Putting the "Me" in Meathead

Matt Welch | May 23, 2005

Like a pre-pubescent smoker waiting for Big Tobacco to give me a carton of Marlboro Reds, I have been glancing expectantly at the Huffington Post, waiting for Rob Reiner to breathe some of his second-hand wisdom into my personal space. Today, at last, Meathead delivers. His first precious words:

As some of you may know, in 1997, my wife Michele and I helped start the I Am Your Child Foundation to improve the state of early childhood development in America. We are proud of our many accomplishments.

Someone has to be, I suppose.

But for first-graf displays of self-regard, today's award goes not to Mr. I-can't-believe-this-is-the-same-dude-who-made-Spinal-Tap, but to UPI dandy Arnaud de Borchgrave:

How does one wind up on a terrorist watch list when all you've done in a journalistic career that spanned almost six decades is report on and expose terrorist and other evildoers?

I could answer that, but I'm too busy breaking Al Qaeda necks with my bare hands. This February 2004 cover story might point Da Borch in the right direction, though.

As for Reiner, Tim Cavanaugh's August 2002 column on Meathead's "clear and present danger" is here.

Comments

|5.23.05 @ 12:35PM|#

Like a pre-pubescent smoker waiting for Big Tobacco to give me a carton of Marlboro Reds...

Heh, heh... I'm reading and responding to this post at my local cigar shop, enjoying bowel of Cavendish. After that, I will indulge in the infinite pleasures of a Macanudo Hampton Court.

Sadly, there are no children to corrupt with the temptation of the Devil Weed (not THAT one, tobacco), save for the late-teen college students who are puffing on a hookah as I type.

To Hell with you Meathead, you arrogant, pretentious, condescending, lard ass. Your TV-land father-in-law, Archie Bunker, may have had his faults, but he was right to hate the fictional persona that you have gloomed onto in reality.

|5.23.05 @ 12:45PM|#

Oddly enough, that paragraph isn't evern remotely the worst part of the de Borchegrave story.

He bitches because the over-the-top, profiling-based airport security he endoreses actually pulled him out of line, and he's a white conservative and everything!

James Anderson Merritt|5.23.05 @ 1:45PM|#

On the other hand, we should be applauding anyone who points out that draconian, tyrannical methods of dealing with "them" will someday turn around and bite "us," too. Isn't that what libertarians always say? Shouldn't they be cheering when others independently arrive at their same conclusion, even to the point of giving personal anecdotal evidence in demonstration of it?

The problem, of course, is that the lesson frequently taken from complaints like these is NOT that the draconian, tyrannical methods or goals are at fault, but instead that they are being imperfectly implemented, or that the regimen is incomplete and needs to be agumented by additional draconian, tyrannical methods. The Drug War comes to mind as an ongoing example.

|5.23.05 @ 1:56PM|#

Joe:

perhaps I just don't read enough de Borchgrave columns, but, I didn't see anything in that post that indicated that he "endorsed" TSA airport security tactics. He just seemed to be pissed about it. Yes, there's a sense of indignation and pomposity, but, what do you know about this guy that I don't?

|5.23.05 @ 2:10PM|#

Akira said: "enjoying bowel of Cavendish"

I am ignorant in the ways of The Tobacco, but are you literally blowing smoke out your ass?

Fascinating...

|5.23.05 @ 2:14PM|#

Evan,

In his the column, the author doesn't complain about the existence of the list; he doesn't complain about people being subject to greater scrutiny because they're on the list; he complains that the stupid program flagged his name, even though he's a well-known writer, and his name doesn't look Arab at all.

|5.23.05 @ 2:21PM|#

"He bitches because the over-the-top, profiling-based airport security he endoreses actually pulled him out of line, and he's a white conservative and everything!"

Bwahaha! That is what needs to happen more often. If the law were evenly applied, there would be no drug war, and our overall state of civil liberties would be in better shape. Even in today's instant information Total Awareness scene, somehow a great majority of those passing laws and enforcing them are able to correctly conclude that they will remain untouched by their own excesses.

As a cop friend one said, and I'm paraphrasing here, If you want to be a cop and have an impact on the drug war, you need to sign on with a suburban department and be a nazi.

|5.23.05 @ 2:22PM|#

Blah. My delay in hitting post makes me johnny come lately to Mr. Merritt.

|5.23.05 @ 3:53PM|#

Akira said: "enjoying bowel of Cavendish"

I am ignorant in the ways of The Tobacco, but are you literally blowing smoke out your ass?

Fascinating...

Ewwwwwww... well, I stepped into that one.

|5.23.05 @ 7:21PM|#

.... his name doesn't look Arab at all. - joe

But it sure sounds French.

Kevin

|5.23.05 @ 10:44PM|#

Kevrob,

The guy's name is "Arnaud de Borchgrave d'Altena."

How much do want to bet that the list contains the name of a Francophone African named Arnaud al-Tena or somesuch?

|5.24.05 @ 4:59AM|#

Who is this Arnold the Porch Dog, anyway?

|5.24.05 @ 7:15AM|#

Arnaud de Borchgrave is editor at large of The Washington Times and of United Press International. - Washington Times.

He also co-authored a couple of thrillers, notably The Spike, and before joining the WT he was a foreign correspondent for Newsweek.

He was a huge wheel among the "I hate the media" conservatoids in the `80s.

Kevin