A Vast Write Wing Conspiracy
Saturday, November 4, 2000
- TITLE: " A Vast Write Wing Conspiracy" An obvious (and probably previously used) pun on Hillary's claim that the Monica story was the result of the actions of a "Vast right-wing conspiracy"
- "All the polls �" Click here to see the latest summary.
- "�close call under the basket." As a teaching point the final part of this is, "A visiting coach can either wring his hands and rail against the gods, suffering at the hands of the referees, or he can design plays that do not go under the basket and therefore do not give the refs the challenge of making close calls."
Subreference to "rail against the gods." This is the intransitive verb "to rail" defined thus:
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French raillery to mock, from Old Proven�al ralhar to babble, joke, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin ragulare to bray, from Late Latin ragere to neigh
Date: 15th century
-- To revile or scold in harsh, insolent, or abusive language
synonym see SCOLD
- "�Plunk Your Magic Twanger �" This is a reference which might only make sense to middled aged men from New York who, in their childhood watched a Saturday morning program "Andy's Gang" which starred Andy Devine. Devine's previous credits had been as the gravelly-voiced side kick in TV westerns, most notably the Wild Bill Hickock show.
Andy's Gang had a budget of about $17 dollars per week and featured Midnight the Cat (shown here on the left), Squeaky the Mouse and - the best feature - Froggy the Gremlin.
Each week someone would come on the show to tell a story. Each week Froggy would suggest a word as the guests was speaking in the same way that four decades later a Saturday Night Live character did as "Subliminal Man." Froggy would put words in the guest's mouth which would (a) lead to the guest's frustration, (b) the same footage of the same kids laughing in the fake audience, and (c) my getting in trouble for having milk shoot out of my nose all over our Dumont TV.
"Andy's Gang" was sponsored by Buster Brown shoes. The only ad, as I remember it, was a youthful character saying, "I'm Buster Brown. I live in a shoe. Here's my dog Tige. He lives in here, too!"
- "To (mis)quote a great �" This was the famous litany of Tennessee Senator Howard Baker during the Senate Watergate hearings. The question about President Nixon's understanding of the break-in and subsequent cover-up was, "What did he know, and when did he know it?"
- "� Signifying nothing." Here is the full stanza which, we all understand, you already can quote from memory:
Life 's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
(Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act V, Scene 5)
- "Damn. My feet �" King Canute was a serious Viking who, at the height of his career, had an empire which included England, Denmark, Norway and part of Sweden. His courtiers claimed Canute's power was so great "he could command the tides of the sea to go back." To his credit, Canute had a throne brought to the sea shore and, when his feet got wet, demonstrated that no man could override the will of God.
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