Some New Entries: Althouse Edition

As noted by many commenters, the inevitable meltdown as Althouse refuses to acknowledge the plain meaning of her remarks or suggest another coherent one has occurred [no link because she not only refuses to link to anybody she’s dishonestly criticizing but whines endlessly when Andrew Sullivan links to her only through third parties]:

So many people — in the comments and on other blogs — are attributing things to me that I did not write here. Reading with comprehension has, apparently, become optional. Amusingly, the blundering blowhards out there keep calling me and [sic] idiot. Mirrors are in short supply these days.

Look, it’s very simple–you talked about the Iraq Death Toll equaling that of 9/11, and then ask how many people would have died in future attacks had we not “fought back.” The only plausible reading of this sequence of sentences is that Iraq constituted “fighting back” against 9/11. Given the farcical nature of this claim, I can understand why she wants to disown it, but it’s what she said. Which is why, of course, she refuses to identify any of the specific “misreadings” she alleges in general, or to explain what she did mean when she wrote something that didn’t explain what she meant (and why her defenders argue that Iraq was too connected to 9/11.)

Anyway, although the comments are the predictable treasure trove of new variants of “flypaper theory,” enough. I know discussing Althouse by definition requires belaboring the obvious, but this episode seems particularly depressing. Instead, let’s coin some new terms for the Wingnut Debate Dictionary:

The Althouse Defense Initiative (ADI): All incoming substantive critiques of ridiculous arguments are deflected by claims that the critics lack “reading comprehension skills,” without any explanation of why the critics were misreading the post or any substantive rebuttal to the critics’ arguments.

Althouse Apathy Aggrandizement (AAA): Wearied claims by complacent, affluent, moderate reactionaries that nothing is more vulgar that people who actually care about politics, perhaps even going so far as to become minimally informed about them before pontificating about them on vanity websites.

Project Runway Politics (PRP): A political philosophy that holds the fashion choices of various political enemies as being of greater importance than the merits of substantive issues that the blogger often nominally pretends to care about. [See also: Mickey Kaus, passim.]

Better wordings, titles, or entries welcome…