Late October 2012: John Podhoretz Badly Needs Some Better Friends than Fred Barnes...
: John Podhoretz Badly Needs Some Better Friends than Fred Barnes...: Watch Fred Barnes snooker John Podhoretz in real time...
And then watch Podhoretz get angry at those of us who point out to him that Barnes has snookered him https://twitter.com/jpodhoretz:
John Podhoretz @jpodhoretz: Correcting earlier tweet: Battleground poll Romney 52-47. In response, Nate Silver raises Obama victory likelihood to 99 44/100 % pure
John Podhoretz @jpodhoretz: link to [Fred Barnes] Battleground Poll story: http://www.weeklystandard.com/new-poll-projects-romney-52-obama-47/article/658066
But Fred Barnes was lying to his audience--including John.
Someone clues Podhoretz in that Barnes is lying to him:
John Podhoretz @jpodhoretz: OK, somebody's wrong. Fred Barnes says Battleground has Romney by 5, Politico says Obama by 1.
John Podhoretz @jpodhoretz: @HotlineJosh Very strange. Barnes piece is very specific.
John Podhoretz @jpodhoretz: @HotlineJosh hmmm
John Podhoretz @jpodhoretz: @bobdoty it's their poll!
John Podhoretz @jpodhoretz: Sorry for confusion. Battleground poll: 49-48O. Battleground PROJECTION of final vote: 52-47R.
John Podhoretz @jpodhoretz: @LoganDobson the reporting in this poll this morning is a bit of a mess.
I.e.: Barnes got it wrong...
John Podhoretz @jpodhoretz: @jpodhoretz @LoganDobson on this poll, I mean
John Podhoretz @jpodhoretz: @delong seems like the confusion over al, this is general across the Internets.
John Podhoretz @jpodhoretz: The battleground poll will be reported as "Obama +1". Out of 1000 respondents, 484 chose Romney, 487 chose Obama. It's just rounding.
John Podhoretz @jpodhoretz: "Movement" from the last week's poll? 4 fewer respondents (actual number, not %) went for Mitt, 12 more for Obama. Margin of error stuff.
John Podhoretz @jpodhoretz: @delong don't insult my friend [i.e., Fred Barnes]
John Podhoretz @jpodhoretz: This is a very close race. #captainobvioustweets
John Podhoretz @jpodhoretz: @delong you are evidently even more of a jerk than your jerky blog would have led me to believe.
Funny, yes.
But there is something serious to be written here about Orwell, "1984", and the ability of the Inner Party to keep its understanding of the world separate from the propaganda they feed to the Outer Party and to the proles.
Anybody feel like writing it so that I can link to it?
UPDATE 2016: Still to be written. Is John Podhoretz capable of figuring out when he is one of the con artists and when he is one of the marks of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy? Is he even interested in figuring out when he is one of the con artists and when he is one of the marks? And how often does Fred Barnes piss on his leg and tell him it is raining anyway?
