked not to repeat?"/"That it’s not a surreal practical joke..."

"... Those Republican presidential candidates you see lined up for their debates are actually the best minds the G.O.P. has to offer."

57 comments:

The Drill SGT said...: bad link?

as to the secret? If I told you, I'd have to kill you. seriously, some secrets can't be told to anybody. I have had comrades, who I knew, also must know the secret, but it is so important to others, that we don't even hint about it.

This does not constitute hinting, since no frame of reference can be construed :); 10/13/11, 4:20 PM
Andy said...: Woody Allen is ripping off my material.

Also, is Michelle Bachmann still running for President or did she quit at some point and nobody noticed or cared because she is such a joke?; 10/13/11, 4:20 PM
Ron said...: "That guy in the White House --- he got there because of his credentials!"

You can swing a dead cat in practically any faculty lounge in America and find someone with credentials at least as good.; 10/13/11, 4:22 PM
Sofa King said...: ...who are willing to run for President. Not everyone is willing or able to do that.; 10/13/11, 4:36 PM
Anonymous said...: Joe Biden?; 10/13/11, 4:36 PM
Clyde said...: But can they read a teleprompter, which is the true mark of genius?; 10/13/11, 4:36 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: The biggest and brightest Ivy League brains are the ones who got us into this mess.

That said, Romney, Gingrich, Ron Paul each have a lot of brain power IMHO.; 10/13/11, 4:41 PM
Anonymous said...: Teleprompter-reading may be the true mark of genius, but the entry-level test is being able to successfully place a baseball cap straight on your own head.; 10/13/11, 4:42 PM
edutcher said...: We're going to listen to a guy who ravished his step-daughter?

PS The only thing nobody cares about is Hatman's vapid comments.; 10/13/11, 4:43 PM
cassandra lite said...: I suffered through the entire, uh, interview. Every single line reminded me of something Dick Cavett might have said in the hopes of being witty. The Algonquins can rest in peace.; 10/13/11, 4:43 PM
machine said...: So faculty lounges are full of Harvard Law Review Editors?

Don't think so...; 10/13/11, 4:45 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: And does anyone still believe, in their heart, that President Obama is really smart?; 10/13/11, 4:48 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: I don't think any of those comic geniuses have a bachelor's in math or a master's in computer science, do they? Fucking morons.; 10/13/11, 4:50 PM
coketown said...: I liked Coen's responses. "I do have the time, so reject the premise." Ha! Loved it. Allen's were too self-consciously erudite. Does the state of the GOP really weigh on his mind so heavily that every broad question comes back to it?; 10/13/11, 4:50 PM
G Joubert said...: Actually, just in terms of cerebral heft, Newt Gingrich has a mind that exceeds that of any Democrat I can think of.; 10/13/11, 4:53 PM
Amartel said...: These people are so far up their own asses.
The question is not serious (like either of these guys would spill any big secrets). And the answer's not responsive to the question. None of them are, really. And the questions are quite random. They're all just sitting around preening and saying words. Any one of the Republican candidates could eat their lunch and burn their house down intellectually.; 10/13/11, 4:55 PM
Amy said...: The whole interview was trying-too-hard obnoxious.; 10/13/11, 4:57 PM
Anonymous said...: The single defining characteristic of modern progressivism seems to be smugness.; 10/13/11, 5:08 PM
Deborah M. said...: murgatroyd666: you hit the nail on the head.; 10/13/11, 5:15 PM
exhelodriver said...: "The single defining characteristic of modern progressivism seems to be smugness."

Just like that South Park episode.; 10/13/11, 5:20 PM
Sydney said...: If this what passes for wit in Manhattan, it has surely reached the nadir of it's decline.; 10/13/11, 5:27 PM
Tari said...: If I had to listen to people like that every day, I'd empty the entire contents of my medicine cabinet into my mouth within a week. Egad.; 10/13/11, 5:38 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Here's a dirty secret...Marco Rubio deal with Mitt Romney on moving up the Flordia primaries?; 10/13/11, 5:57 PM
DADvocate said...: What is with liberals and child molesters? Does anyone listen to Woody Allen any more? My kids don't even know who he is.

And, of course, this comeback, was Barack Obama the best mind the Democrats had to offer?; 10/13/11, 5:59 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/13/11, 6:12 PM
Anonymous said...: I was told by my hot date earlier this week that I should not repeat that the campaign to reelection the POTUS is worried about (1) Romney and (2) possible alliance between him and Bachmann. The WH is worried that Romney makes Obama look incoherent and Bachmann will peel all women votes from GOP.

This is the secret I was told not to repeat. But, I realized that GOP is for Perry. So nothing to lose here.; 10/13/11, 6:13 PM
Peano said...: Oh, Jesus, another dose of kitschy Upper East Side "humor" splashed across (where else?) the Theatah pages of the New York Times and shoveled our way--just in case we missed it, which of course we did--by the blonde coddled in Wisconsin academia whose sensibilities just positively quiver to this kind of "sophisticated" horse shit.

Excuse me just a moment while I ...

