The First Crack in the Liberaltarian Alliance? (Veiled Subscription Pitch.)

David Weigel | December 6, 2006

My first reaction to this house ad on the The Nation's website was "Gee, this is the kind of ad P.J. O'Rourke would joke about liberal magazine readers responding to." But no; it's real.

Yes, it's an Al Gore snowman melting under the heat of our fast-warming climate. $30 for a year isn't bad, though. And worth considering, once you've purchased an even more afforable subscription to Reason.

Comments

Guy Montag|12.6.06 @ 4:06PM|#

That makes as much sense as purchasing a copy of The New Republic while the Google trick is still working.

Actually, it makes less sense to me, but that's just me.

|12.6.06 @ 4:12PM|#

While this ad is not hilarious, it is kinda funny...the kinda stuff I figured libertarians might get a chuckle out of. Guess I got that one wrong.

|12.6.06 @ 4:12PM|#

OK, what's the "google trick?" All that link led to was a blog post about people seeking roommates.

|12.6.06 @ 4:18PM|#

Madpad,

I think it is a pretty funny ad to. Al Gore is such an overly earnest, smug, bastard. The ad plays on that perfectly. I am frankly suprised the folks over at TNR were self depricating enough to do it.

Guy Montag|12.6.06 @ 4:19PM|#

andy,

The beginning of the post has the instructions for the Google trick. The part that says "I finally found a freebie copy: click here then open the first link in a new window".

Sorry for hiding it in the first line of text.

|12.6.06 @ 4:25PM|#

I thought it was funny because it looks like he is talking out of his nose. Am I the only who saw that?

|12.6.06 @ 4:29PM|#

I, too, am confused about this "google trick." I clicked the links. *bafflement*
Is the trick really to search for subscriber pages by only clicking on Google's cache?

|12.6.06 @ 4:33PM|#

The Kim Jong-il/Dr Strangelove ad is just as funny.

The Wine Commonsewer|12.6.06 @ 4:41PM|#

Hi, ignore the first link and click the next one that says the first link. It works nicely, but you still have to sign in to read the entire article. I always use plastic as the user id and plastic as the password. Works on most sites.

|12.6.06 @ 4:42PM|#

I think it's pretty funny. I'm surprised The Nation would run it. It's odd they would make light of what seems to be the most sacred of lefty causes at the current time. Were the ad for a conservative magazine I'd read it as satire.

|12.6.06 @ 4:51PM|#

Ah, you still need to log in. So, what's the trick then?

|12.6.06 @ 5:01PM|#

I thought they were trying to make Gore more Jesus-like with that weird glow aruond his head.

The Wine Commonsewer|12.6.06 @ 5:06PM|#

Well, good point Hi#. I guess it means you don't have to pay or give up any personal information, which of course, is my trick, the plastic/plastic thing.

The Wine Commonsewer|12.6.06 @ 5:07PM|#

maybe there's a different trick I'm missing, some kind of back door tied into those links.

Guy Montag|12.6.06 @ 5:24PM|#

Drat! It is now broken.

But The Wine Commonsewer's plastic trick works.

Frequently (like when I wrote that JE) you can toss a few of the articles key words in and Google brings it up first link and you can click through to a free copy.

|12.6.06 @ 5:27PM|#

Guy Montag, is it possible we could get through a thread today without your posting a link to your Slashdot journal?

|12.6.06 @ 5:39PM|#

I don't see the Al Gore ad. But then again, I'm running Firefox and have installed the Flashblock and Adblock extensions.

The Wine Commonsewer|12.6.06 @ 5:54PM|#

Guy, I may have missed something important in my perusal of your sites, but I would be mightily impressed if you have a Dodge with 318 two barrel that's turning 14 second quarter mile times.

Nolan|12.6.06 @ 6:26PM|#

Mars is warming as well Venus is colling so this might be a natural occurence

|12.6.06 @ 7:13PM|#

The ad is kind of clever. But I don't think I'm going to read the Nation unless they pay me $30 a year. For one, you can see an awful lot of their content online. For another, I already read the New Yorker, which, these days, is like the Nation with more cartoons.

|12.6.06 @ 7:51PM|#

I give Tom a +5 (or whatever it is that slashdotters do).

|12.6.06 @ 9:37PM|#

I'm guessing that the "google trick" is to google the names of all the articles they won't let you read for free. Usually a with a big newsmag, most of them get posted in the blogosphere under the fair use doctrine.

That ad is amazing! It would've been funnier if Reason had done it, but it's funny nevertheless!

|12.6.06 @ 9:50PM|#

Glad you told me it was AlGore. I was pretty sure it was Joltin' Joe Stalin minus his trademark 'stache.

|12.6.06 @ 11:13PM|#

My question is why is Samsung advertising the NFL on The Nation!!! and not on reason?!!!

Are The Nation readers more dominated by sports loving men than reason? Seems unlikely. Most leftist events I been to have a huge portion of women who you can tell by looking at them don't watch sports and men, trying to get in their pants who at least sport an anti- or nuetral sport attitude. While libertarians I met have been 80% men :( and more likely to be into sports though certainly a higher quotent of anti- or nuetral sports fans than the general public --

NFL adverts on The Nation and not at Reason -- curious minds want to know -- why man why?

Guy Montag|12.7.06 @ 12:06AM|#

Tom,
No.

my Reason experience.

Matt, pay attention and use the plastic trick.

Wine, the hybrid is not even near the 14s yet.

|12.7.06 @ 12:10AM|#

Al Gore is such an overly earnest, smug, bastard.

How can you say that; Anne Heche thinks he's adorable...

Sarcastro|12.7.06 @ 8:55AM|#

I could have sworn that was Boris Yeltsin.

|12.7.06 @ 10:30AM|#

YES. Yeltsin. Thank you. Someone else, too, a B-movie actor I can't think of. Probably played mobsters.

|12.7.06 @ 11:50AM|#

"I don't see the Al Gore ad. But then again, I'm running Firefox and have installed the Flashblock and Adblock extensions."

Hmmm. Maybe the large empty space I see in the middle of the page is where the ad would be if I weren't using Camino, and if I had Flash.

|12.7.06 @ 12:07PM|#

George Raft, now that you mention it.

I couldn't tell it was Gore either, maybe it's the Gore from the second debate?

|12.7.06 @ 12:24PM|#

Actually, the melting Al kinda looks like Stalin if he were to have ever shaved off the moustache. Creepy!

|12.7.06 @ 3:21PM|#

I had trouble recognizing it as Gore for a moment. I have to admit, I went, "What the Hell, The Nation is showing a Stalin snowman?" until I looked closer.

|12.8.06 @ 12:46AM|#

Someone else, too, a B-movie actor I can't think of. Probably played mobsters.

John Garfield...