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‘Kraut-hammer.’ Very droll, Newsweek.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  October 18th, 2009 at 03:43 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter, in the process of telling the Democrats that they need to da*n the torpedoes and go full speed ahead, drops this gem:

Charles Kraut-hammer doesn’t represent any swing voters.

Not having the print edition of Newsweek handy – like pretty much the rest of America – I don’t know if this is reproduced there. But I’m curious: is the ethnic sneer there Alter’s, or his editor’s? I suspect it’s the latter, actually; but you never know.

Moe Lane

PS: What? No, actually, the Democrats should totally listen to Alter. Really. Please.

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

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COMMENTS

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  • Wayne

    probably decided together, over a soy latte, that it was just so funny. So, they went with it. As it’ll be weeks before anyone in a doctor’s office reads it, it makes no difference. Except to reflect very badly on their parents and their upbringing.

  • bk

    I’m surprised they didn’t say something like:
    “No swing voters stand with Charles Kraut-hammer”

  • kowalski

    You knew the attacks on his name were coming several months ago, because he’s been one of the best observers and commentators on the Obama administration. So now they have to try to smear him, too.

  • kowalski

    It’s very rare, even in print, to have a surname hyphenated by software during the typesetting process. The dash was deliberate.

  • itsallverbatim

    than they do the liberal buffoons at Newsweek, I guarantee that.

  • Warrior

    when it suits their tastes.

    Just another talentless leftie trying delegitimize a true intellect who casually and effortlessly destroys the left’s most cherished conceits every time he speaks or publishes.

    It’s schoolyard name-calling at best. If Charles Krauthammer had half his brain removed, he would still be smarter than Jonathan Alter by an order of magnitude. Hate it for ‘ya Johnny…

  • mikefisk

    So, technically, both your assumptions are correct.

  • kowalski

    To go through several past months of Newsweak and see if there are any other hyphenated surnames in their print or online editions.

    For example: “Bar-ack Oba-ma” or “Moh-hammed” or “Chom-sky.”

    My educated guess is that there aren’t any.

    Of course, in the same piece, Alter drops this one also:

    Finally, the deliberations concerning Afghanistan are shadowed by a sense on the part of Democrats that they became too dovish after Vietnam and now need to assert their foreign-policy manhood.

    He’s using a lot of dashes for emphasis throughout the piece, including a couple that are flatly incorrect. Nobody puts a dash between “foreign” and “policy” in a sentence, unless they’re still in fifth-grade. Or their editors-are. ;)

    So maybe this is all part of some new style at Newsweak…

  • jsmiddleton4

    Only way people would get that is if they could think through to the fact that he is a parapelegic from a spinal cord injury.

  • jsmiddleton4

    My guess is Charles is probably more amused by it than anything else. Has got to be what the bazillionth time someone has pulled this junior high insult?

    Sad statement about the conditions at Newsweek hey?

  • http://keydesignsllc.com bkeyser

    on the same webpage, at the bottom right of the article text is a “mutimedia” window with the headline “Obama gets tough question from a fourth grader.” Now, that alone says more than I could ever begin to about the state of this presidency, (Are you smarter than a 5th grader? Nooooo-oooo.) but coupled with the fact that the question was the infamous, “why people hate you?”, tells you the intellectual depth of questioning Barry’s had to answer.

    Funny thing is, he basically filibustered the answer.

  • Warrior

    when he has to share a “Great American Panel” on Hannity with Juan Williams. Everytime Williams opens his mouth with another tired, disingenuous, illogical, leftist platitude, Mr. Krauthammer can hardly keep his composure.

    Lord, I know how he feels. I stopped watching the formerly main stream media national news shows and reading the local communist rag in the early nineties for the same reason. I could barely contain myself.

    If I had the money, I would create a news response show in which tapes of CNN, MSNBC, ABC, GMA, and all the rest from the day before would be rerun and stopped at every lie and distortion. Then a realist commentator would explain how the “news” is being slanted.

