Sitting for a Test Is Not the Same Thing as Passing It


I’ve already been tested. … Look, I’ve been tested. They know I’ve been tested. … I’ve been tested many times. … I’ve been tested, my friend.

John McCain

And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.

This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.

TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.

PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

—Daniel 5:25–28 (KJV)


I’m reminded of a passage from Al Franken’s Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot, which went something like this:

He seemed to be saying that he should be President because it was his turn. “I have been tested, and I have been tested, and I have been tested.” He might have been saying “I have been testy, and I have been testy, and I have been testy.”

(Accuracy of quotation not guaranteed, I haven’t read the book in a long time.) Of course, Franken was talking about Bob Dole in 1996.


Hm. Apparently cite tags appear in the preview but not once the comment is posted.


Sorry; the standard Movable Type allowed tags are (a href,b,i,br/,p,strong,em,ul,ol,li,blockquote,pre).


Duly noted. I was just surprised it would show up in the preview if it wasn’t supported. My inner Semantics-Not-Presentation! nerd rebels at having to use i instead of cite, but I’ve instructed him to sit down and shut up already.