Tinfoil Time
The Corner hits a new low of absurdity:
Now here’s a subversive little thought about that Khalidi tape that the Los Angeles Times is guarding like a cargo of plutonium.
* Item: The Los Angeles Times is owned by the Tribune Co.
* Item: The Tribune Co. is based in Chicago.
* Item: “In 2008, Tribune is struggling under a $13 billion debt load, much of it incurred in taking the company private in 2007, and from plummeting advertising income at its newspapers.” (Wikipedia. A business friend tells me the current figure is actually $14.7 billion.)
* Item: Tribune Chairman and CEO Sam Zell is a major Republican donor. Why would he not want his paper to release the Khalidi tape?
* Item: The federal government is sitting on a bailout fund of $700 billion.
* Item: It’s not likely the Treasury can disburse more than one or two hundred billion of that before the next administration comes in.
* Item: The next administration will therefore have at least half a trillion greenies to hand out to anyone it deems worthy of being bailed out. Anyone — there are no hard and fast rules.
* Item: 14.7 billion is a very small proportion — less than three percent — of half a trillion.
Again, the tape is not being released because the LA Times was given the tape under the condition that they not release it. The only reason anyone knows of the tape’s existence is that the LA Times wrote a story revealing its existence and describing its content. If the LA Times were conspiring to keep the tape covered up, all they would have had to do would have been to not run the story. But they did run the story. Because they’re not perpetuating a cover-up.
29 Responses to “Tinfoil Time”
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October 31st, 2008 at 9:23 am
I tip my tin-foil hat to John Derbyshire. A fine day to you sir.
October 31st, 2008 at 9:27 am
No, no, no. You’ve got it all wrong. You see, the LA Times revealed the existence of the tape, but not it’s content, as a way of blackmailing the next administration!
October 31st, 2008 at 9:27 am
But this is the news. Not Palin, not McCain’s misstatements, flip-flops, and lies. But this absurdity.
October 31st, 2008 at 9:28 am
Gah … I meant “its content” not “it’s content”. All this tin on my head is interfering with my grammarization and spellification.
October 31st, 2008 at 9:31 am
I expected this from one of the others, but not from
Derbyshire, who seems to have some background and
mathematics and logic. Just goes to show that some
brains have areas disconnected from each other.
October 31st, 2008 at 9:34 am
Silly Matt, using facts and reason again.
October 31st, 2008 at 9:39 am
Most of the other Cornerites appear to hate Derbyshire (or just ignore him). I often wonder how or why he stays with National Review. A good friend of Derb is a frequent commentator on this blog (and purged contributor to NR) so perhaps he can explain it to us.
October 31st, 2008 at 9:41 am
Item: In 1608, the head of the Rosicrucian Order predicted that “He who comes last shall usher in He who would come first.”
Item: In the US, many orderings are alphabetical.
Item: “Zell” starts with “Z,” the last letter in the alphabet.
Item: Obama clearly believes he is, or wants to be seen, as the Messiah.
October 31st, 2008 at 9:42 am
The bailout fund is allowed to be used to bailout privately-owned newspaper companies? I thought it was for the financial sector specifically. This doesn’t even make sense on its face.
October 31st, 2008 at 9:43 am
OMG! That was Derb?!?! Tragic.
October 31st, 2008 at 9:49 am
On the other hand the item about the Tribune being based in Chicago turned out to be an odd red herring. I thought he was heading in the direction of Obama having hypnotized everyone in Chicago and that was how he got Zell to micromanage editorial decisions in LA. But instead it turned out to have absolutely nothing to do with the argument (I know calling it an argument is a bit much) at all.
The other oddity is that the National Review seems to pretend it is journalism, only with a conservative slant. It would seem to under cut this when it runs items predicated on a lack of understanding about how journalism works.
October 31st, 2008 at 10:24 am
A good friend of Derb is a frequent commentator on this blog (and purged contributor to NR) so perhaps he can explain it to us.
Who’s that?
Did anyone read this and think Mickey Kaus was guest-posting at the Corner?
October 31st, 2008 at 10:27 am
What’s funny is that “Derb” is the sane one over at the Corner – He often takes pleasure making JPod look foolish.
Derb is probably just offering some candy for his crazy colleagues.
Read Mark Steyn for some real looniness (he still thinks his old boss will be found innocent) re Obama fundraising conspiracy theory. Or Andy McCarthy – a complete flouride-type
October 31st, 2008 at 10:31 am
Apolgies – didn’t mean to suggest Derb was sane – just relatively sane. Ofcourse he is a crazy winger who speaks
of casually “rubbling” countries. But he is not a conspiracy theorist in the Steyn sense. At least, not ’til now.
October 31st, 2008 at 10:52 am
I thought it deserved more attention when the Corner took the position that homeless people should not be allowed to vote. Who’s anti-American now? (Well, Lisa Schiffren said it, but no one else seemed to think the idea was even worth remarking.)
October 31st, 2008 at 11:13 am
It is clear that right wingers simply ignore the explanations that don’t serve their partisan needs. It is a complete denial of reality. This LA Times example and the total ignoring of Colin Powell’s substantive reasons for endorsing Obama are good cases of this.
October 31st, 2008 at 11:37 am
Look, the McCain campaign does not want the tape released, their entire attack campaign is focused on “what we don’t know”; as soon as we know what is on the tape, the focus will shift to something else we don’t know, like what was happening in the bathroom, or behind the cameraman, or after the camera was turned off, or if the whole tape was released, etc. If it is released now, someone will claim that it took so long because they had to mess with the audio, or even reassemble the entire cast to make an innocent version.
You can’t invoke the sinister imagination with facts, only with the lack of them. (Think of watching a thriller, since today is Halloween, most of the time nothing is happening, just suspense building, then false moments of danger.)
Boo!
October 31st, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Look, it’s one thing to give hundreds of billions to failed and failing financial institutions. But a bailout of the Chicago Cubs? That’s just downright crazy.
October 31st, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Although I agree with tomj (#17) that McCain probably doesn’t really want the tape released, but let’s assume for the sake of argument that, as Derb believes, the LAT is disregarding McCain’s desire that they release it: doesn’t Derb’s logic mean that Zell is backing the wrong horse here? I mean, if the tape is so damaging, why wouldn’t Zell release it in order to please McCain, then sit back and collect those same 14.7 billion greenies from the candidate he prefers anyway, as McCain sweeps into office? And if the answer is that BHO is so far ahead that the tape doesn’t matter, why would Obama have any interest in some quid-pro-quo, “you hold the tape and I’ll buy you off with bailout money” deal? Just silly.
October 31st, 2008 at 12:43 pm
A few years ago, the Gallo’s gave $1 million in donations and – purely as a coincidence – eventually legislation was passed that saved them $30 million or so (IIRC).
Despite that and all the other examples, I’m sure MattY is right and no one would base a decision on a faulty notion about who’s going to win and currying favor with them.
I am absolutely positive that MattY is right and we shouldn’t even consider this possibility, because the LAT is a real news organization that has never covered things up in order to help themselves or others (24ahead.com/blog/archives/003602.html).
P.S. MattY should be happy that many BHO opponents are too lame to push this plan.
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