Sunday, December 30, 2007

Obama-Clinton exchange

During a debate between Democratic presidential hopefuls this month, Sen. Barack Obama said he would move U.S. foreign policy in a different direction if elected. He was asked how he would do this because several of his advisers once worked for President Bill Clinton.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, the wife of the former president and the Democratic frontrunner, laughed out loud and said, "I'm looking forward to hearing that."

The comment drew loud laughter from the crowd.

Obama waited for the laughter to subside and then responded, "Hillary, I'm looking forward to you advising me as well."

Obama got the last laugh.

Mike Huckabee-Chuck Norris

A few weeks ago, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee jumped from relative obscurity among Republican presidential candidates to become the party's front runner in the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Huckabee owes at least part of his rising popularity to a television commercial where he and actor Chuck Norris trade straight-faced characteristics about the other.
"Mike Huckabee is a life-long hunter, who will protect our Second Amendment rights," Norris sternly says. Huckabee then responds, "There's no chin behind Chuck Norris's beard, only another fist." Norris counters with, "Mike Huckabee wants to put the IRS out of business." And Huckabee adds, "When Chuck Norris does a push up, he isn't lifting himself up, he's pushing the earth down . . . Chuck Norris doesn't endorse, he tells America how it's gonna be."
Is Huckabee saying that we should vote for him because Chuck Norris says so? Well, maybe, but probably not.
Huckabee said he wanted the ad to increase interest in his campaign. This has certainly happened. News programs continue to run the ad at no cost to the Huckabee campaign. The ad also has had nearly a million hits on U-Tube. Huckabee also said he wanted to remind voters that presidential campaigns should be fun.
Nothing is undervalued in political campaigning as much as humor - unless it's honesty.

Orlando Sentinel -- Humor Pulls No Punches

Humor pulls no punches: Campaign ads can tickle political funny bone
Chris Lamb
Special To The Sentinel
December 23, 2007

A few weeks ago, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee jumped from relative obscurity among Republican presidential candidates to become the party's front-runner in the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Huckabee owes at least part of his rising popularity to a television commercial where he and actor Chuck Norris trade straight-faced characteristics about the other.

"Mike Huckabee is a life-long hunter, who will protect our Second Amendment rights," Norris sternly says.Huckabee then responds, "There's no chin behind Chuck Norris's beard, only another fist."

Norris counters with, "Mike Huckabee wants to put the IRS out of business."

And Huckabee adds, "When Chuck Norris does a push-up, he isn't lifting himself up, he's pushing the earth down. . . . Chuck Norris doesn't endorse, he tells America how it's gonna be."

Is Huckabee saying that we should vote for him because Chuck Norris says so?

Well, maybe, but probably not.

Huckabee said he wanted the ad to increase interest in his campaign. This has certainly happened. News programs continue to run the ad at no cost to the Huckabee campaign. The ad also has had nearly a million hits on YouTube. Huckabee also said he wanted to remind voters that presidential campaigns should be fun.

Nothing is undervalued in political campaigning as much as humor -- unless it's honesty.

Humor can cut through the tedious babble of a campaign. It reduces the distance between the candidate and voters. The Huckabee ad, for instance, makes the candidate appear like he's regular folk. We want our presidents to be honest, fair, confident and decisive. But we also want them to be regular folk.

No president used humor better than Abraham Lincoln. In the television age, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, who had little in common with the common people, nevertheless, used their sense of humor to connect with them.

Television commercials offer candidates their best opportunity to connect with voters. Commercials aren't meant to reveal everything about a candidate. They should, however, reveal something distinctive about him or her. Because candidates are paying for the ad, they have considerable control over what impression they want to leave with viewers. But what impression are they leaving?

Some candidates, such as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, pay a lot of money for commercials. As anyone living in a state with an early primary knows, Romney's commercials take the air more often than planes at O'Hare Airport.

Romney's commercials reveal that the candidate is rich -- or how else could he afford to run so many television ads? From his ads, viewers also learn that he's physically fit, has nice hair, and was once a successful businessman. In his early commercials, Romney, speaking directly to viewers, had little to say; he appeared earnest, but his ideas were predictable, even trite.

