Five Things

John Holbo tags me with a meme. And, frankly, it's a meme that's a bit lacking in the gimmick department. Five things most people don’t know about me. Literally, I suppose, the majority of people know nothing at all about be. But here we go:

  1. I'm an unironic and only somewhat apologetic Sheryl Crow fan.

  2. When I was young and irresponsible, I thought it would be a good idea to replace Social Security with a system of private accounts.

  3. I voted for Mitt Romney in 2002.

  4. I've been to Paris four times but was always too lazy to climb the Eiffel Tower.

  5. I know "Spring and Fall, to a Young Child" by heart and tend to mutter it under my breath while waiting alone in Metro stations.

Onward! I tag Catherine, Sommer, Ezra, Julian, and Spencer.

Comments

Though most people knew #2

Posted by: Rob on December 19, 2006 10:23 AM

You only voted for Romney because you hate Massachusetts, right? I mean, that has to be the explanation, yeah?

Posted by: Brad R. on December 19, 2006 10:30 AM

Seriously... Romney? It was by accident, right? One of those butterfly ballot things?

Posted by: Ryan on December 19, 2006 10:36 AM

I think you can take an elevator up the Eiffel Tower. Thanks for the link to the Hopkins poem, which is good.

Posted by: SqueakyRat on December 19, 2006 10:37 AM

Philosophy major Matt may be exploiting the fact that you can't know X if X is false; therefore any false statement about Matt is something people don't know about him.

Because I don't believe he voted for Mitt Romney. Hell, I could be wrong.

Posted by: live on December 19, 2006 10:44 AM

Wasn't his opponent a typical dem machine hack in a dem machine hack. That the younger, less liberal Matt voted for him is unsurprising. Voters like him is the only reason Romney got elected.

Posted by: David Weman on December 19, 2006 10:48 AM

Yeah, especially the early Sheryl Crow ... a guilty pleasure of my own as well. "Strong Enough" is a good song, at least for someone who's been through relationships like the ones I have ...

Posted by: Anderson on December 19, 2006 10:52 AM

The other day "Leaving Las Vegas" came on the radio and it touched off for me a long reverie about the Sheryl Crow that might have been -- had she maintained the off-hand, hesitating delivery and charming roughness of that song she might have been the next Tom Petty; instead she headed for smoooooooove MOR boringness just as fast as she could.

Posted by: J. Ellenberg on December 19, 2006 10:54 AM

Sheryl Crow's second album was very, very good. Her first album was pretty good, although when I listen to it now it sounds like she's screeching rather than singing. After the second album, not so much, though...

Interesting how Matthew was so unorthodox back in the day - supported the war, supported private accounts, supported Romney. Wonder wht caused him to become so completely orthodox now - was it Bush, or was it the change in his social milieu when he moved to DC?

Posted by: Al on December 19, 2006 10:59 AM

So you're a gay republican?

Posted by: right on December 19, 2006 11:19 AM

The Eiffel Tower is too high to get a good view of Paris. The views from the towers of Notre Dame and from l'Arc de Triumphe are better because they are on the same scale as the city itself, so you remain part of the city while looking out on it. From the Tour Eiffel, you're above the city looking down on something flat and too far away.

So your refusal to climb the Eiffel Tower is wisdom, not laziness.

Posted by: TreeTop on December 19, 2006 11:21 AM

Nobody walks up the Eifel Tower. There are elevators.

My first political opinion. 1964. I opposed Social Security completely.

Sheryl Crow is one of those acts I've never 'got'. It always sounds like she's purposefully off-pitch. Like the opening notes to Clapton's solo in "I Feel Free".

Romney's dad was brainwashed. Maybe the same people got to MY.

I once knew all the words to the DiFranco Family's "Heartbeat" and sang it to everyone in the car's annoyance on our road trip to see Dylan in 1974. (In fact, I was almost put out of the car for it in Madison, Indiana.)

Posted by: Jeffrey Davis on December 19, 2006 11:23 AM

From what Andrew Sullivan's been saying, Romney's more extremely-voiced social attitudes are a fairly new adoption, likely in anticipation of a presidential run.

Strip out the religious-right-social-issues stuff and Romney's actually a nice, centrist candidate whose main appeal is a highly appealing one that is quite rare in politicians - managerial competence.

Posted by: Andrew Edwards on December 19, 2006 12:03 PM

Al shows a lot about himself here. Only he could think editorial positions of the Washignton Post are unorthodox.

Posted by: Rob on December 19, 2006 12:11 PM

I'm a Bay Stater, myself, and I understand why Matt voted for Romney. He cast himself as a William Weld kind of Republican -- fiscally responsible in a Clintonian kind of way with a live-and-let live social policy outlook -- and, given the Democratic machine that ran the state (and still does, though to a lesser degree) he seemed a breath of fresh air.

I mean, the president of the University of Massachusetts and former President of the Senate, Billy Bulger, was brother to Whitey Bulger, once the state's top gangster and now famously on the lam.

No way was I voting for the machine candidate. But I just couldn't pull the lever for Romney. So I voted Green -- same difference, though.

Romney's been a huge disappointment for everyone, including Republicans. Every state house candidate he campaigned for in 2004 lost, and there's no frickin' way he'd have won re-election.