    Herman Cain wrote a piece recently on how the left tries to control the debate using SIN: Shift the focus, Ignore the truth and call opponents Names. Maybe we could get him to host our “Deconstructing Left Wing Propaganda Posing As ‘News’ ” show. What fun. I truly believe, many so-called swing voters really are not aware of the degree to which they are being lied to by socialist spin- meisters…

  • penguin2

    any of his Leftist friends will ever be. He is not only an incredible intellectual, but he has a very interesting personal history. Starting with the fact that he was completely paralyzed from the neck down in a diving accident many years while in medical school. It just goes to show how vile and low they are.

    Read this

  • martellus

    This is not good at all. All civility is beginning to break down. This just is not good.

  • http://hillbillypolitics.com Steph C

    You wouldn’t be able to cover one day’s worth in 24 hours.

  • Warrior

    Wikipedia bio to those of Juan Williams or Jonathan Alter. Both of theirs together barely make up a third of Krauthammer’s long and distinguished career.

  • illinoisconservative

    used in the print edition to wrap to a new line? And that it just got picked up in other formatted editions?

    In other words, this is ok:

    John McCain lost the election. Charles Kraut-
    hammer doesn’t represent any swing voters.
    Democrats shouldn’t worry about those scary
    flashback…

    This is not:

    John McCain lost the election. Charles Kraut-hammer
    doesn’t represent any swing voters. Democrats shouldn’t
    worry about those scary flashback

    If it is the second way.. is is most definitely an ethnic slur..

  • janis

    “Stand up, Chuck.” “Oh, God love ya, what am I saying?” “Everyone, stand up for Chuck.” Wouldn’t even have to change the nickname.

  • mbecker908

    He just openly jealous of Obama’s perfect health and his good looks.

  • SirGladiator

    Just last week some liberal talk show host guy was using a racist slur against Juan Williams, and now Krauthammer? I don’t even like Krauthammer, he’s too liberal and snooty for my tastes (but I do like Juan Williams who is obviously far more liberal, but no snootiness), but as an American I am offended by this racial slur, and as an American who has some German ancestry I am offended by this racial slur. I hope that whoever is responsible for it is fired immediately, something like this should not happen in our great Country in the year 2009. This is one more example of the true intolerance and hypocracy of the left, they don’t truly oppose racism or intolerance as we Conservatives do, they happily engage in it when it suits their purposes.

  • throwback59

    consider these possibilites:
    1. the term “Kraut-hammer” may just be Alter’s affectionate term for Mr. Krauthammer, the same way “Hammerin’ Hank Aaron” was a term of affection. 2. If Jonathon really meant it as a slur, he can blame his “Alter-ego.” 3. Alter is just a no-class Olbermann wanna-be and can’t help himself. Monty, I think I’m going with door number 3.

  • penguin2

    on the part of the left now? Strange…I just think you’re here to moby along and throw out a little ding here and there. Do you still think that we’re fools if we believe Virginia will “fall” to the Republicans. Interesting choice of words on your part. Using the word fall implies a negative not a good thing, unless you don’t wish it to happen. Personally, we’re hoping the Dems fall down in a lot of places, starting in Virginia on Nov. 3rd.

  • Jackal4444

    I’ve seen peculiar hyphenation often enough in multimedia documents to give Newsweek and Alter the benefit of the doubt until proven guilty; be nice to see Newsweek issue a clarification, however.

  • bk

    Krauthammer will be able to get up and walk, if I remember something Biden said earlier on.

  • keivan

    although it does deprive some from the satisfaction they derive from pointing out slights and biases from the left leaning MSM. Although at first blush it seems downright silly to me to dwell on every little percieved slight (OMG! Did you SEE where Newsweek put the hyphen in that name???? We better DIARY about it!!!!)

    After I think about it though, ,, I can understand hypersensitivity on the part of the right. There is a lot of press coverage that seems aimed at belittling those with conservative points of view, so one can understand how the diarist would start to feel a little hand shy after a while.

  • penguin2

    it has Mr. Krauthammer’s name right in the middle of a sentence with a hyphen. And as Mr. Krauthammer is well known and his name is not hyphenated, it is either deliberate, or sloppy editing. Mr. Alter is a pretty big name at Newsweek, I believe he knows what has been done.

