Thomas F. Marshall c.1850

From Speeches and Writings of Hon. Thomas F. Marshall (1801-1864) (bio), written 1850, published in this collected form 1858, page 383.

With all his shallow and pedantic parade of names and dates, I fear he knows little of real history. He has never penetrated into the great deep of moral and political science.

Here Marshall is discussing Ben Hardin (b 1784), a Kentucky politician, (bio). Marshall alternates between praising Hardin and criticizing him for many pages, but basically the intent of the piece is to discredit Hardin.

"Shallow and pedantic" is a difficult insult to recover from. How can one demonstrate that they are not shallow? Even harder, can you show you are not pedantic without seeming even more pedantic?