Sign in  |  Register

The New Criterion

America’s leading review of the arts and intellectual life
- Harry Mount, the London Telegraph
Subscribe Now and get unlimited access

Weblog


Another Marie of Roumania moment

by Roger Kimball

Posted: Nov 23, 2005 07:49 AM

You know the Dorothy Parker ditty:

Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
A medley of extemporanea;
And love is a thing that can never go wrong;
And I am Marie of Roumania.
Remember how CNN flashed a big X through the image of Vice-President Cheney a few days ago when he was giving a speech?

The . . . what was it? Mishap? Sabotage? Honest mistake? Whatever, it was, as far was we know it was first reported on the Drudge Report. Quoth the White House: "Is someone in Atlanta trying to tell us something?" Fortunately, CNN, being a leader in responsible television journalism, got right to the bottom of things:

"IT WAS A COMPUTER BUG"

Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song . . .

"IT IS NOT SOMETHING WE CAN RE-CREATE TO SHOW YOU HOW IT HAPPENED"

A medley of extemporanea; . . .

"IT INVOLVED A SWITCHER, SOMETHING WE CALL A SWITCHER. IT’S A MACHINE THAT WE USE TO SWITCH BETWEEN VISUAL ELEMENTS."

And love is a thing that can never go wrong; . . .

"UPON SEEING THIS UNFORTUNATE BUT VERY BRIEF GRAPHIC, CNN SENIOR MANAGEMENT IMMEDIATELY INVESTIGATED. WE CONCLUDED THIS WAS A TECHNICAL MALFUNCTION NOT AN ISSUE OF OPERATOR ERROR."

And I am Marie of Roumania.

In other words (a picture being worth a thousand):

E-mail to friend

add a comment

Name:
Email:
Website:
Verification:

The New Criterion

About ArmaVirumque


( AHR-mah wih-ROOM-kweh)


In the Aeneid, the Roman poet Virgil sang of "arms and a man" (Arma virumque cano). Month in and month out, The New Criterion expounds with great clarity and wit on the art, culture, and political controversies of our times. With postings of reviews, essays, links, recs, and news, Armavirumque seeks to continue this mission in accordance with the timetable of the digital age.


 

Shortcut

www.armavirumque.org

 

To contact The New Criterion by email, write to:

  Contact

 

download
first delivery

The New Criterion is now optimized for Mobile Devices

New from The New Criterion:
40 page special issue
on our conference

"Free speech in
an age of Jihad"

Events

November 09, 2009

YOUNG FRIENDS: Tour of an important contemporary art collection


November 24, 2009

OPEN EVENT: Laura Jacobs reading


December 02, 2009

Friends Event: The Swallow Anthology Reading

More events >