Now, as Huckabee has become the front runner, Romney's campaign has gone on the attack. Romney now appears annoyed, defensive, even desperate, and, yes, humorless.

Should we vote for Mike Huckabee for president because he appears to have a sense of humor? No. But we also shouldn't vote for a candidate because her husband was president, because the candidate was a television actor, or because Oprah -- or Chuck Norris -- tells us to vote for a particular person.

Political campaigns tend to be risk adverse, which explains, in part, why there is so little humor in television commercials. There's also a mistaken impression that humor isn't presidential. We can't very well have someone like Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy or Ronald Reagan in the White House, can we?

Chris Lamb is a professor of Communication at the College of Charleston. His latest book is I'll Be Sober in the Morning: Great Political Comebacks, Putdowns and Ripostes. He can be reached at lambc@cofc.edu

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Washington Post, December 15, 2007

From Pericles to Obama
Thursday's Democratic debate added to a long and noble tradition of poltical putdowns.
By Chris Lamb
Saturday, December 15, 2007
12:00 AM
During Thursday's debate among the Democratic presidential hopefuls, Sen. Barack Obama was asked how he would shift U.S. foreign policy in a different direction, given that several of his advisers once worked for President Bill Clinton. "I want to hear that," Sen. Hillary Clinton chimed in, provoking laughter. Obama waited a moment, and then quipped: "Well, Hillary, I'm looking forward to you advising me as well." It was Obama who got the last laugh.
A sharp comeback can be a potent political weapon. But, so far, the current presidential campaign has been long on sound and fury and short on memorable exchanges between politicians.
That wasn't always the case. Here are 10 of the best political comebacks in history, as they've been passed down in the political lore.
1. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill is said to have been drinking at a party when he bumped into Bessie Braddock, a prudish political opponent. "Mr. Churchill, you are drunk," Braddock said.
"And Bessie, you are ugly," Churchill said. And then, after a pause, he added: "I'll be sober in the morning."
2. There's also the story about Churchill's encounter with Lady Nancy Astor, who told him: "If you were my husband, I would poison your coffee."
"If you were my wife," Churchill replied, "I would drink it."
3. American presidency scholar Richard Norton Smith likes to cite a campaign-trail exchange between Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. Douglas claimed that Lincoln had been selling whiskey when they first met.
Lincoln made no attempt to dispute the charge. He agreed that he once worked as a storekeeper. "Many a time have I stood on one side of the counter," he said, "and sold Mr. Douglas whiskey on the other side."
4. In 1921, Agnes Macphail became the first woman elected to the Canadian House of Commons. Not all of her colleagues welcomed her. One tried to embarrass her by asking, "Don't you wish you were a man?"
"No," Macphail replied. "Don't you?"
5. When Huey Long was governor of Louisiana, he supposedly told then-Texas Governor James "Pa" Ferguson: "If there had been a back door at the Alamo, there wouldn't have been a Texas."
"But there there was a back door -- and that's why there's a Louisiana," Ferguson said.
6. Sen. Henry Clay of Kentucky and Sen. Daniel Webster of Massachusetts were sitting outside a Washington hotel when, according to legend, a man walked by with a pack of mules. "Clay, there goes a number of your Kentucky constituents," Webster said.
"Yes," Clay replied, "they must be on their way to Massachusetts to teach school."
7. Then-Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.) once found himself in an elevator with the diminutive -- but self-assured -- then-Sen. John Tower (R-Tex.), who puffed out his chest to show off the expensive suit he'd just purchased. "What do you think?" Tower asked.
"It's very nice, but does it come in men's sizes?" Hollings replied.
8. During a 1986 debate agsinst Hollings, challenger Henry McMaster asked his opponent to take a drug test.
"I'll take a drug test if you'll take an IQ test," Hollings responded.
9. In the 5th century B.C., Alcibiades debated his uncle, the Greek orator Pericles. "When I was your age, Alcibiades, I talked just the way you are now talking," Pericles said.
"If only I had known you, Pericles, when you were at your best," Alcibiades said.
10. John Wilkes, an 18th-century political reformer, was involved in a particularly angry exchange with John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, who said to Wilkes, "Sir, I do not know whether you will die on the gallows or of the pox!"
Wilkes responded, "That, sir, depends on whether I embrace your principles or your mistress."
The writer is a communication professor at the College of Charleston and author of "I'll Be Sober in the Morning: Great Political Comebacks, Putdowns, and Ripostes."
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Monday, December 10, 2007

