Quotes of the Day - Pseudo-centrist Hackery and BHO Leadership Nonsense

Wingnut: "2 + 2 is 5!"

Krgthulu: "No, 2 + 2 is 4!"

Brooks: "This is a competition between partial truths, and the True Path to Wisdom, as always and everywhere, is to find the proper balance between them. Therefore, I discern the Deep Truth that 2 + 2 is 4.5."

Krgthulu: "No, you're both wrong, 2 + 2 is neither 5 nor 4.5, it's just 4 and that's all there is to it."

Brooks: "See? See? He's just a partisan!"

------ Slimhazard, commenting on Johnathan Chaits's article

Chait speaks to the role of opinion journalism.  He goes on to point out some guidelines for opinion journalists that are worthwhile for anyone who wants to engage in rational discourse, itemized below.  See the link for elaboration.

1)  Be intellectually consistent.
2)  Don't debate straw men.
3)  Guard against more than one kind of bias.
4)  If you’re going to write something that’s completely self-aggrandizing, you should probably own up to it.

H/T to Scott Lemieux at LGM, who also quotes Charlie Pierce giving MoDo the FJM treatment.

My favorite snippet from that brilliant snark-fest:

From the available evidence (again), and for all the relevance her insights have on what's actually going on in American politics, Dowd once again seems to be writing from an assisted-living facility on the far side of a world Beyond The Planet Of The Ultra-Vixens.