When you go to other states and ridicule your home state in an effort to curry favor with the party base, it doesn't do much for your prospects at home.

Posted by: Jeff on December 19, 2006 12:24 PM

Crow's "The Book" is an excrutiatingly good heartbreak song. Anybody that can write a song like that has my respect as a legitimate talent (despite her recent misteps). I am never ashamed to give her props. When it is all said and done, lets compare her work with, say, The Arcade Fire. It is a joke to suspect those malcontents, even with a truck-full of indie cred, will be anything more than a footnote.

Posted by: MP on December 19, 2006 12:50 PM

B.S. Anderson, I was going to be the one who admitted "Strong Enough" isn't a bad tune.

Posted by: witless chum on December 19, 2006 01:14 PM

Give Ronmeny credit for one thing at least: he made a serious attempt at tackling the healthcare mess. Now, go right ahead and tell me all the ways in which Ronmney's plan falls short and I will probably agree with most of them, but it's still a lot more than the do-nothingism (or do very littleism) we find in the other states (and the federal government).

Posted by: Jonf on December 19, 2006 01:20 PM

Rob - sorry, my post was unclear. I meant to write that Matthew used to be an unorthodox liberal and now he's an orthodox liberal.

Posted by: Al on December 19, 2006 01:29 PM

Only been to Paris once, but I enjoyed the view from Sacré-Coeur the best:

http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen5/f13-sacre-coeur_2.html

Posted by: Tiparillo on December 19, 2006 01:32 PM

never thought i'd find a hopkins fan younger than i was! that's good stuff, though i tend to prefer the "terrible sonnets."

Posted by: greg marx on December 19, 2006 01:42 PM

well, al, once upon a time matthew thought invading iraq made sense, and then he thought a little more and observed reality and lived to regret such a foolish move.

once matthew was ill-informed about social security and then he learned a little more and became well-informed and stopped proposing foolishness.

which is to say, generally all it takes to become an "orthodox liberal" is a willingness to engage with reality....

Posted by: howard on December 19, 2006 01:54 PM

Matt, who did you vote for in the Democratic primary in '02? Presumably not Shannon O'Brien. Was it the darling of Massachusett's numerous college towns, Robert Reich? Was it the Clean Elections candidate, Warren Tolman? I always thought that Tolman would have been the strongest candidate, with his reformer record and non-elitist blue-collar cultural cues.

Posted by: Chris on December 19, 2006 02:20 PM

Matt, who did you vote for in the Democratic primary in '02? Presumably not Shannon O'Brien. Was it the darling of Massachusett's numerous college towns, Robert Reich? Was it the Clean Elections candidate, Warren Tolman?

No, the other one! I voted for Tom Birmingham.

Posted by: Matthew Yglesias on December 19, 2006 02:21 PM

Interesting how Matthew was so unorthodox back in the day - supported the war, supported private accounts, supported Romney. Wonder wht caused him to become so completely orthodox now

Events

Posted by: WillieStyle on December 19, 2006 02:22 PM

"Wonder wht caused him to become so completely orthodox now"

The facts are biased, Al - the facts have an anti-Bush agenda.

Posted by: The Navigator on December 19, 2006 03:00 PM

No, the other one! I voted for Tom Birmingham.

Right on. I liked him after Tolman.

Posted by: Chris on December 19, 2006 03:12 PM

Crow's Globe Sessions is a sorely, sorely underrated album.

I haven't been all that impressed by what's followed, but it's a great album that includes the best line of all time:

These are days of empty kitchens
The rise and fall of Mary Ella's hair-do

Posted by: publius on December 19, 2006 04:02 PM

You know when I hear terms like "managerial competence" in regards to Romney I shudder.

The man may be guilty of at least enabling the Negligent Homicide of Angel Del Valle.

Posted by: MNPundit on December 19, 2006 05:35 PM

#6 I also hate myself

Posted by: Matt on December 19, 2006 06:45 PM

I am shocked and appalled at the Romney vote. It was pretty clear in 2002 that he was state shopping, and had made some pro-life comments in Utah while considering a run there. It was also pretty obvious he was going to try to run for national office at some point too.
On the other hand, I never could figure who had voted for O'Brien in the Dem primary.

Posted by: AJ MA on December 19, 2006 07:26 PM

Ever see the postcard by Ashleigh Brilliant:

"For every person who doesn't understand me, there are millions who don't even know I exist"

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Posted by: çiçekçiler on October 2, 2007 11:21 AM

Don't blame you for the Eiffel Tower thing – I think it's better viewed from the bottom. Paris is, actually, better viewed from ground floor. I've heard the view from the Eiffel Tower isn't that amazing anyway, and it looks like a comment poster up top confirms this myth.
Well, since I don't live where you live, I don't know about the guy you voted for. And as for Sheryl Crow... well, she's OK... I guess. I must admit, I've never quite known what the big deal about her is... but music is just so super subjective anyway.

Posted by: christmas gifts on October 25, 2007 09:12 AM

Are you really interested in climbing the Eiffel Tower? I mean would you rather climb it than watch Crow’s concerts or climb the Mt. Everest and have your name listed in the Guinness World of Records?

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