Daytona Beach News-Journal

Originally appeared on News-Journal Online
/Footnote/colFOOT120907.htm


December 08, 2007
Three-dot courtroom follow-ups
By MARK LANE FOOTNOTE
As a full-service columnist, I feel bad when I bring something up, declare it's vitally worth paying attention to, and then never pay attention to it again.
When several stories beg for quick updates, there's only one thing to do: Declare Follow-up Sunday, pull open the asterisks drawer, and get to work.
* * *
In this dreary season of dozen-candidate political debates, it's easy to forget past eras when political back-and-forth was sharper, less canned.
That was brought home last week when Chis Lamb, an academic, author and former News-Journal reporter, sent me a copy of his new book "I'll Be Sober in the Morning --Great Political Comebacks, Putdowns and Ripostes" published by Frontline Press.
It's a hard-to-put-down paperback with one bon mot per page. And some of the mots are pretty darned bon. They're arranged chronologically from Alcibiades to George W. Bush. (If I had a dime for every time I wrote those two names together in a sentence . . .)
Lots of good, mean-spirited fun.
mark.lane@news-jrnl.com
© 2007 News-Journal Corporation. ® www.news-journalonline.com. Do not republish or distribute without permission

Friday, December 7, 2007

South Carolina Statehouse Report

When politicians are comedians

By CHRIS LAMB
Professor,
College of Charleston
Special to SC Statehouse Report

Note: In this new weekly feature, we profile various opinions about everything from issues of public policy to comments on the political system, such as the humorous piece provided today.. We encourage you to submit op-ed opinions of up to 600 words. Learn more.

DEC. 7, 2007, Charleston, S.C. -- In October, Stephen Colbert announced on his comedy program, "The Colbert Report," that he would be a candidate for the presidency. Colbert introduced his campaign with all of the cheap gimmickry of a seasoned politician, entering the television studio pulled by a bicycle pedaled by Uncle Sam. Colbert then propped his feet on a bale of hay and cracked open a beer bottle to demonstrate he was "an average Joe."
It would be easy to question Colbert's sincerity. But the 43-year-old satirist didn't come to his decision lightly. His announcement, he admitted, came after many anxious minutes.
"After nearly 15 minutes of soul-searching, I have heard the call," he said.
Colbert's candidacy challenged traditional presidential campaigns. For one thing, he said he was running as a Republican and a Democrat - or a Republicrat. Secondly, he said he planned only to run in South Carolina, testing the old political maxim, "As South Carolina goes, so goes southern North Carolina and parts of eastern Georgia."
Colbert's candidacy was aborted when the South Carolina Democratic Party refused to put the comedian's name on the ballot. Party leaders complained Colbert would make a mockery out of the political process. When pressed further, they admitted they could make a mockery of the political process without any help from an outsider.
South Carolina, traditionally, prefers its politicians to be punch lines and not comedians. There have, of course, been exceptions.
The last comedian who ran for the presidency was another South Carolinian, US Sen. "Fritz" Hollings. During his presidential run in 1984, Hollings and the other Democratic candidates were discussing their qualifications before a crowd of voters. After US Sen. John Glenn droned at length about his historic orbit as an astronaut in 1962, Hollings turned to Glenn and said, "But what have you done in this world?" Hollings got the laughs but came up short on votes and eventually dropped out of the race.
Lamb's new book is on political ripostes and comebacks. More.
When Hollings was running for re-election to the US Senate in 1986, his Republican opponent Henry McMaster inexplicably challenged Hollings, then in his 70s, to take a drug test, during a television debate. "I'll take a drug test," Hollings snapped, "if you'll take an IQ test."
Hollings's South Carolina colleague in the US Senate for decades was the robust Strom Thurmond, who took considerable pride in his obligations as a public servant. Few politicians, for instance, got closer to their female constituency than Thurmond. This became a source of admiration and humor.
At Thurmond's 100th birthday party, a member of his staff remarked: "I see so many people here today who Strom Thurmond has touched - and some he even squeezed." The speaker continued: "There are several things Strom would never miss - a peach parade, a Senate vote, or the opening of a Hooters restaurant." When the physically fit Thurmond married a woman 40 years his junior, a Senate colleague joked: "He's found someone he can practice his push-ups on."
When Thurmond retired from the Senate, Democrat Alex Sanders sought Thurmond's seat. If Sanders had won, South Carolina would've been represented by Hollings and Sanders, achieving the distinction of having arguably the two funniest members of the US Senate serving the state.
As Sanders campaigned, he would often tell the story of the Jewish fellow who left South Carolina, moved to New York and became a Communist. Eventually, he returned home and ran a store in a small town full of Klansmen. The FBI threatened to expose him to his neighbors if he didn't cooperate with the bureau's investigation of Communist activists. On his way home, the man saw an old-fashioned Gospel tent meeting, where he accepted Jesus as his savior and confessed all his sins, including having been a Communist.
"Well," Sanders said, "people in the South just love those who have fallen into sin and ask forgiveness. And Klansmen don't have much sympathy for the FBI. He never had any trouble in town after that."

