SLOW PUNDIT WATCH

This item, in toto, gives me pause, yet again, over the intellectual heft of Kevin Drum at The Washington Monthly

JOAN OF ARK....From an LA Times op-ed about religious ignorance in America:

According to a 1997 poll, only one out of three U.S. citizens is able to name the most basic of Christian texts, the four Gospels, and 12% think Noah's wife was Joan of Arc.

It took me a minute to get the Joan of Arc thing, but I was definitely giggling when I figured it out.

• A. He's digging into the L.A. Times op-ed for an item that suits his slam-of-the-moment yen.
• B. He's lifting a "joke" from a "poll" that's at least seven years old. What's a joke doing in a poll in the first place? Drum doesn't even think to ask.
• C. The joke, it turns out, isn't from a poll but from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure -- as a random commenter is quick to point out. Ergo, old joke.
• D. Takes Kevin a minute to 'figure out' old joke. Visions of Drum reading slowly and moving lips assail my inner eye.
• E. Confession of "giggling." Visions of Drum confirmed.