A Meme Changer: Eagleton? Or Mulligan?
Immediately after John McCain selected Sarah Palin to be his V.P. nominee the major media and the left's (but I repeat myself) first reaction was an outright guffaw. The didn't realize at the time (and perhaps still don't) that they essentially told everyone here in flyover country exactly what they think of us.
When it became apparent that she was totally re-energizing the ticket and saw the real threat that she represented both to their chosen candidate and to their inbred notions of what a national candidate for office should be...especially one that is a woman...they knew that she did not need to be simply opposed. She needed to be destroyed.
And if that meant destoying her family also....well, it's not personal. It's business, you dumb hick breeder of more breeders.
Before evidence of the massive backlash towards the media became apparent, an accompanying tactic was for the national press to report their own wishes and hopes of her having to leave the GOP ticket as "people raising the question of a possible 'Eagleton' scenario'", in reference to George McGovern's VP nominee, Thomas Eagleton, leaving the ticket in 1972 when it was revealed that he had taken "shock therapy" treatments for some sort of disorder.
Polls can always change, but in the last two weeks the Republican ticket has had a massive reversal of fortune and now leads Obama/Biden by 54%-44% among likely voters in the latest Gallup poll.
Which is now, I think, seriously making the Dems look at Joe Biden and wondering if they can fit him into an Eagleton suit. And, who knows, they may do it.
But here is what I propose for the right-wing blogosphere: Stop calling it the Eagleton Scenario. That is insider ball for most of the country. Only us junkies really know about that.
No. Call it something that is immediately recognizable..and exactly what it would be.
Call it a "mulligan."
See? That looks so much better than, "Will Biden go the way of Eagleton?" Plus, it happens to be a term that would be 100% accurate in this case.
Anyway, Karl told me to tell y'all to start doing this.
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8 Comments
It was probably "word of the day" from Dictionary Dot Com and Walsingham felt compelled to use it.
It's a little too archaic for today's young people.
One should probably adher to the standards of most books, magazines and newspapers, where ten-dollar words and outdated phrases from the 1920's are avoided and everything is written in the ordinary English of today.
We all attended college just as Walsingham probably has, but we didn't hang on to the entire vocabulary we learned there.
Ask anybody on the street what a mulligan is and they will likely have to Google it to give you an answer.
I know theocritus isn't an idiot, and I am surprised he doesn't know the word. Can't say the same for anon.2.
It's a fairly common word. Anyone who's ever played golf or read about sports for long should be familiar with it.
I reckon that in Midland if you asked a random person what a "mulligan" is you would get the right answer from about 25% of respondents, which is probably a higher number than you would get if you asked them what a "blog" is.
That said, Walsingham makes a great point. I'd put money on Obama taking a mulligan on his VP choice before McCain does. When does it become too late to do such a thing?
Bob:
Less than one month out from the election, if New Jersey democrat politics are anything to go by.
Howzabout we use "do over"? Even the lowest IQ, video game addicted, 18 year old new dem voter will understand.
But I thought everyone understood mulligan in the context of Clintonian democrat politics. He took mulligans on several cabinet and court nominations. And the mulligan (and the lesser known "pick up/gimme a par") was/is key to Bill's golf game.
My young son not only knows what a blog is, but knows what a mulligan is also. I hardly find that archaic. He hasn't even played a round with me and the boys.....yet.
I thought I was the token "id-jiot" around here, but Anon 2, you are making me feel much better about myself.
To the regulars here at the "Well", I do need to apologize for my previous crassness. I did have a point, but I have seen it was lost here (and for reasons that show even in this blog thread). For whatever reason, I did go beyond the realms of good taste, but then again, several of the regulars here make me feel pretty good about myself.
Good site though. I'll keep reading (and try not to be too disruptive).
Well there's a truly rare thing.
No grudge here Stu Pidasso, as long as you (or I) don't act like one, namesake or not.
For the most part, dissent is tolerated around here, it's disingenuousness that gets under the skin.
And in the spirit of peacemaking, I confess that I throw the term "idiot" around too much. Mostly meaningless when said in jest, I see that it can be very hurtful when used against that unfortunate soul, who truly is an idiot. My deepest apologies anon.2.
Since this has become a scene of make-nice, I'll do it too. I never did get over being the smart kid in the front row with his hand up, the sort of kid that, had I not been that kid, I'd have disliked intensely. As Portia has said to me in person, "Why use such a big hammer?"
Actually I rather like dissent because I don't mind a challenge. When I write something I try it out from all angles that I can, but that doesn't mean that I'm right. Robinson Crusoe must have been the most tedious person in the world for there was no one to tell him he was full of crap. People who essentially think alone soon conflate thinking with setting up straw men.
Today Biden said Hillary might have been a better choice for Obama's VP.
Setting the stage for a mulligan?
I had to google what a Mulligan was myself. That's inside golf.