::: barf :::; 10/13/11, 6:22 PM
JohnJ said...: “And does anyone still believe, in their heart, that President Obama is really smart?”

No.

…which is why we apparently need to be told—constantly, repeatedly and at every opportunity.; 10/13/11, 6:27 PM
ricpic said...: The super clever out-clevering each other. To read their back and forth is exhausting...plus, the self-consciousness kills any hope of laughter.

Doubt you could follow Bachmann's dissection of the denouement of our financial crisis, Hat Boy, nevermind understand it.; 10/13/11, 6:31 PM
KCFleming said...: Woody Allen = (Noam Chomsky x Carrot Top)/Roman Polanski; 10/13/11, 6:38 PM
Fred4Pres said...: I have met people like that at parties and left. They are teidious.; 10/13/11, 6:46 PM
KCFleming said...: Although Cain, Paul, and Romney aren't of low intellect, I actually agree with him.

The 'best minds' in the GOP are not running for President.

The best Democrat mind certainly isn't in office. That man is a dangerous fool. Clinton, Gore, Mondale, Dukakis, Carter and McGovern weren't examples of 'the best minds' by a long shot. Clinton is smart, but an unprincipled solopsist.

The difference is that conservatives don't want a philosopher king or a savior.; 10/13/11, 6:51 PM
Carol_Herman said...: MARK TWAIN!

INNOCENTS ABROAD!

1870. He said as much as he promised stuff, he never was able to keep them.

He said that the good lord just didn't give him the CAPACITY to keep a secret.; 10/13/11, 6:54 PM
Carol_Herman said...: If the GOP were a theater production ... because they can't choose stars that attract an audience ... They'd recognize, at the box office, that they weren't appealing to CUSTOMERS. (Often referred to "as the audience."); 10/13/11, 6:56 PM
Shouting Thomas said...: Does Woody Allen fart into a wine glass, then cup it over his nose so that he can revel in the odor?

(See South Park for the answer.); 10/13/11, 6:58 PM
Carol_Herman said...: Oh, there's talent out there! But not at the debates!

The "debates" are like a religious experience. If you believe in this stuff ... then you tune it in.

The effect is made worse ... because there's a minority of folk out there who want to believe they carry "more than one vote."

While the only reason the show hasn't gone off the air ... is that there aren't enough people, yet, out there who are LAUGHING!; 10/13/11, 6:58 PM
Mary Beth said...: I don't accept the assumption that the best, and only the best, minds run for president. Too much evidence to the contrary from both parties.

I would prefer a president who does not think that he/she is the brightest, nor wants to be, but wants to be surrounded by people who are among the best in their fields.; 10/13/11, 7:21 PM
Rialby said...: Should a guy who had sex with his adopted daughter be joking about pederasty? Really???; 10/13/11, 7:27 PM
ricpic said...: Could Gingrich, arguably the best mind among the candidates, stick with a program, be it economic or diplomatic (as in Reagan's stay the course), or would he be forever tinkering with it and weaken it by way of over-thinking?; 10/13/11, 7:42 PM
Ann Althouse said...: @Rialby I know.; 10/13/11, 7:43 PM
Revenant said...: Should a guy who had sex with his adopted daughter be joking about pederasty?

Public perception of his relationship with his wife is what makes the joke funny.; 10/13/11, 7:49 PM
traditionalguy said...: I have personally interacted with #1 and #3 in today's polls, both being Atlanta men that talk to large and small groups, and the following is my assessment.

#3 is a history lecturer who hates his class because they don't realize how great he really is and he plans to dump them after he uses them.

Over 30 years #3 has spent thousands of hours with communications consultants learning to appear nice on TV, and he still has not learned social intelligence beyond an artificial smile that rates him a C+.

#1 is a totally faithful man that relates to people in a spontaneous and affirming way. His social intelligence rating is A++.

Today's polls have them in the right order with #1 at 27% and #3 at 10%, although #1 is a new face while #3 has been a regular on Fox News for years.

My advice is that we need #1 to be President.; 10/13/11, 8:24 PM
vnjagvet said...: Another Atlantan for #1 and against #3 and for the same reasons as TG.

For me, #1's main asset is his ability to gather information from many sides of an issue, decide on a course of action and sell it in a engaging way.

Reagan came from an entirely different background than #1, but had the same qualities.

And another thing. #1 would demolish Teh One in a debate.; 10/13/11, 8:36 PM
traditionalguy said...: vnjagvet...Nice to meet you. Hang around and help me with the Wisconsin Yankees. They are good people.; 10/13/11, 8:58 PM
William said...: They always seem to find intelligence in the people who agree with them and stupidity and/or mental illness in those who do not......Look at the political insights that the great artists and intellectuals of the past century have offered us and despair. It seems to me that political wisdom is inversely proportional to literary talent. Read what George Bernard Shaw, the Webbs, and other Nobel Prize winning Fabians had to say about Lenin and Stalin. No cheap cracks about those guys.....Michele Bachmann's values led her to take care of a large number of troubled girls. Compare and contrast her values with those of Woody Allen and explain why his values are a mark of higher intelligence.; 10/13/11, 9:02 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: There is a thread in liberalism that says that satire is always an adequate substitute for logic. It isn't.; 10/13/11, 9:04 PM
Wince said...: Chill out people, Woody was only kidding.