Chris Lamb, a professor of Communication at the College of Charleston, is the author of a new book, "I'll Be Sober in the Morning: Great Political Comebacks, Putdowns and Ripostes," which was published in November by Frontline Press. He can be reached at lambc@cofc.edu.

Monday, December 3, 2007

The Charleston City Paper

I'll Be Sober In the Morning, touts a collection of great political comebacks, putdowns and ripostes. Here are a few zingers:
• When Rev. Edward Everett Hale was chaplain of the U.S. Senate, he was asked if he prayed for the Senators. "No," he said. "I look at the Senators and pray for the country."
• When a TV reporter was interviewing New York Mayor Ed Koch, he pressed the mayor on an issue. Koch, clearly frustrated, leaned closer to the reporter and said, "I can explain this to you; I can't comprehend it for you."
• During a television debate against Sen. Fritz Hollings in 1986, Republican Henry McMaster challenged his opponent to take a drug test. "I'll take a drug test," Hollings said, "if you'll take an IQ test."
• After Press Secretary Bill Moyers delivered grace over dinner, President Lyndon Johnson complained to Moyers that he couldn't hear him. "Mr. President," replied Moyers, "I wasn't speaking to you."
I'll Be Sober is edited by College of Charleston professor Chris Lamb, illustrated by City Paper cartoonist Steve Steglin, and published by columnist Will Moredock from Frontline Press. —Greg Hambrick

Monday, November 26, 2007

Charleston Post and Courier article

Like a switchblade, best quips cut deep
C of C prof's book focuses on politics
By Aubrey Straub
The Post and Courier
Sunday, November 25, 2007
C of C prof's book focuses on politics

Today's overly orchestrated political debates and scripted responses have largely pushed out the harsh and often hilarious one-liners of classic campaign rhetoric. Perhaps modern-day politicians could pick up a few tips from a College of Charleston communication professor's new book that compiles some of history's great political quips.

"I'll Be Sober in the Morning: Great Political Putdowns, Comebacks, and Ripostes," edited by professor Chris Lamb, is a collection of humorous and biting comebacks that past politicians used to score points and silence opponents.

"I don't think I'll have to revise the book anytime soon," Lamb said. "The media want their politicians to be glib and shrill. Political consultants want their candidates to stay on script. They undervalue humor."

Lamb concedes that there has been at least one humorous quote in the current presidential campaign. Lynne Cheney, the wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, announced that she had discovered her husband was a distant relative of Sen. Barack Obama.

"When the Obama camp heard their candidate was related to Dick Cheney, a spokesman said, 'Well, every family has its black sheep,'" Lamb said.

The collection also features comebacks from Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Cicero and even South Carolina's own Fritz Hollings.

The former U.S. senator once delivered a zinger during a televised debate when an opponent challenged Hollings to take a drug test. "I'll take a drug test," Hollings snapped, "if you'll take an IQ test."

The book, released this month, includes several putdowns and retorts from former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, whose acidic quips contributed to the title.