  • janis

    our outrage at this treatment of a notable man. It won’t hurt too badly if you decide to take your sneer elsewhere.

  • http://andrightlyso.com/ civil_truth

    …with him as mother.

    A word of advice, keivan: bringing a plastic knife to a gunfight is not a good survival strategy.

    True, in the grand scheme of things, this causes only a small movement of the outrage needle, but we still need to at least expose what is going on to the light.

    The only way people see the deeds of darkness is to bring them to the light, and when you expose this enough times, people start to see what’s going on. And one never knows where is the tipping point for our fellow-citizens – or when the blinders will fall off.

    Plus we need to cover the backs of those being attacked if we expect our backs to be covered too if the attack turns against us next time.

    Get the picture?

  • janis

    seem to comment in the same vein at the same time–and to back each other’s opinions– are here to establish some bragging rights elsewhere. Too bad we’re not as easily fooled as they seem to think we are. Another word of advice for keivan and company:

    We’re conservatives, we’re educated, and we’re very far from stupid or gullible. And if you think we haven’t seen your kind before, you’re the gullible ones.

  • http://andrightlyso.com/ civil_truth
  • DavidS1787

  • bk

    I thought it was him earlier (during the campaign perhaps) who said that Dem health care would start curing people as soon as it was passed.

  • janis

    if we had passed Dem health care sooner? What is it with Dem politicians and paralyzed people? Guess they are intrigued with the possibility of a captive audience.

  • bk

     

  • gekster

    During the 004 election?

  • bk

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34167-2004Oct14.html

    This is John Edwards on Monday at a rally in Newton, Iowa: “If we do the work that we can do in this country, the work that we will do when John Kerry is president, people like Christopher Reeve are going to walk, get up out of that wheelchair and walk again.”

  • gekster
  • Third Street

    He’s got to worry about finding work after Newsweek goes belly-up, which could be any day now.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    Don’t try to pretend that “Kraut-hammer” is a netural hyphenation of a word.

    Just don’t. “Kraut” isn’t some super-obscure, foreign-language slur that nobody’s ever heard of, like Macaca. Kraut is a very common slur with a well-established use in the English language, and particularly in America due to our invovlement in two world wars against the Germans.

    Newsweek would never let a slur against the President appear. You know it, too. So don’t even pretend.

  • janis
  • WarEagle01

    They’re just reverting to form. Remember, these are the people who founded the Ku Klux Klan. We’re talking about the party of Orville Faubus, Lester, Maddox, and Bull Connor, just to name a few. Bigotry is in their DNA. They try to cover it up by tossing out the Republican racism myth from time to time. But deep down, Democrats are just a sad bunch of Kluckers.

  • misterbill

    He too had a diving accident and is now paralyzed from the neck up!!!!!

  • Warrior

    you’re sooooo right…

  • Warrior

    Is it like a hidden troll looking for something to pounce on and cause trouble?

    I wonder if he’s just being clever using the moniker “Marcellus” and signature line “The Hammer” or does he realize Charles Martel (Latin: “Carolus Martellus”) stopped the northern advance of Islamic expansion into Western Europe and was also known as “The Hammer”.

    A huge defeat for Islam, and possibly the salvation of Western Civilization, is certainly not the kind of thing a lib would celebrate. Of course, it would be the perfect cover, I guess. Please enlighten me…

  • Warrior

    that they are both liberal, but Dr. Krauthammer is a conservtive liberal and Juan Williams is a liberal liberal, if you know what I mean.

    Dr. Krauthammer did work for Jimma Cata, but he also worked for Reagan. He is not religious, but he is not an atheist, etc.

    Meanwhile, Juan WIlliams is an NPR MOONBAT….

  • redpens

    He can’t think beyond Obama’s talking points

  • illinoisconservative

    someone needs to check the print version.

    On-line versions are simply an electronic version of what went into the magazine.

    If someone simply took it and posted it online without checking it, there is a small possibility that the hyphen was properly used in the print version, but was retained improperly in the online version.

    With today’s pagination and formatting software, this is unlikely.. but, I just said we should check.

