Academics are terrified of looking stupid–that’s why we make so many jokes about stupidity. In politics though–well, insert your favorite Bush quote. But politicians don’t want to look insincere.
“Some people have criticized the United States and the United States military for guarding oil fields and not guarding the Iraqi National Museum which had priceless antiquities in it. They say that this shows a fundamental lack of respect for Iraqi history. I want to remind those people of this: The oldest relics in the museum, 5,000 or 6,000 years old. That oil is 65 million years old.”
Jon Stewart
Philip Greenspun (check out his Harry-Potter analysis of the $100 million-a-year manager) has the most honest-sounding tagline I’ve ever seen on a blog: ” an interesting idea every three months; a posting every day”! Well, at least Greenspun probably meant it to be sincere. In fact, interesting posts show up a lot more often than he claims. Matt Drudge could make a nice case that they show up daily.
Dave Winer was kind enough to link to me as a supporter of Howard Dean, so it’s only fair to return the favor by linking to his pitch for Greenspun for president. But now, just days into his campaign, Greenspun could already be vulnerable to <drumroll>
Tagline-gate
I hope Winer and Greenspun read my blog and decide to throw their support to Dean instead. Maybe Greenspun in 2008, Dave….