I’m mightily impressed that David Skinner of the right-wing Weekly Standard can shoot fish in a barrel. Too bad about the collateral damage he does to his own foot in the process.

In a column called "Stardumb” -- gosh, I guess that’s a pun on “stardom,” isn’t it? -- Skinner critiques celebrities (left-leaners only) for having the temerity to express opinions despite the fact that they’re not Oxford-level debaters or Nobel-level intellects. Skinner chides Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst (whom he calls, ever so wittily, “Fred Dunce”) because Durst said at the Grammy Awards, “I hope we all are in agreeance that this war should go away as soon as possible." Muffy! He said “agreeance”! Yet how good is Skinner’s command of the language? He writes:

The music awards remained relatively free of war-posing even after reports that the plug wouldn't be pulled on anyone for mouthing off. But, somehow, the dye was already set.

First of all, David, that should be “die,” not “dye.” And the expression isn’t “the die is set” -- it’s “the die is cast.” Alia iacta est, as we used to say in Latin class. Scroll to the second entry here if you don’t know what a die is.

By the way, I wonder if Skinner has any plans to parse the bon mots of Ted Nugent or Charlie Daniels.

(Thanks to TAPPED for the Skinner link.)