  • hunter

    Especially if he is a conservative.
    And think- under Obamacare, they could with hold medical care to him, and not only silence him, but save money, as well.
    Those lefties capable of reflection and conscience-based thinking will certainly have something to puzzle over when they find themselves inevitably in the cross hairs of the anti-freedom powers they have encouraged and smirked about.
    That we live in a nation where the Administration and its backers regularly call for censorship, suppression and destruction of those voices who dare stand up, means we are much closer to being led by Hugo Chavez than by people who respect and understand freedom.

  • penguin2

    A moby here is considered someone on site not showing their true colors. Trolls come right out and throw the flames and get banned right away. Mobies, try to finesse their presence and last a little longer. I’ve run into martellus before in another diary, and that is what I am referencing. In fact, there are several similar to him in this thread, and Neil already got rid of one of them.

    The way I understand the RS rules; you certainly can come here from the other side and stay as long as you can make reasoned arguments in the discussion. But you have to be upfront about your beliefs, you don’t get to disguise yourself. If it is to get your Leftist talking points in or disrupt and insult the members, no go.

    martellus chided me previously for misspelling his name, and was incorrect on my misspelling. I had had the great Roman general Marcus Claudius Marcellus. No matter, mysteries are my favorite fiction reads and I like to read between the lines…

  • penguin2

    My point, which was not quite as clear as it should have been, is your frequent devil’s advocacy positions. Your first reaction was to question the authenticity of the premise vs putting that in as an afterthought. Where was your concern for the potential racial slur, even if it was “accidental” or a fluke in the world of electronic writing.

    I expected to see serious indignation from anyone who commented on this, on behalf of Dr. Krauthammer, not a way to excuse the “alleged’ offense.

  • Warrior

    Boy, you guys are smart. I’m just a rube from Alabama, but I’m learning!

  • penguin2

    My husband is from Alabama, though I am the transplanted NY/CO/VA soul. I am fairly new to the site, but I agree, wonderful smart people contribute and participate here. Usually just being here can enlighten one, unless they refuse to think!

  • The_Gadfly

    Artist who goes by the moniker Moby suggested during one of the elections that leftists should go to our sites and pose as one of us to show us how stupid we really are. The ploy didn’t work but at least in the blogosphere the name stuck.

  • The_Gadfly

    Having worked a long, long time ago in the desktop publishing business with one of the cheaper programs that was on the market at the time (Ventura Publisher long before it was acquired by Corel), that type of hyphen is put in as a conditional hyphen, not a hard hyphen. Editing is too likely to shift the word position before the text goes to print and its a PITA to keep taking in and out hard hyphens.

  • illinoisconservative

    Wars have started from lesser misunderstandings and mistakes.

    I’m not the only one here who has reserved judgment and given Newsweek the benefit of the doubt. I guarantee you I will be sufficiently indignant when someone has checked the print copy and it turns out it is hyphenated.

    I’m sorry I did not meet your expectations.

  • illinoisconservative

    and as I said in my later comment, it is highly unlikely..

    A simple check of the print copy will show the intent either way.

    Given what they are likely to pay in the print industry these days, hiring pre-schoolers to do layout does not seem too far out of the realm of possibilities!

  • farstar99

    Besides inbred liberals, that is.

    I have contacts who still work there, and even they admit it’s not worth reading, now that it’s an admitted propaganda rag.

  • diakrioi

    a few weeks ago while I was waiting on my son to come out of his guitar lesson. Someone had put a copy on the table in the waiting area. I read an article that attempted to prove that Barry Obama is the true political descendant of Edmund Burke.

    I’m still laughing.

    [I am] against this most monstrous of all meddling on the part of authority: the meddling with the subsistence of its people. . . . [One must] manfully . . . resist the very first idea, speculative or practical, that it is within the competence of government . . . to supply the poor with necessaries. . . . To provide for us in our necessities is not in the power of government. It would be a vain presumption in statesmen to think they can do it.” — Edmund Burke, ‘Thoughts and Details on Scarcity’, 1795

  • Rich Fader

    …who’s Biter?