But You Lack the Real Data!
By Matt suggests that Walker is almost certainly overreaching in his politically selective attacks on the collective bargaining rights of public employees. As the protests continue, the polling data backs this up. However, these observers with their “scientific public opinion surveys” are missing the bigger picture that can be found by “projecting one’s own reactionary authoritarianism onto the public at large.” As the punchline to the nutty post Thers discusses — which ruins a perfectly good “Peter Yarrow: History’s Second-Greatest Monster” argument by getting very upset about double entendres about pot in 60s folk songs, which explains a lot — Althouse tells us the real story:
Why weren’t there better celebrities? Perhaps there are inside polls on how this protest is playing out around the country and people don’t want their names dragged into it.
See, if you just had the super-top-secret detailed public opinion data being compiled as we speak in a Williamsburg office by Dave Longstreth and Tunde Adebimpe, you’d know that the American public totally shares the idea that the antiseptic tour experience should trump free speech and democracy, and this data certainly must govern the choices of virtually every band in America. I mean, can you think of another explanation why hipper and more prominent musicians can’t come to play an outdoor show in Madison in the middle of winter with no notice? Me neither!
The conservative war on parody is really intensifying: your typical Onion parody might actually be more plausible than a conservative blogger’s speculations in dead earnest.