At a party one evening, a heavily intoxicated Churchill bumped into Bessie Braddock, a parliament member. "Mr. Churchill, you are drunk," Braddock scolded him.

Churchill responded, "And Bessie, you are ugly. You are very ugly. I'll be sober in the morning."

This comeback was one of Lamb's favorites. "I like it because it's short, sweet and to the point," Lamb said. "There wasn't anything Braddock could say."

Lamb said comebacks and putdowns helped him hold his own growing up in a big family.

"Comebacks are simply one upping someone else. Putdowns are different. The person who delivers a putdown isn't interested in getting a chuckle," he said. "The best putdowns are like switchblades — short and to the point. They cut deeply and leave a scar."

Reach Aubrey Straub at astraub@postandcourier.com.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Sober is published

NEWS RELEASE

November 1, 2007 Contact: Chris Lamb, Professor
5 College Way
Dept. of Communication
College of Charleston
843-953-6591, w lambc@cofc.edu

`I’ll Be Sober in the Morning’ Book Includes Best Political Putdowns

CHARLESTON, S.C. – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had been drinking heavily at a party and bumped into Bessie Braddock, a Socialist parliament member

"Mr. Churchill, you are drunk," Braddock said harshly.

Churchill paused and said, "And Bessie, you are ugly. You are very ugly. I’ll be sober in the morning."

The ability to fire off a sharp comeback that leaves a rival or heckler red-faced and speechless can be a potent political weapon. In a war of words, few could stand up to Winston Churchill.

“I’ll Be Sober in the Morning: Great Political Putdowns, Comebacks, and Ripostes,” edited by Chris Lamb and published by Frontline Press, is a must-read to survive the interminable 2008 political campaign. In “I’ll Be Sober in the Morning,” you’ll find punishing putdowns like this:

John Wilkes, the 18th-century British political reformer, was debating John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, in Parliament. The exchange kept increasing in bile until Montagu shouted at Wilkes that he would either die on the gallows or of venereal disease. To which Wilkes responded, “That, sir, depends on whether I first embrace your Lordship’s principles or your Lordship’s mistresses.”

No record exists of Montagu’s response, or if he even had one. He probably put what was left of his manhood in a thimble and skulked away in silence. To this day, no one has delivered a comeback so devastating and so spontaneous.

Below are samples from “I’ll Be Sober in the Morning: Great Putdowns, Comebacks, and Ripostes.” For a copy of the book, call Chris Lamb at 843-953-6591 or e-mail lambc@cofc.edu.

During one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, the incumbent U.S. Sen. Stephen Douglas told a conservative audience that he had once seen Lincoln selling whiskey. When it was his turn to speak, Lincoln made no attempt to dispute the charge. He agreed that he had once worked as a bartender. “I was on one side of the bar serving drinks,” Lincoln said, “and Douglas was on the other side drinking them.”

A political opponent charged New York Gov. Al Smith with telling lies about him. "You ought to be glad," Smith replied. "If I told the truth about you, they'd run you out of town."

When Woodrow Wilson was governor of New Jersey, he was informed that one of the state's U.S. senators had died and it would therefore be up to Wilson to appoint a replacement. Shortly thereafter, a state politician called Wilson and said, "Mr. Governor, I'd like to take the senator's place."
"It's OK with me,” Wilson replied, “if it's okay with the undertaker."

One evening a nervous soprano struggled hopelessly before president Calvin Coolidge at a White House recital. “What do you think of the singer’s execution?” one of the guests asked Coolidge. Coolidge paused and then quietly answered, “I’m all for it.”

During a congressional debate an opponent shouted at the diminutive U.S. Sen. A.H. Stephens, "You little know nothing, I could swallow you whole and never know I had eaten anything." Stephens then fired back, "And if you did that, you would have more brains in your belly than you have in your head."

Former Georgia governor Herman Talmadge was asked what would be the effect of all the people moving from Georgia to Florida. "I am sure it will enhance the level of intelligence of both states," Talmadge said.

During an exchange in Parliament, Lady Nancy Astor snarled at Winston Churchill and said: “If you were my husband, I would poison your coffee.” Churchill replied, “If you were my wife, Nancy, I’d drink it.”

