What do Martha Coakley and Dan Quayle have in common? Well, let’s see:
(1) They are both lawyers.
(2) They both have been affiliated with their states’ AG offices (she as Attorney General, he as an investigator for the Consumer Protection Division).
(3) He was a senator, she aspires to be one.
(4) They like to add an extra “e” on the end of words.
Quayle was famous for his “potatoe” gaffe. But Coakley goes him one better; her new attack ad on Brown gets the spelling of her own state wrong. The end of the ad reads:
Paid for by Massachusettes Democratic Party and Authorized by Martha Coakley for Senate. Approved by Martha Coakley.
Granted, Coakley herself didn’t write it. Nor do I really, deeply care how good or bad a candidate’s spelling happens to be—after all, JFK was a notoriously poor speller, although he was certainly an intelligent man. Even when I didn’t like Quayle (that was back in my Democrat days) I never thought his spelling faux pas had much to do with anything essential, nor do I think Coakley’s does either. She has enough negatives that are far more important.
But still, it’s kind of funny, since it makes the state of Massachusetts into a sort of feminine diminutive, a girl group like the Ronettes or Ray Charles’s backup singers the Raelettes.
So folks, let’s hear it for the Massachusettes!
[NOTE: You can bet I spell checked this post pretty carefully, including “spell check” itself (there is not complete consensus on whether it’s one word or two, hyphenated or not, capitalized or lower case). There’s a general rule in blogging: in a post criticizing someone’s spelling, there’s at least a 50% chance you’ll make a spelling error yourself.]
Previously a lifelong Democrat, born in New York and living in New England, surrounded by liberals on all sides, I've found myself slowly but surely 
January 12th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
And who can forget President Jackson, who famously allowed that he didn’t hold a very high opinion of any man who could think of only one way to spell any given word? Or the story that Lincoln shared of the letter written by a semi-literate Confederate soldier, and later intercepted by the federals: He allowed that they’d “lick the yanks tomorrer, if goddlemitey spares our lives.” It was written the day before Cold Harbor. But it intriguing how you’d dress the Massachusettes for a concert, no?
January 12th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
[…] Dan Quayle could not be reached for comment. Filed under: Uncategorized […]
January 12th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Indeed, I rarely criticise thems wot cain’t spells gut cawse I sometimz hav dat problaim messef.
Seriously though, it does make her look rather silly, just as Quayle was. But I bet, major media will over look it…because she has the right letter next to her name for party affiliation.
January 12th, 2010 at 3:27 pm
Dew knot trussed yore smell checquer two fined awl yore missed takes.
January 12th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
In Quayle’s defense, the answer card in his hand had it spelled “potatoe”. Even though I am pretty confident I know the spelling of potato, I can’t say with any assurance that I would have behaved differently than Quayle. Could you?
January 12th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
if there was ever a sign that the campaign was being run outside of massachusettes, this would be it.
love to know quickly axelrod’s firm is going to cash their check.
let this be a warning to dems about the problems of centralized govt:
your track record on a centralized campaign is sufferring.
January 12th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Meh, it could be worse. I don’t add an E to that name, but I do keep leaving off the first letter.
January 12th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
tim maguire: did they ever find out who wrote the word on that card? Liberal dirty tricks action :-)?
January 12th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
[…] Neo-Neocon asks: […]
January 12th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
In the Potatoe episode, I believe the conversation went like this:
Teacher - hand card to Quayle, “Ask the kid to spell this.”.
Quayle - “That’s not how you spell Potatoe, is it?”
Teacher - “Yes it is.”
Quayle - “Well, I guess if you say so..”
Kid - “P-O-T-A-T-O”
Quayle - “Your missing a letter at the end.”
Nation - “Unfit for office, get rid of him”.
James
January 12th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
“There’s a general rule in blogging: in a post criticizing someone’s spelling, there’s at least a 50% chance you’ll make a spelling error yourself.”
Actually, I think it’s much higher than that. It’s probably closer to a certainty. I don’t blog but I know when I used to post to newsgroups back a few years ago, it happened quite frequently. I’d say something about someone’s spelling or grammar as I composed a post. I’d re-read it six times. I’d post it. And then as soon as it went live I’d see the mistake I made and didn’t catch. It was so amazing I couldn’t laughing about it after awhile. It had to be karma.
January 12th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
See what I mean…
“…I couldn’t help laughing about it…”
January 12th, 2010 at 6:53 pm
Herb Caen, long-time columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle [I believe] once wrote a column on the difficulty of removing all typos from the paper. [I think it was in response to a letter about having too many typos.]
The story is that it was checked and re-checked by Caen, a couple of copy editors and a couple of typesetters [yes, it was that long ago] both before and after setting the type, and upon publication was still found to have *two* typos.
I’d say the probabilities of such events approach 100%. [Preview is for wussies.]
;->=
January 12th, 2010 at 8:04 pm
[…] Ford so removed Soviet domination from Eastern Europe in 1976. And in a TV ad, her campaign misspelled the name of the state she seeks to […]
January 12th, 2010 at 11:07 pm
Hey, c’mon. Dan Quayle is a perfect example of the destructive power of the then unopposed MSM, unopposed even in its pettiness.
Coakley, on the other hand, is a malignant, vicious and unprincipled person….A perfect Dem.
January 12th, 2010 at 11:46 pm
One of my all-time favorite advertisements, which I removed from a magazine and saved (only to lose it a few years later), was for a Z80-based computer the size of a paperback book. It was bundled with several pieces of software, including one described as a “spelling chekcer.”
January 13th, 2010 at 8:29 am
Every time I read a post about spell checking, I am compelled to share this poem:
OWED TO THE SPELL CHECKER
I have a spelling checker -
It came with my PC
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot sea
Eye ran this poem threw it,
Your sure reel glad two no.
Its vary polished in it’s weigh -
My checker tolled me sew.
A checker is a bless sing.
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me awl stiles two reed,
And aides me when aye rime.
To rite with care is quite a feet
Of witch won should be proud.
And wee mussed dew the best wee can,
Sew flaws are knot aloud.
And now bee cause my spelling
Is checked with such grate flare,
Their are know faults with in my cite;
Of non eye am a wear.
Each frays come posed up on my screen
Eye trussed to be a joule.
The checker poured o’er every word
To cheque sum spelling rule.
That’s why aye brake in two averse
By righting wants too pleas.
Sow now ewe sea why aye dew prays
Such soft wear for pea seas!
Author Unknown
January 13th, 2010 at 8:37 am
Okay. I followed the wikilink and found that the author is not unknown. The poem, titled “Candidate for Pullet Surprise,” was composed by a graduate student at NIU named Jerry Zar in 1992.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:25 am
Since Ms. Coakley is a Dem her genius is beyond the level of understanding of mortals especially dopes who don’t recognize her superior genius.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:54 am
[…] UPDATE 2: Maybe it would help Coakley if her ads didn’t misspell the name of her own state […]
January 13th, 2010 at 11:59 am
Chris Hall: very clever poem.
January 16th, 2010 at 11:31 am
Dan Quayle was actually reading “potatoe” from a card handed to him from the class teacher.
Besides, potatoe is an accepted alternate spelling.
Still Coakley has a lot more problems than spelling her state. She epitomizes the archetypal Democrat legislator: Female, with no sense whatsoever. Take a look at Pelosi, Feinstein, Boxer, Eschoo, Tauscher, just to name a few. Peew.