The Atlantic gets the ‘record’ hilariously wrong on Aragorn, son of Arathorn.

Didn’t read the books, huh, Richards?

Imagine a man, one who lives in a stretch of vaguely frightening forest somewhere up north. And imagine that he wants to be your benevolent dictator. His pitch: Remove the current leadership. Destroy a neighboring nation and kill its populace. Then, conquer most of the continent. And somewhere in there, he’d also like to restore traditional values to the country, whatever that means. And he says he gets to do so because, 40 generations ago, some of his ancestors were in charge. His name is Aragorn, and he’s the good guy.

Continue reading The Atlantic gets the ‘record’ hilariously wrong on Aragorn, son of Arathorn.

#Obamacare exchanges: June myth versus October reality.

Here’s a fun game: see how far you can get in this Atlantic Obamacare puff piece from June 2013 before you erupt in involuntary laughter!

As the first website to be demonstrated by a sitting President of the United States, Healthcare.gov already occupies an unusual place in history. In October, it will take on an even more important historic role, guiding millions of Americans through the process of choosing health insurance.

…I broke down at ‘millions.’  Although if I had managed to keep it together for that then I would have still completely lost it when I saw the Atlantic’s, ah, overly optimistic graphic on the Obamacare signup procedure.  This is a much more accurate representation of how the process is actually working right now: Continue reading #Obamacare exchanges: June myth versus October reality.

Legions of Editors & Fact-Checkers Watch: The Atlantic poll cherrypicking.

Please note that I am not making the accusation that overt racism has anything to do with Mr. Good’s ill-crafted attack on Governor Bobby Jindal.

(H/T: Instapundit) The Atlantic’s Chris Good, on Governor Jindal’s (correct) observation that polls show that the public does not support the Democrats’ health care plans:

Of the most recent, reliable, non-partisan major polls–a Sept. 12 Washington Post/ABC survey, an Economist/YouGov survey released Sept. 15, and a Sept. 25 NY Times/CBS poll–only the first shows Americans opposed to Democratic plans (48 percent to 52 percent); the other two show Americans in favor, though NY Times/CBS found that 46 percent say they don’t know enough to decide.

Slate’s Mickey Kaus, after noting that Good unaccountably ignored Economist/YouGov polls done after September 15th, not to mention some others that destroyed Good’s narrative, provides a correction:

Of the most recent, reliable, non-partisan major polls–a Sept. 12 Washington Post/ABC survey, an Economist/YouGov survey released Sept. 29, and a Sept. 25 NY Times/CBS poll–two of the three show Americans opposed to Democratic plans. The only one showing even a plurality in favor is the wacky NY Times/CBS survey that managed to generate a 46 percent undecided number. [E.A.]

I know that the Atlantic is getting to be one of those places that seem to be overly tolerant of bizarre conspiracy theories, but this is bush-league stuff – and easily checked. One wonders why nobody did.

Or why nobody’s fixed this yet, either.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Ross Douthat to replace Bill Kristol at NYT.

Starting online, then going to print.

A year ago I would have called that a step down for Douthat. Then again, a year ago Andrew Sullivan hadn’t decided yet to start stalking Sarah Palin online. Since the Atlantic is apparently institutionally fine with that, hey, any port in a storm.

Via The Other McCain, who is even now discovering that God is an iron*.

Moe Lane

*Goes like this: if a felon is someone who commits a felony, then somebody who commits irony is an…

Crossposted to RedState.