Mickey Kaus is a %%$%@ Moron, Part LXXIV
By Yes, I realize this is an unhealthy obsession.
Numerous readers email to note Plano’s very Republican voting record–Collins County, of which it’s a part, went 71% for Bush in 2004, for example. It’s certainly a Bush bastion. It’s less clear to me that it’s a “conservative” bastion if by that you mean social conservative (gay marriage, school prayer, abortion, etc.). Nor does it seem to be a “pickup” truck, chewin’ tobacco bastion in the classic sense. More of a Bobo Boomburg. Either way, the use of Plano to demonstrate red state outreach is still a PR-man’s con because, as mentioned, the Angelika Film Center, where the Gore movie is showing, draws from the entire Dallas metro area. It’s an art house featuring standard art house films–such as (currently) “Keeping Up with the Steins” and “Wassup Rockers.” If a film does well there that says no more about any subversive appeal to conservatives than if the film sold out the NuArt in West L.A.. Or the Angelika Film Center on Houston St. in Manhattan, for that matter.
Shorter Mickey: If we redefine conservative to mean what I want it to mean, then Plano is kind of not conservative.
What an idiot. Conservatives should loathe Mickey even more than I do; for Mickey, it appears, conservatives are ignorant hicks who’ve never heard of sushi, shop every day down at the Wal*Mart, and who all drive aging pickup trucks with “I Hate Queers” bumper stickers on the back. Moreover, while the “Plano ain’t social conservative” line could explain why Brokeback did well, it certainly doesn’t explain An Incovenient Truth, which hardly touches on any social conservative questions. If anything, libertarian conservatives should hate the latter even more than the former.
Just to add to the frivolity, Mickey’s claim that “people from all over Dallas go to watch movies in Plano” is somewhat undermined by the fact that there appear to be five theaters in the Dallas metro area showing Inconvenient Truth. The Angelika, it seems, is 20 miles from downtown Dallas. Pending further evidence, you can color me unconvinced that Plano is drawing all the raving liberals in the area…
Last Kaus post today, I swear. I should stop reading Slate.
UPDATE: I’ll grudgingly allow that I’m mildly impressed that Mickey linked to a post titled “Mickey Kaus is a %%$%@ Moron, Part LXXIV” without engaging.