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10 Dec 2008 12:31 pm

Dissents Of The Day

By Patrick Appel
A reader writes:

I write to disagree with you on Jonah's Makin Award today. Save for the gratuitous reference to Dan Rather, which is the sort of thing I expect from the Corner, I think Jonah's reaction is pretty much what I'm feeling. If anything, Jonah is too kind.

I found myself smirking if not laughing at the quotes from Blagojevich. As serious as trying to sell a Senate seat is, and if the web is wider I hope they bring down whoever responded, this guy is laughable in his thinking. Though the Corner would never do it, I think it's the same sort of logic that you would apply to large swaths of the Bush administration when things like the US Attorney scandal and the Valerie Plame leak came to light: "Everyone gets what they deserve — at least so far — and all of the guilty parties are all the more deserving of punishment because they don't quite understand what the big deal is..." It doesn't happen enough, but when it does, it is quite satisfying.

Another reader adds:

I have to say, even as a guy that thinks Jonah is just an intellectually disgusting person, he generally catches the small feeling of schadenfreude that you get listening to the Blago case. It’s very much like watching a Tom and Jerry episode, and Blago is the witless cat that should know better than to mess with a mouse with an impeccable win/loss record.  You laugh at the cat for thinking of trying, you laugh at the cat’s plan of action, you laugh at the inevitable result.

And he’s also right that this story comes in a no-fuss/no-muss package (K-Lo said the same thing, and she was generally right, too).  No explanations, no complications, no back-story: Stupid person got beat for being stupid, so stay in school, kids.

Jonah’s only fault is for taking a non-sequitur dig at Dan Rather.  That alone is not worth a Malkin Award.

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