Well, except for the being "wanted for pederasty in Mongolia."

wv - "panglers" = very hungry people trying to catch a fish to eat; 10/13/11, 9:40 PM
Cedarford said...: AJ Lynch said...
And does anyone still believe, in their heart, that President Obama is really smart?

--------------
I think like he said in terms of Hillary and likability, he is smart enough.
Not up there with the truly brilliant - like Bill Clinton, Romney - but smart enough.
==========================; 10/13/11, 9:42 PM
caplight said...: "Smart Enough"? Let me say, a "community organizer" is a lot like a pastor. Smart is one thing but leadership is something else. Any pastor of a church of a thousand or more has more leadership ability than Barak Obama. Charisma is not leadership. Intelligence is not leadership. Vision is not leadership. Barak Obama does not know how to lead. There's a secret that nobody is willing to say.; 10/13/11, 9:58 PM
Carol_Herman said...: When I was young, both Elaine May and Woody Allen were young.

And, I can still remember "routines."

I remember Elaine May on the telephone. Mike Nichols became more famous.

And, I remember Woody Allen (breaking loose from the writing pack), on Sid Caesar's Show of Shows ... where the heavy competition came from Carl Reiner.

And, I remember Woody's routine ... where he was in the woods. With a gun. And, he kills a moose. (But he only knocked it unconscious.)

So, he straps the moose to the front of his car. And, he drives into NYC. Because he is heading to a costume party. It's Halloween.

The moose recovers from the gunshot wound. He was only grazed. But he's tied to the front of Woody's car. So it make parking a lot more difficult.

When parked, he unties the moose. And, goes to the party. When he rings the front door, he introduces the moose as his girl friend.

At the end of the night there's a costume competition ...

The moose came in second.; 10/13/11, 10:10 PM
Beldar said...: @ Sofa King (10/13/11 4:36 PM): Exactly.; 10/13/11, 11:43 PM
Cindy Martin said...: Paul Krugman, nobel prize winning economist, was an advisor to Enron.; 10/14/11, 12:17 AM
bagoh20 said...: Would you rather have the smartest President or just a successful one. They are not the same.

Some of the most useless people I know would be considered really smart in that circle. I don't mean useless as in lazy. I mean totally unable to help themselves or anybody else without an artificial standard of value like art - where others like them pay their inheritance to sustain them in return for the approval of other like-minded useless people.

All fed, housed and protected by the unwashed.; 10/14/11, 1:38 AM
wowlovetera said...: Teleprompter-reading could be the truthful home run with genius, but the ingress-unwavering psychometric test is it being capable of successfully position A baseball cap consecutive on your own oral sex.

TERA Golden storage develops the good reputation for secure and cheap,Tera Gold we've got attained numerous repetition TERA GOLD instructions by gritty participants. Like a rising troupe, all of us prize each ordering an individual reconcile. We certainly have lots of TERA GOLD(bargain Tera gilded, Inexpensive tera aureate)material available all the time, you possibly can seminal fluid along with yield roughly TERA Gilt(steal Tera amber,Buy WOW Gold Bum tera gilded) every time when you wish. To support everybody rich person punter mettlesome know. You should purchase TERA Golden(bargain Cheap WOW Gold, Cheesy tera amber)hither, as being the most experienced seller with spirited TERA around the globe, the following is your easiest substitute for bribe TERA Golden. Thanks for visiting our own XXIV/sevener alive(p) confab when you have A assist.; 10/14/11, 1:54 AM
wowlovetera said...: hello,i am new mwmber here,nice to meet u,i like your blog,hope we will be friends.

For reliable, fast, Cheap WOW Gold is over. The Pig was created so you can buy cheap WoW Gold fast and get back to raiding. The PIG says 'NO' to false promises, and scammers. The PIG is not a "leading MMORPG Service Provider offering luxury personal concierge services" and other buy eden goldhogwash. We cut through the B.S. and get straight to the point. eden gold, right here, right now, guaranteed by the PIG. Wanna buy Gil? Go somewhere else.; 10/14/11, 1:58 AM
Jon Burack said...: Allen's comment about Republicans is like all his others, here and everywhere, except, amazingly, it's got no sex in it. It must be comforting to convince yourself, as these people do, that they are so much smarter than everyone else. But very hard work, also. I guess that's show biz.; 10/14/11, 6:03 AM
viator said...: Q. What is the biggest secret you were told and asked not to repeat?

COMMENT: That it’s not a surreal practical joke: those three cultural icons you see lined up by the NYT are actually the best minds the leftist postmodern zeitgeist has to offer.

Q. Yes, but one of them is the great Woody Allen.

COMMENT: Woody's whole career goal for the last two decades is making movies with the most beautiful available young starlets so that he gets to hang around them a lot and occasionally stick his tongue down their throats.; 10/14/11, 6:40 AM