In the office, waiting for my ride, I was reading around, when I came on yet another of Eugene Volkh's complaints about Slate's obnoxious Kerryisms column. He asks what the point of this increasingly absurd "editing" column, which distorts and dumbs down Kerry's statements by removing necessary clauses from complicated responses.

I think I spot the gag. They're trying to get conservative critics to state the obvious, by begging the question. Critics complain that Kerry is too subtle, too nuanced, overly-precise, fussy. So Slate's giving them what they want - they're chopping up "nuanced" statements to prove, in an ironic fashion, that the subtleties are necessary, even vital. In this sense, the Kerryisms column's purpose is identical to that of the Bushisms column - to make conservatives look stupid.

Well, at least they get points for subtlety.

Via Glenn Reynolds.