American Elephants

James Taranto’s “Best of the Web” column on the Opinion page of the Wall Street Journal is a constant source of delight.  He castigates unintelligible headlines, nonsense phrases, mixed metaphors and general journalistic misbehavior.  He finds humor in odd places and singles out serial offenders for scorn.

I loved this round-up of President Obama’s deep concern:

• “Obama Breaks Silence on Gaza, Voices “Deep Concern” over Civilian Deaths” —headline, Ha’aretz, Jan. 7
• “Obama Voices Concern About Freed Guantanamo inmates” — headline, Reuters, Feb. 3
• “Obama Voices Concern About Pakistan” — headline, New York Tmes, April 30
• “Obama Expresses Concern for Tissainayagam” — Headline, TamilNet.com, May 2
• “Obama: Long-Term Joblessness a Concern” — CNN.com, May 20
• “Obama Says North Korea Nuclear Test a ‘Grave Concern’ ” — Headline, Reuters, May 25
• “Obama to ‘Voice Concerns’ in Egypt Speech” — headline, Hill, May 29
• “Obama Concerned at Sentence of Journalists in N Korea” — headline, Agence France-Presse, June 8
• “Obama Names Video Games as Health Concern in Speech to A.M.A.” — headline, GamePolitics.com., June 15
• “Obama Has ‘Deep Concerns’ About Iran’s Election” — headline, Newsweek Web site, June 16
• “Obama Concern About Oil Speculation Unchanged-W House” — headline Reuters, June 18
• “Obama Expresses Deep Concern Over Honduras Coup” — headline, Deutsche Presse Agentur, June 28
• “Obama Tells the AP He is Deeply Concerned About Rising Unemployment” — headline, Associated Press, July 2