THE PLANK MARCH 25, 2008
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My colleague Greg Veis has a highly entertaining profile of Meghan McCain in GQ. In the profile, Meghan avers her love for "The Big Lebowski," a preference that shows exquisite taste, but also raising interesting familial questions. A main character in the film is Walter Sobchak, a gruff, lovable, hot-headed, moralistic foreign policy hawk who's often confused about the facts and constantly invokes his experience in Vietnam. I wonder what she thinks when she watches it.
--Jonathan Chait
18 comments
But Jon, I doubt McCain is "Shomer freakin' Shabbos!"
Oh, what a movie.
- rozenson
March 25, 2008 at 3:31pm
The comparison is even stronger when you throw in Walter's pretend Judaism on one side and McCain's Liebermania on the other.
Obligatory link:
www.youtube.com/watch
- rhubarbs
March 25, 2008 at 3:43pm
If it's that movie then we should remember the folksy cowboy narrator who gets confused by his own sentences and loses track of what he's saying at one point. Remind anyone of anyone?
- ironyroad
March 25, 2008 at 3:50pm
The Jesus - The big Lebowski - full extended 5:29min
www.youtube.com/watch
Jesus Quintana: Are you ready to be fucked, man? I see you rolled your way into the semis. Dios mio, man. Liam and me, we're gonna fuck you up.
The Dude: Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
Jesus Quintana: Let me tell you something, pendejo. You pull any of your crazy shit with us, you flash a piece out on the lanes, I'll take it away from you, stick it up your ass and pull the fucking trigger 'til it goes "click."
The Dude: Jesus.
Jesus Quintana: You said it, man. Nobody fucks with the Jesus.
Walter Sobchak: Eight-year-olds, Dude.
- AaronBBrown
March 25, 2008 at 3:56pm
Brilliant, just brilliant. Wonder how long into a debate we will see McCain exclaim, "Shut the f__ up, Barack! Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin!"
- wildboy
March 25, 2008 at 4:20pm
I don't think "you want a toe? I can get you a toe" counts as a tough right wing foreign policy perspective.
- Wandreycer1
March 25, 2008 at 4:49pm
The Coen Bros. greatest, but to this day I don't get the bit about the cowboy and the bear.
- roidubouloi
March 25, 2008 at 5:00pm
The last two movies I've seen were "The Big Lebowski" and "No Country for Old Men."
Reading the above sentence, I'm amazed my head doesn't explode. The Coen Brothers are like hashish with feet.
Nice marmot!
- williamyard
March 25, 2008 at 5:42pm
Actually McCain reminds me more of the actual Big Lebowski character in the movie.
"Every bum's lot in life is his own responsibility regardless of whom he chooses to blame. I didn't blame anyone for the loss of my legs. Some Chinaman took them from me in Korea. But I went out and achieved anyway. I cannot solve your problems. Only you can."
Of course, the Chinaman is not the issue, but still....
- jhildner
March 25, 2008 at 5:57pm
A couple colleagues asked if it's really fair to describe The Big Lebowski's Walter Sobchak as
- Anonymous
March 25, 2008 at 6:03pm
And yet, all the Dude wanted was his Reagan back.
- adaglas
March 25, 2008 at 6:13pm
Hey, it's about the bowling, in which case it's Kingpin. Like Lebowski it's existential, unlike Lebowski everybody's not hanging around waiting for Godot. Alas, no McCain stand-in.... But there's Chris Schenkel.
- jm_rice
March 25, 2008 at 6:26pm
"Dude, Chinaman is not the prefered nomeneclature."
- Wandreycer1
March 25, 2008 at 6:38pm
Wandrey, we're not talking about the the guy who built the fucking railroad.
- boneill
March 25, 2008 at 6:53pm
Jon Chait,
I think it is fair to say, with all due respect, that you are out of your element.
Accordingly, if you will, please -- shut the fuck up.
Neil
- purcellneil
March 25, 2008 at 8:15pm
Actually, the most surprising thing about Walter is that, contrary to the perception that he's "often confused about the facts", Walter is actually RIGHT about everything. Bunny really wasn't kidnapped but instead had taken off for the weekend (she wasn't complicit in the whole thing, so he was wrong about that, but that's a minor compared to everyone else's take on it). It really wasn't her toe.
OK, he was also wrong about the Big Lebowski not being paralyzed.
But most of the facts of the "mystery" he was right about.
- rherrick
March 26, 2008 at 12:39pm
Oh, something that Walter was wrong about. Jesus is not a pederast if he was committing acts with 8-year-olds, but instead is a pedophile. Pederasty involves relations between adults and adolescents (usually the term is applied to same-sex male relationships), while pedophilia involves relations between adults and prepubescent children of either gender.
en.wikipedia.org/.../Pederasty
- rherrick
March 26, 2008 at 3:48pm
Thursday linkage
- Anonymous
March 27, 2008 at 2:18am