The men of GLoP return to sprinkle their bon its and wisdom across the political and cultural landscape. This week, Syria, The New York Times’ newest man in Moscow, Samantha Power is a feckless crap weasel, a mediation on John Kerry’s ever changing face, a new Hizzonor for NYC, and are we seeing the end of the Obama Presidency with three years left to go? Also, –without Googling– who knows what a Shmoo is? Tell us in the comments. The GLoPer are watching.

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There are 44 comments.

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  1. Profile Photo Inactive
    @user_451434

    Shmoo is a white blob it was a Saturday morning cartoon when i was a kid. It looks like Gloop and Gleep froom the Herculoids now those were cool cartoons

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  2. Profile Photo Member
    @bagodonuts

    Without Googling: Wasn’t a Shmoo some kind of creature from L’il Abner that just existed to make people happy? (For some reason, my dim recollection also involves thinking about eating Shmoos, but I’m not sure they were meant to be thought of in that way, and that I have not just violated a food taboo, somewhere on the “don’t-eat-dogs/vile-cannibal!” continuum.)

    Wasn’t Al Capp a New Deal liberal who, late in life, came over to the Dark Side? (I guess I could Google it.)

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    @BasilFawlty

    A shmoo is an Al Capp character who once was portrayed by Elizabeth Taylor in Franco Zeffirelli’s The Taming of the Shmoo

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    @

    I WISH Bashar al Assad’s major accomplishment was appearing on San Pedro Beach Bums.

    Or that he was only as acccomplished as, say, Eric Braeden (Victor on The Young & Restless lo these past 20 years – and that ain’t a minor accomplishment for a C-Lister).

    God bless us with Harmless & Productive & Obscure Professionals and spare us the hyped up mediocrities!

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    @

    Bellevue?  Jonah, is that you?

    • #5
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    @RPD

    I remembered the Schmoo as being on a Saturday morning cartoon knockoff of ScoobyDoo. I had to go to the wiki to find out that the Schmoo has a truly rich history that should be appreciated.

    • #6
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    @RichardFinlay

    A true age-differentiator.  I remember the schmoo from Li’l Abner comics.  I think Al Capp had trouble keeping his definition consistent over time.

    • #7
  8. Profile Photo Inactive
    @BillThom

    the shmoo!

    • #8
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    @BlueAnt

    John wants to know if NYC will revert once the policing efforts are rolled back.  I’ll steal a quote out of context:

    “I told him that from what I had observed, it only took three days before desperation and hunger overturned all civilized instinct in a person. He smiled and said I had a bleak view of human nature, and that in his experience it was nearer to four days.”

    Politeness, adherence to laws, and civilization itself are fragile veneers, not robust aspects of human interaction.  They require constant enforcement and reinforcement. The progressive idea that you can build up humanity to a certain threshold through top-down diktat, and then “coast” into the glorious future, has been refuted by the entirety of recorded history.

    And that is why I am a conservative.

    • #9
  10. Profile Photo Contributor
    @RobLong
    EstoniaKat

    . · 11 hours ago

    Absolutely brilliant!

    • #10
  11. Profile Photo Inactive
    @ScottAbel

    .

    • #11
  12. Profile Photo Inactive
    @RyanM

    a schmoo?  I have no idea what that is.  Schmooze, perhaps…  but not schmoo.

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  13. Profile Photo Member
    @PatJefferson

    So I’ve looked up the Shmoo on Wikipedia, and having seen him/it, I have a vague recollection that I once knew of but then forgot all about him/it, and I’m conflicted over whether I should reveal the mystery and claim the prize, or withhold the answer in deference to someone who didn’t have to look it up. If I don’t post it and give another commenter a chance at glory, how about I’m rewarded with a non-speaking role in the next GLoP Culture Podcast?

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    @Inktome

    As I understand it, the schmoo is a creature of fantastic utility, becoming and existing as a delight. It is defined, in part, by the needs or desires of its observer. The schmoo relished in being coveted, becoming ever more satisfied to please the needs of those who gazed upon it with desire.

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  15. Profile Photo Member
    @DavidKnights
    Bill Thom

    the shmoo! · 3 hours ago

    Relisten to the podcast.  I don’t think he said shmoo, I think he said shmoopie.  It is a Seinfeld reference.

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    @

    Come back soon please!!

    • #16
  17. Profile Photo Member
    @

    I checked with the source and he said “Shmoo.”

    David Knights

    Bill Thom

    the shmoo! · 3 hours ago

    Relisten to the podcast.  I don’t think he said shmoo, I think he said shmoopie.  It is a Seinfeld reference. · 14 minutes ago

    Edited 13 minutes ago

    • #17
  18. Profile Photo Inactive
    @SMatthewStolte

    Jonah slightly misremembered the Johnny Quest quote. The gargoyle was called Dietrich, and he was “Norway’s greatest acrobatic dwarf,” at least according to this:http://the-haunted-closet.blogspot.com/2009/05/house-of-seven-gargoyles-jonny-quest.html?m=1I’m glad to learn about these things.

