Wonkette
Jon Favreau can make anybody feel like a failure, because he is super young and successful and takes excellent transcription notes from President Obama’s Teleprompter. If you’re an aspiring young speechwriter, you look at him and go “Shit by the time he was my age he was already FAMOUS” and if you are an old libtard you just think, “Enh, too late for me to do anything with my life.”
And what does this evil jackass do but rub salt in the wound by saying about politics, “If you’re good, people will notice you. It really is a meritocracy.” Oh yeah? Tell that to beautiful young Meg McCabe, languishing in the bowels of the Daily Beast when she should be editing the New Yorker.
Anyway, yeah, this guy. Read all about him!
A Valedictorian’s New Address [Holy Cross magazine]
“It really is a meritocracy” does not explain the last 8 years. Or Alaska.
If “Politics” is a Meritocracy, then I’m George W. Bush.
Stories from the Holy Cross student newspaper? What, was the mimeographed version of a 3rd grade newsletter announcing the latest school play not available?
Someone young and successful thinks life is fair? Mais non! As an old libtard busy not doing anything with my life, I decline to read about him.
Of course he stood out. Unlike most young people in his generation, he was one of the few who can spell and use proper grammar.
Jon Favreau studied under the Jesuits? So did Fidel Castro! COINCIDENCE??!?
There’s a good crew of Holy Cross people down here.”
And they’re all just looking for the next upwardly-mobile, life-sized cardboard cutout to manhandle.
Hide your graven images, sheeple! Jon Favreau will rape them with his mouth!
I still sort of step back when I walk into the Oval Office.
Uh, that would be moonwalking, Jon.
I am sure that those who win the lottery also think that life is very fair, that the race goes always to the swiftest, tec.
Oh, sure, Mr. secretary-groper.
Prommie: the race does is always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that’s the way to bet.
– usually attributed to Damon Runyon, though probably older
He was annoying in Swingers.
If you’re a self-absorbed jackass with a big mouth and an inflated sense of self-worth, people will notice that about you. Also.
qwerty42: “Life is a gamble, at terrible odds — if it was a bet you wouldn’t take it.”
from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Sure, fine. What’s his twatting address so we can follow him…
Old libtards never die, their libido just fades away.
Oh, and if a “meritocracy” means those willing to fuck their own grandmothers or grandfathers for a few minutes of obtaining personal advantage have a chance to rise to the top, then yes, we are in a meritocracy.
But when he uses the word “Whoa” when describing the Oval Office, he comes across like Jeff Spicoli.
Wait..he wasn’t referring to politics in general, but interns and internship. Full quote:
To current students who have their own West Wing dreams, Favreau says: “Find a campaign and volunteer. Do an internship for little or no pay. Try to channel yourself into an area that interests you, because you can move up really fast. If you’re good, people will notice you. It really is a meritocracy.”
In which case, I agree with him. Also, he didn’t say ‘good’ at what, so we must assume butt-sex counts.
Mr Blifil: Being tall and having good hair is very important too. For men anyway.
TGY: I still don’t see that as a pure meritocracy. In undergrad, I knew many people with unpaid volunteer positions and internships. Their parents were rich, or at least well off enough that they were paying for their housing, so these kids got to color code binders at the State Department or open mail on the Hill. Meanwhile I was working three far less glamorous jobs to afford housing, food, and clothes (oh, wait, never mind, I couldn’t afford to buy clothes) during the summer and to save up a bit for the school year so that I didn’t have to take out the full amount in student loans.
I also walked uphill both ways to class, etc.
bitchincamaro: He’s too young to know that.
Prommie: I live in Austin. You asked me that yesterday but I only saw the question after a long day of unemployed sleep while my feet swelled with edema from medication.
Also, even if US America were a meritocracy, those fighting to eliminate the estate tax, sorry, the DEATH TAX, are doing their best to turn it into an kakistocracy, where the rich people’s dumber than dirt offspring end up owning, ruling and ruining everything, as with W. Hell, as with his father, whose own near ancestors were the ones who piled up the cash selling out to the nazis, among others.
PerhapsSo: No shit. Volunteering or unpaid internships produce almost the opposite of a meritocracy due to their selecting out those who can’t afford to work for fucking nothing. Not to mention being willing to work for nothing, which drives down wages for similar paid jobs. I really hate this turn toward unpaid internships. Yeah, show your commitment by working for nothing, and then maybe we’ll consider hiring you. If not, thanks for the free work and for allowing us to pay similar workers less in the future!
x111e7thst: Oh, looks, oohhhh, don’t even get me started.
x111e7thst: Being tall and having good hair = merit, doesn’t it? Look at John Ensign.
PerhapsSo: hobospacejunkie: No kidding. Those high school summer trips to volunteer at some village in Costa Rica, that look fab on your college application? Yeah, works great if your parents can pay the freight down there and back and you don’t have to make money so you can eat at college. Same with college internships. That summer job driving parking lot trams at Sea World impresses no one but the $6.50/hr came in handy, ya know? So I love ya, Jon, but fuck you in this particular instance.
hobospacejunkie: So those black people picking cotton in the 1850s we’re interns?
Who the hell is John Foofofro? Who the hell cares?
Country Club Jihadi: Do you hear that, Mr. President?
[hits his head with a shoe]
That was my skull! I’m so wasted!
Tell that to beautiful young Meg McCabe, languishing in the bowels of the Daily Beast…
And while you’re at it, tell that to the beautiful young beast languishing in the bowels of Meg McCabe.
ManchuCandidate:
At least he stays off our lawns.
As a Holy Cross alum, I find myself somewhat pleased that w have a new alumni face in DC,
less puke-worthy than Clarence Thomas.
As a product of a mid-level public school in the West (not California), may I just say, “FU, East Coast elites.”
dijetlo: No, but those preppy-looking motherfuckers smirking at the proles on their lunch breaks from changing the boss’s diaper on the Hill somewheres are kind of like slaves, for eight hours a day anyway. And last I checked slaves have no rights so regular folk like me can whip them or generally beat the snot out of them just for lookin’ at me the wrong way. If only I lived in DC.
Crazybroad: Or not young enough ?
Really, you people, what do you want him to say?
“Hey, if you’ve got talent, it doesn’t count for shit, the rich guy’s son is going to beat you out every goddamn time, because hey, connections. You might as well just party hardy and the hell with trying anything substantial.”
TGY: PerhapsSo: hobospacejunkie: CorkPopper: The philosophy that you show your dedication to the profession through unpaid or underpaid summer internships is the absolute reverse of meritocracy. Even worse is the year after graduating “internship” — a popular way to get into the publishing world. When someone can be so blythe about recommending this strategy it shows how little they understand about the way most people in this country live. They have no knowledge of what it actually takes to pay for college. They also didn’t have jobs while they were in school, thus freeing up their time to make professional connections by volunteering at events and participating in various “networking” activities (i.e., boob groping and butt sex).
Of course everybody would say you get noticed “if you’re good,” but I have news for you Mr. Favreau:
THERE ARE WAY MORE ‘GOOD SPEECHWRITERS’ THAN THERE ARE SPEECHWRITING JOBS FOR PRESIDENTS.
Duh. Like, Duh.
PerhapsSo: yeah, if a woman I rented from a few years ago is any indication, you can be a complete fucking moron and get a White House internship if your voice is loud enough. I mean that very literally. (She was an intern during the Bush admin, but a Democrat, so everybody lost.)
Tommmcatt: He’s welcome on my lawn. And by lawn I mean…