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Marc Ambinder

Marc Ambinder - Marc Ambinder is the White House correspondent for National Journal and a contributing editor at The Atlantic. More

Marc Ambinder is the White House correspondent for National Journal. He previously served as the politics editor, and is now a contributing editor, for The Atlantic, where he curated the influential Politics channel on TheAtlantic.com and contributed to the magazine. He was also a chief political consultant to CBS News. Earlier, at NJ's Hotline, Ambinder was the founding editor of "Hotline On Call," a pathbreaking political news blog. He also worked as a producer and reporter for the ABC News Political Unit and was one of the founders of ABC's "The Note." Born in New York City, raised in Central Florida, Ambinder is a 2001 graduate of Harvard and lives in Washington, D.C.

One Crazy Summer: A Quiz

By Marc Ambinder
Sep 8 2009, 7:50 AM ET Comment

OK, hot shot. Think you've been paying attention to political blogs and the cable networks all summer? Test your knowledge of political neologisms right here, in the Atlantic's first annual -- probably only annual -- Summer 2009 Political Vocabulary Quiz.

1. A "birther" is someone who:

A. delivers babies.
B. births babies.
C. believes that Barack Obama was born outside the U.S. and is thus ineligible to be president
D. believes that, on our about the date of August 4, 1961, the Obama family orchestrated a conspiracy in to place birth announcements in Hawaiian newspapers.
E. C and D.


2. A "tenther" is someone who:

A. Frequently uses the word "decimate" when she means "decapitate"
B. is very small.
C. sells camping equipment
D. believes that President Barack Obama's health care plan violates the 10th amendment to the constitution.
E. is a newfangled advocate of states rights and advocates secession
F. D and E.

3. A "truther" is a:

A. person who studies the writings of Sojouner Truth.
B. derisive nickname for someone who believes that the events of 9/11 were orchestrated by the Bush government.
C. modernist
D. kind of pickle

4. When someone accuses you of "Coakleying me on Facebook," they mean:

A. Something unprintable in a family magazine
B. Repeatedly sending a "Become a Fan Of Martha Coakley" request to them.
C. Eagerly being the first to do something, like jump into a Senate race that isn't technically a race yet.

5. Smart-alecky progressive bloggers use the term "Villager" to refer to:

A. A person who identifies as a journalist and cloisters him or herself in a Village, with its own weird customs and habits, walled off from reality.
B. A resident of Greenwich Village
C. A movie director whose first movie was his best
D. A stiff drink at the new W hotel in downtown DC
E. A convert from the "Church of the Savvy"

6. The Summer Of Crazy encompasses all but which of the following:

A. The Birthers, the Deathers
B. The media embrace of -- and the liberal obsession with -- the cranks -- those deeply conservative/libertarian/La Rouche/grasstops protesters who turned up at early town hall meetings
C. The Gunners -- the folks who decided to bring guns to Barack Obama rallies
D. The rockin' first scene of Inglorius Basterds
E. The habit of blaming the press for the left's failure to persuade and communicate.

7. A "deather" believes that Sarah Palin:

A. got it exactly right when she charged that Barack Obama wanted to create "death panels" to ration health care.
B. got it exactly right when she looked at Levi Johnstson, put her finger on her tongue, and, in her best Joan Rivers brouge, said "Oh! Death! Death! Death!"
C. is treated fairly by the tabloids.
D. was the wrong choice to be John McCain's Vice President. (i.e., Tim Pawlenty is not a deather.)
item

8. "Michele Bachmann" is:

A. an invention of the liberal blogosphere
B. a Republican member of Congress from Minnesota who aspires to run for the presidency
C. a family doctor in Tupelo

9. An "indoctrinator" is someone who:

A. thinks its OK for the President of the United States to encourage children to stay in school and didn't understand the 2009 political ramifications that would follow from a gentle encouragement for children to write to the President of the United States.
B. produces programming for Fox News and MSNBC
C. produces talking points for Robert Gibbs
D. Thinks that the mainstream media, in reporitng that the President of the United States wants to encourage children to stay in school, is furthering the socialist conspiracy

10. A "socialist" is someone who:

A. In 2009, supports a cap-and-trade emissions credit scheme
B. In 2009, supports an exchange/market mechanism for expanding insurance coverage and  is resisting Congressional efforts to mandate a public option immediately
C. In 2009, instructed his administration to resist European efforts to severely curtail banker bonuses
D. In 2008, convinced Congress to spend $700 billion to bail out the banking sector
E. In 2009, hired and staff his Treasury department and economic counsels with prominent moderate Democratic economists.
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