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    @cpm74

    Both “schmoo” (I think Jonah)  and “schmoopie” (I think John) were referenced. Brilliant!

    • #19
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    @docmolloy

    Did Rob Long accidentally reveal the inner boy child in him when those car horns came blaring out of the speakers and John announced.. Gentlemen, Times Square.. that’s Times Square below.. and a small voice could be heard saying ‘wow…’ in wonderment. Great GLop culture podcast moment.

    Is the word podcast derived from Podhoretz?

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  21. Profile Photo Inactive
    @RichardFulmer
    Worst segue in history:   Question 1: Will John Podhoretz be an amusing Alzheimer’s patient?   Question 2: Is America finished?
    • #21
  22. Profile Photo Inactive
    @docmolloy

    Oh dear, small p in GLoP above, my apols to Mr Podhoretz.. Peeved!

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    @LarryKoler

    I think this one should have been named “Undeletable Cookies” for that section dealing with John’s hilarious description of his contention that after he turned 45 he hit his maximum amount of memory and all his discussion about what pop arcana he has stored up from his earlier life . He had me laughing out loud in my car for about 10 minutes there. Thanks for all the fun. 

    • #23
  24. Profile Photo Inactive
    @LarryKoler
    Richard Fulmer: Worst segue in history:    Question 1: Will John Podhoretz be an amusing Alzheimer’s patient?   Question 2: Is America finished? · 1 hour ago

    Question 1 — Yes, that was a good line. Was that Jonah or Rob who came up with that zinger? And you can see that John wasn’t expecting that turn in the conversation. Very funny.

    • #24
  25. Profile Photo Inactive
    @RichardFulmer
    Larry Koler

    Richard Fulmer: Worst segue in history:   Question 1: Will John Podhoretz be an amusing Alzheimer’s patient?   Question 2: Is America finished? · 1 hour ago

    Question 1 — Yes, that was a good line. Was that Jonah or Rob who came up with that zinger? And you can see that John wasn’t expecting that turn in the conversation. Very funny.

    All of which reminds me of the recent million segue march which flopped so badly.  Only an ellipsis and two periods showed up (though to be fair, it may have been five periods).  Which brings me to the main point of my post: the GLoP podcast should be renamed, “Whose Segue is it Anyway?”  It will become wildly successful, spawning game show spin-offs like “Let’s Make a Segue,” “Segue or Consequences,” and, of course, “Wheel of Segue.”  And All Things Considered will interview etymologists on the question of how the heck do we get “seg-way” out of “segue” and why isn’t the word pronounced seg-goo or seg-you?  Though if the word were pronounced seg-you, its use would spark retorts like, “Seg YOU, buddy,” though mostly from New Yorkers.

    • #25
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    @CommodoreBTC

    Dissappointed with Jonah/John’s interpretation of the Cruz strategy on Obamacare.

    1) Cruz/Lee/Paul are not advocating a shutdown. They are setting an opening negotating position. By Jonah/John’s reasoning, the GOP must accept any proposed spending the Dems propose, because the only alternative is a shutdown. Why even have an opposition party if that’s the case?

    2) The “go along with growing government a little longer until we can win an election” approach is not convincing. At some point you have to make the argument, take a principled stand, and let the chips fall where they may. Offer the electorate a real choice.

    As Cruz says, we have to go out and make and win the argument for the things we believe in, rather than hoping people will turn on big government of their own accord.

     Boehner/Cantor/McConnell are worthless, they have no unifying opposition case to make, they have zero ability to make the argument for our side. They’re strategy seems to be fund Obamacare and hope it doesn’t work.  

    • #26
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    @docmolloy

    Segue Street.. A segue stream of consciousness..

    • #27
  28. Profile Photo Member
    @HartmannvonAue

    “If you look at a schmoo hongrily, it obligingly falls down dead and turns into steak and eggs.” 

    • #28
  29. Profile Photo Coolidge
    @TheUnreasonableMan

    You guys are blowing my mind- in one podcast we go from Putin as evil network president canceling Obama’s pilot, to chemical weapons as the new “Webster”, references to the Schmoo, and mistaking Dr. Theopolous and Thucydides.  Best podcast ever.

    Question: is “My Two Dads” not the intellectual predecessor of the Obama/ Kerry school of foreign policy thinking?

    • #29
  30. Profile Photo Member
    @HartmannvonAue
    bagodonuts: 

    Wasn’t Al Capp a New Deal liberal who, late in life, came over to the Dark Side? (I guess I could Google it.) · 7 hours ago

    If you can find them, re-read his strips about Ivy League universities and hippy protesters done in the 1960’s- they seem even more applicable today. My advantage: Vrouwe van Aue has the collected Lil’ Abner on her bookshelf in her childhood home. 

    • #30
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