Roger Simon FTW

Reince Priebus (rhymes with Benedict Cumberbatch) was elected chairman of the Republican National Committee on the seventh ballot on Jan. 14, 2011, because delegates thought his name was Latin for “none of the above.” He was reelected in 2013 because few Republicans were aware the party even had a chairman and nobody wanted to waste money changing the stationery.

Roger Simon on the Republican clown show:

Reince Priebus (rhymes with Benedict Cumberbatch) was elected chairman of the Republican National Committee on the seventh ballot on Jan. 14, 2011, because delegates thought his name was Latin for “none of the above.” He was reelected in 2013 because few Republicans were aware the party even had a chairman and nobody wanted to waste money changing the stationery.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com

21 thoughts on “Roger Simon FTW”

  1. Can somebody please explain why “Benedict Cumberbatch” is funny? He’s a competent English actor with an odd name, It’s to his credit that he has decided to keep it professionally and not hide under an Identikit Hollywood stage name like Brad Travis.

      1. That one is only for porn stars.
        Issur Danielovitch -> Kirk Douglas
        Roy Harold Scherer -> Rock Hudson
        Emanuel Goldenberg -> Edward G. Robinson
        Norma Jeane Mortenson -> Marilyn Monroe
        Harlean Harlow Carpenter -> Jean Harlow

        1. Bernie Schwartz -> Tony Curtis (actually, that sounds like a porn choice)
          Archibald Alexander Leach -> Cary Grant (that, to me, was the best name choice ever)

        2. Distinctions without a difference. Brad Travis, Kirk Douglas, and Rock Hudson all scan the same as Buck Studley. Grunt Thudthud.

        3. May as well repeat the legend of the introduction of Jean Harlow to Margot Asquith, to whom Harlow said, “How do you do, Margott.” Back came the reply, “No, no, the t is silent, as in Harlow.”

          1. There’s an equally good story told against Margot Asquith (though it many have been Nancy Astor).
            Margot/Nancy, to Churchill: “Winston, if I were your wife, I’d put poison in your coffee.”
            Churchill: “My dear, if you were my wife I’d drink it.”

  2. Best Simon parenthetical…
    File this one under: Forked Tongue

    (When The New York Times revealed that Fox Television Studios is in talks to produce and internationally distribute the NBC miniseries on Hillary, Priebus was perfectly OK with that because Fox is like, well, Fox.)

  3. Well, the Republicans had to force out Michael Steele in a phony scandal.
    1) he was competent.
    2) he persisted in being black even after he was elected.

    1. was he competent? I seem to recall him embarrassing them fairly often, and I don’t remember him accomplishing anything for them, at least so far as I could tell. As to the scandal, it sounded plausible at the time, and I’m still not sure it was phony. Picayun, maybe, but phony?

      1. When he was head of the RNC (2009-2011)they had their best run of elections since 1994. They took the governorships of Virginia and NJ (the 2 biggest elections of 2009), the special senatorial election in Mass., and crushed the Democrats almost everywhere in 2010. He kept the crazies relatively in check (except for Delaware and Nevada) and did nothing but win.
        The scandal was real (and minor, as you point out), but I’m pretty sure there was no real connection to Steele.

        1. The scandal, as I recall, was that the RNC’s budget for data-handling or some such had been poured down the tubes because it was all spent on utterly incompetent consultants/service providers who were lining the pockets of Steele’s chief of staff; I can’t recall whether Steele was personally benefiting, but it was his job not to have things like that happen in his office.

          As to the 2010 Republican wave election: indeed, it happened. As someone who didn’t want it to happen, I am pained that you accuse me of being responsible for it - that is to say, I think I had just about as much to do with it as Steele did. A confluence of heavily funded Tea Party astroturf outfits, Fox News and talk radio, the economy, backlash against progressive gains in 2008, and simple demographics of off-year elections added up to a great election for Republicans - but I’ve never really heard anyone accuse Steele of causing any of those things to happen, and I don’t recall that he spent much time or effort cheerleading the highly effective (if deeply irresponsible, and arguably insane) Tea Party movement, nor that he was an especially effective voice or organizer in any other way.

        2. Previous is from me (I am getting so heartily sick of the RBC commenter-identity cookies bug that’s been going for what, six months now)?

  4. This is one of the funniest things I have read in weeks. Especially considering Roger Simon’s politics.

  5. What is interesting about Cumberbatch is that he decided to return to using the family name which his father, actor Timothy Carlton, had dropped for professional reasons.

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