Daniel Menaker Gently Spanks Powerline

Be careful, Mr. Menaker.


Perhaps the Senior VP and Executive Editor-in-Chief of Random House is under the impression that the Powerline fellas are merely charming -- if bland -- grassroots pundits from the Midwest. He could be forgiven for thinking that "Minnesota nice" still exists -- even though it's as dead as Paul Wellstone.


And, yes, we admire his attempt to rehibilitate their crappy writing.


"Marvellous" is an alternate spelling of the word, favored by some wordfreaks like me, and Anglophiles, and those who generally like to double the consonant--for the sake of a vestigial eye-brain pronunciation connection--when allowed (as in "rivetted").


But Mr. Menaker, please consider this alternative approach: Don't bother! When Powerline wrote of "a man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius," they were not referring to Al Gore.