The American Spectator

Perhaps you could do all of us a favor and let Ben know that 1) he is irrelevant, 2) he ain’t too bright, and 3) if he were to disappear from the media and publishing horizons tomorrow, no one would really notice or care.

p>Thanks in advance for doing us that favor. I, and all of America thank you. br> — Dan Hough /p>

On a much lighter note, I like Ben Stein and I’m a McCain supporter, but methinks he doth protest too much about Paris Hilton’s rebuttal to McCain’s use of her picture in his appropriate political ad:

“First of all, Paris Hilton was a total nobody party girl in West Hollywood until she and her boyfriend made AND then “someone” SOLD a hard core video of Paris Hilton having sex. So basically, she got her start as a porn star. And she’s being trotted out by the media barons to smear John McCain, as brave and patriotic a man as lives in this nation. This little tramp, who isn’t even close to being pretty, is belittling a man who spent six years in brutal captivity for defending his country.”

Paris, get this: in modern day America, we don’t mock people because of things they have done that are unavoidable and not in any way blameworthy. We don’t make fun of blacks for being black. We don’t make fun of women for having breasts. We don’t make fun of old people for being old. This is uncool from any source. It is downright disgusting coming from a porn star — and not a very good porn star at that (yes, I have seen the tape).”

Uh…repeatedly? And has Ben seen so many pornographic tapes and stars that he is a capable critic with regard to their ability? Uh…really?

p>I don’t know…his judgment that she “isn’t even close to being pretty” sounds pretty clouded, to me. Whatever you may think of her ability as a porn star, or her mocking of McCain’s age, she’s undeniably a pretty woman. If you can’t see that much, then what else have you blinded yourself to? Especially if you can see well enough to tell from presumably a single watching that she isn’t a very good porn star. br> — Gregg Calkins /p>

Eh, I don’t think it’s really that serious. The target of McCain’s ad was not even really Obama and definitely not Paris Hilton. It was, rather, a pathetically stupid media/entertainment culture that is seriously trying to make it seem like you should vote for Obama because he’s “cool” or “The One.” This point had to be made and the ad will greatly raise the spirits of all the people who now have something to throw back at this culture.

Obama responded about as well as anyone could expect, with “Is that all you got?” Even better would have been a rueful chuckle first, acknowledging that indeed some of the hype is out of control but I didn’t really expect that.