Teh Google
| Wed Feb. 25, 2009 3:33 PM PST
In his column today, Michael Gerson tells us that at a recent meeting of conservative activists, Bobby Jindal didn't talk much about personal history or social hot button issues:
Instead, he uncorked a fluent, substantive rush of policy proposals and achievements, covering workforce development, biodiesel refineries, quality assurance centers, digital media, Medicare parts C and D, and state waivers to the CMS (whatever that is).
Italics mine. Brad DeLong snarks, "At the very least, a columnist for the Post should hide his ignorance rather than be proud of it."
But what Gerson is actually doing here is using the time honored rhetorical trope of feigned ignorance to suggest to his audience that Jindal must be some kind of rocket scientist. This is something that I used to do occasionally too, but it's really not possible anymore and Gerson should know that. Why? Because the web makes research too easy. If you Google "CMS" the very first hit is Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. It takes five seconds. Outside of things like live panels, it's a very 20th century affectation to showily pretend not to know this kind of stuff anymore.
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Comments
Gerson is a tool and a hack,
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Feb. 25, 2009 4:09 PM PST.
Gerson is a tool and a hack, but talk about overreacting. "Yew failed to do the praper reeserch for your column." Why especially at this moment, when Gerson is a laughingstock for this column. "it's a very 20th century affectation to showily pretend not to know this kind of stuff anymore." Listen to yourself.
CMS
Submitted by Donald A. Coffin (not verified) on Wed Feb. 25, 2009 7:51 PM PST.
Well, the name is Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but the acronym everyone in the health care biz uses is CMS. I suppose because it's two Centers, actually--the Center for Medicare Services and the Center for Medicaid Services.
Instead, he uncorked a
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Feb. 25, 2009 5:45 PM PST.
Instead, he uncorked a fluent, substantive rush of policy proposals and achievements, covering workforce development, biodiesel refineries, quality assurance centers, digital media, Medicare parts C and D, and state waivers to the CMS.
I'd also be a bit concerned that a journalist can judge a "rush" of proposals and achievements without knowing what some of them are. Does Gerson understand what "substantive" is all about?
Wilful Ignorance
Submitted by SteveHigh on Wed Feb. 25, 2009 5:54 PM PST.
I think Gerson, like a variety of writers and editors from the Weekly Standard to the Indian Express, are simply too lazy to spend five seconds on Google. You give Gerson too much credit for fancy rhetoric.
By contast, adhering to at least minimal journalistic standards in a different story, a Mississippi newspaper uses the full name first, followed by "CMS" on second reference.
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090224/NEWS/902240341/-1/frontpag...
Note: It is CMS, not CMMS.
Al, you should do as Kevin
Submitted by markmywords (not verified) on Wed Feb. 25, 2009 6:16 PM PST.
Al, you should do as Kevin did and actually google CMS. The result is belowed, copied and pasted right from Google:
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
US federal agency which administers Medicare, Medicaid, and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Provides information for health professionals, ...
www.cms.hhs.gov/ - 24k - Cached - Similar pages -
excuse me: below, not
Submitted by markmywords (not verified) on Wed Feb. 25, 2009 6:17 PM PST.
excuse me: below, not belowed.
To be fair
Submitted by spensercat on Wed Feb. 25, 2009 6:21 PM PST.
To be fair I think Gerson might have been referring to the concept of "state waivers to the CMS" not just "CMS". That's a bit more complicated and would have required potentially 30 seconds on google.
If he didn't understand what
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Feb. 25, 2009 6:35 PM PST.
If he didn't understand what Jindal was talking about, how did he know it wasn't all bullshit? Oh yeah he's a pundit I forgot for a second. It's not like his job description includes analysis and explanation of current topics so that us rubes can understand stuff.
More to the point:
Submitted by MaynardHandley on Wed Feb. 25, 2009 7:52 PM PST.
More to the point: "biodiesel refineries" WTF?
Do the republicans even pretend that their worldview makes sense any more?
Yesterday he's complaining about the government handling volcano monitoring, as clear an example of a public good as you're going to get; now he's proposing the government get involved in a field that seems pretty clearly to be well handled by the private sector!
[For the record, I agree completely with the argument that the negative externalities in all aspected of traditional petro-fuels are problematic. But the cleanest solution to this is to price those externalities appropriately with things like a carbon tax (to handle the CO2 externalities), and perhaps a "security" tax (to handle the various costs associated with mideast oil); and if the GOP had the slightest intelligence they would propose the same things.
Instead we get this same crowd that tell us all the time how government can't do anything right, now telling us that they are the best educated people to decide that bio-diesel is a better solution than, eg, ethanol from algae.]
It was a joke, Kevin. And
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Feb. 25, 2009 10:33 PM PST.
It was a joke, Kevin.
And you pretend to now know this so that you can put up some asinine posting because you didn't like the actual substance of Gerson's writing.
Wow
Submitted by Mary Contrary (not verified) on Thu Feb. 26, 2009 5:33 AM PST.
Busted on his previously inane post, Al now retreats to the cover of Anonymous and the use of 3 syllable words as a cover for his half-wit musings. Bravo! Very Republican of you.
However, Kevin, you did get it wrong. In Firefox, the method is:
1. Double-click on the word.
2. Right click and choose "Search Google for 'word'"
3. Left click.
This process takes approximately 1.5 seconds, leaving you an additional 3.5 seconds to apply for Gerson's job.
Why is this here?
Submitted by TimesSquare (not verified) on Thu Feb. 26, 2009 8:23 AM PST.
What in God's name is the point of this post, Drum? This is a prime example of how you swim in the fountain of triviality. You're reduced to nitpicking the semantics of sarcasm in the Post! One of the most poorly written periodicals in the US. Talk about low hanging fruit. This post has revealed to me nothing about nothing, save for your inability to justify your position at MoJo. If you can't say anything important don't say anything at all.
"This post has revealed to
Submitted by Waingro (not verified) on Thu Feb. 26, 2009 10:05 AM PST.
"This post has revealed to me nothing about nothing, save for your inability to justify your position at MoJo. If you can't say anything important don't say anything at all."
Oh, shut the F up. Either apply your own principle to your comment or try to relax.
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Franck Muller
Submitted by Hermes replica (not verified) on Wed Nov. 18, 2009 4:30 AM PST.
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