There could be some merit in Ann Althouse's argument, but my sympathies lie with the commenter who wrote that 2-4 pairs of eyes will never catch what several thousands of pairs can see.

Trust me on this one: I'm a proofreader. I'm astonished sometimes when I read something for the third time, and find out what some ill-meaning person has placed there after the first two readings.

We're also talking about a situation in which the producer was probably not looking for text—he or she probably didn't even know the person who bought the costume.

There's also the issue of how carefully one would have to shoot to get the fragment "NIG" to appear properly on the "GOOD NIGHT" pajamas. There's no way you'd get that on the first take if that's really what you were going for.

So all we need to know is how many re-takes there were on that particular shot. That will tell us.

UPDATE: More on "NigGate" from Althouse.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 08:29 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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There's one thing I'd like us to think about as we analyze the remarks Michelle Obama makes during this campaign: is she going to be a co-President, or not?"

I don't know the answer, but those who claim that Hillary Clinton has no "real" experience because she did not govern during the years her husband was President must see that logic all the way through, and discount the speeches Michelle Obama makes.

If First Ladies don't make policy, they don't make policy. If they do, they do.

I do understand that the truth is really a case-by-case thing, depending on the structure of a given marriage—which in turn has to do with deal-making behind closed doors, in, um, rooms that aren't filled with smoke but have other things in the air. But those who simply wave their hands and label Senator Clinton "inexperienced" should not be taking Michelle Obama's speeches as seriously as they appear to be doing. Instead, they should merely be questioning Senator O. on what role he has in mind for his wife in a potential Obama Presidency.

Too much hand-wringing, too few questions.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 06:25 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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It isn't that there's anything wrong with someone having the middle name "Hussein." It's just that it happens to be the same last name of a freakin' dictator that we just freakin' displaced from power, and who was executed by his own people.

It's not racist exactly, though there are certainly Islamic parts of Africa, and there's a relationship in this country between black people and Islam that makes some people jittery—and did long before 9/11. (Many of these people are Jewish, and some of them in turn have fears about how black people feel, as a group, toward Jews. Fortunately, they are mistaken: no one feels anything as a group any more. Thank goodness.)

Normally, I'm very anti-taboo. Make that anti-fuckin' taboo, Nigga. But I truly have been suspicious about some of those who throw the name "Hussein" out there as if it were not a loaded name, and then look at one rather innocently and announce that, hey—it is his real name, so how could they possibly have darker motives for uttering it? (Or writing it?)

Well, some of them could, and some of them do.

Though I do like (most of) Nathan Thornburgh's analysis in Time:

The real problem is that if the right wants to start a whispering campaign about the name Hussein, Obama is only helping them. By cutting short the discussion, Obama is banishing his name to the voters' subconscious, where the dark opposites of hope — bigotry and fear — can turn the word over and over again in their minds until November.

The same day that Cunningham was dropping H-bombs on Cincinnati, Obama was at the Democratic debate in Cleveland, hastily accepting Hillary Clinton's assertion that she didn't order the leak of a picture of Obama wearing a turban in Kenya. "I think that's something we can set aside," he said.

It was a missed opportunity. He could have explained that he has nothing to hide. Explained why there's nothing wrong with him dressing in ceremonial clothes on official visits — like batik Bill in Indonesia in 1994 or headscarf Hillary in Eritrea in 1997. Maybe even explained why his middle name is Hussein — what his heritage means, and what it doesn't mean. In short, to reintroduce himself to those general election voters who are just starting to pay closer attention.

No matter what his advisers say, Obama wins nothing by shying away from his differences.

If I were Obama, I'd start saying the full name myself: Barack Hussein Obama, Barack Hussein Obama. But because I do know that there are some bigots out there who use the middle name to score free points while maintaining plausible deniability, I'll pass on doing so myself, and I'd encourage other center-right writers to analyze what, exactly, they are trying to accomplish when they use Obama's full name.

Byron York at NRO's The Corner has it exactly right:

Now, it is one thing to report Obama's full name — that's completely fair. In addition, it seems illustrative of the Obama phenomenon that so many Democrats have gotten so excited about him and don't even know his name. On the other hand, it's another thing to regularly refer to him by his full name when you would not otherwise do so — that is, were it not "Hussein."

Hopefully that won't catch on.

After all, who among us chooses our middle names?

—Joy Mary May W. McCann,
younger sister to Tiger Allyn [Whitebread], and
overprotective/well-armed older sister to the lovely A. Sedika [+ Whitebread maiden name + Irish married name]; they sometimes come across the bleached bones of people who've called young A. a "towel head," but you're encouraged to try . . . after all, I need the target practice.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 02:30 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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. . . when Fred Armisen is judged by the content of his caricature character, rather than the color of his skin.

Via Insty.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:45 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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