Okay, Pat Schroeder, Here’s a Challenge.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Liberals read more books than conservatives. The head of the book publishing industry’s trade group says she knows why—and there’s little flattering about conservative readers in her explanation.
“The Karl Roves of the world have built a generation that just wants a couple slogans: ‘No, don’t raise my taxes, no new taxes,’” Pat Schroeder, president of the American Association of Publishers, said in a recent interview. “It’s pretty hard to write a book saying, ‘No new taxes, no new taxes, no new taxes’ on every page.”
Schroeder, who as a Colorado Democrat was once one of Congress’ most liberal House members, was responding to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll that found people who consider themselves liberals are more prodigious book readers than conservatives.
She said liberals tend to be policy wonks who “can’t say anything in less than paragraphs. We really want the whole picture, want to peel the onion.”
Tell you what, Ms. Schroeder. Let’s play a little game. We’ll set up a couple of podia, Jeopardy!-style and have at it for a couple rounds. You pick the questioner and we’ll grab ten random categories from the home game. Let’s see who does better.
Oh, wait! We can already get a preview of our matchup! We’ve both been on Jeopardy. I was there last year and you were there in 1997 on a “Power Players” version of Celebrity Jeopardy. How’d we stack up?
Well, you won your match, against…Al Franken and Jack Ford…with a grand total of 100 dollars. Given your comments here, it doesn’t look like you had a very good time. I couldn’t find any details of your match, but it looks like you had decent competition.
You got one up on me. I finished second in my match, losing out in Final Jeopardy to a guy who went on to that year’s Tournament of Champions. But I think I did pretty well. Twenty-two right out of twenty-six seems like it might be kind of good, don’t you think? Feel free to check out the game summary and decide whether you want to put your pride where your great pompous mouth is, ma’am.
Our match history says that you, with all your book-reading and Jeopardy winning experience should trounce me pretty easily. After all, I’m a barely-literate blogger, police dispatcher, and music student. But I’m willing to make the challenge. I’ll step up to the podium any time you want. What do you say?
UPDATE: Michael van der Galiën wonders why Ms. Schroeder only seems to care about quantity and not quality. He also adds some free advice:
Strangely it seems to me that it should be her job and goal to help publishers sell as many books as possible, not to piss off as many people as possible.
Unless she believes that we conservatives are such troglodytes that we won’t read more no matter what she says. Not that she’s being a pompous prat or anything.
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Category: Political Pontifications
Actually, you can't step up to a podium, but you can step onto it. Jeopardy uses lecterns, not "podia."
CHF
Can't you? I'm pretty sure that "podium" and "lectern" are synonymous. I do recall the Jeopardy folks calling each one a podium as well, so I feel pretty confident using that word.
EDIT: Mirriam-Webster says they are, too.
I think Schroeder was talking about books, not the mindless accumulation of trivia.
What does your knowledge of trivia have to do with a generalization made by a liberal about conservatives?
Your post actually supports Schroeder's point to some degree, as you could probably benefit from reading some logic books. You could learn how producing a single data point doesn't refute a generalization.
Furthermore, while you may consider yourself very learned, most republicans I know cannot explain their positions in depth when questioned (without resorting to logical fallacies such as yours above).
Man, you'd argue with me if I said the sunny clear sky looked blue.
Don't be so ridiculous, guys. It is nearly impossible to accumulate a mind full of trivia without being a pretty prodigious reader. I'd bet you right now that if you grabbed up a hundred Jeopardy contestants you'd find that 99 of them are currently reading a book or just finished reading one.
Pat Schroeder was being a pompous ass and implying very strongly that conservatives are simple-minded dullards. I've called her out on it. I'm willing to stand behind my intelligence. Will she?
So, Jimmie, how does your last post refute ME's point? You answered the question you wanted to answer, not the question he asked.
"I am smart and conservative, therefore you can draw no conclusions about a study showing that liberals are better read than conservatives."
?!?!