---

Monday, October 22, 2007

High Art of Political Putdowns

OTHER VIEWS
The high art of political putdowns
Chris Lamb Special to the Sentinel
October 21, 2007

John Wilkes, the 18th-century British political reformer, was debating John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, in the House of Parliament. The exchange kept increasing in bile until Montagu shouted at Wilkes that he would either die on the gallows or of venereal disease.

To which Wilkes responded, "That, sir, depends on whether I first embrace your Lordship's principles or your Lordship's mistresses."

There's no record of Montagu's response, or if he even had one. He probably put what was left of his manhood in a thimble and skulked away in silence.
To this day, no one has delivered a comeback so devastating and so spontaneous. In the rough-andtumble world of political debates, one hopes to have the last word. Republican presidential hopefuls will look for their opportunities tonight in Orlando.

In the last Republican debate two weeks ago, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney addressed the long presidential campaign and took a swipe at former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, the former Law and Order actor who had finally entered the race after much speculation."This is a lot like Law and Order, senator," Romney said. "It has a huge cast, the series seems to be on forever, and Fred Thompson shows up at the end."

Thompson then replied: "And to think, I thought I was going to be the best actor on stage."

Thompson's line received a few chuckles.

In a battle of wits, few were the equal of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. During a debate with Nancy Astor, a bitter rival, Astor snapped: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd put poison in your coffee." Churchill calmly replied: "If you were my wife, Nancy, I'd drink it."

Churchill once revealed the secret behind the spontaneous putdown when he said, "All the best off-the-cuff remarks are prepared days beforehand."

In modern American politics, the most famous comeback belongs to Lloyd Bentsen, Michael Dukakis' running mate in the 1988 presidential election. Dukakis' opponent, George Herbert Walker Bush, had selected Dan Quayle as his running mate. The youthful Quayle tried to dismiss concerns about his inexperience by comparing himself to John F. Kennedy when JFK ran for president in 1960.

Quayle's advisers cautioned him against bringing up the JFK comparison during his nationally televised debate with Bentsen.Quayle ignored the advice, saying, "I have as much experience as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency."

Bentsen was waiting: "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine," Bentsen said calmly before landing the knockout punch. "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."Bush-Quayle won the election.

But Bentsen's putdown left Quayle forever tainted as a punchline in American politics.

Churchill, Bentsen and others have used the riposte as a potent political weapon.Others have used it to swat away an opponent's unwanted advances. During a television debate, Henry McMaster, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in South Carolina, challenged the incumbent, Fritz Hollings, then in his 70s, to take a drug test.

"I'll take a drug test," Hollings snapped, "if you'll take an IQ test."

Politics isn't just a blood sport; it's a spectator sport. New York Gov. Al Smith was delivering a campaign speech when someone in the audience yelled, "Tell us all you know, Al, it won't take long!"

To which Smith replied, "Better yet, I'll tell them all we both know, and it won't take any longer!"What the 2008 presidential campaign has thus lacked in clever repartee, it's more than made up for in smug sanctimony.

At the risk of overstating the obvious, we could really use someone like Abraham Lincoln.During one of the Lincoln- Douglas debates, the incumbent U.S. Sen. Stephen Douglas told a conservative audience that he had once seen Lincoln selling whiskey. When it was his turn to speak, Lincoln made no attempt to dispute the charge. He agreed that he had once worked as a bartender.

"I was on one side of the bar serving drinks," Lincoln said, "and Douglas was on the other side drinking them."



Chris Lamb is a professor of Communication at the College of Charleston. His most recent book is "I'll Be Sober in the Morning: Great Political Comebacks, Putdowns and Ripostes," which will be published in November by Frontline Press. He can be reached at lambc@cofc.edu.

Lynne Cheney - Dick Cheney -- Barack Obama

Strange bedfellows:

Vice President Dick Cheney is related to Sen. Barack Obama.
At least that was the stunning announcement made yesterday by Lynne Cheney, who said that the very white vice president from Wyoming is in fact the eighth cousin of Obama, the Senate's only African American member. She said she discovered the link, traced back to a Huguenot who figured prominently in Maryland history, while researching her latest book.

Obama, whose mother was white, did not immediately comment on the revelation. But his campaign made light of the tie, without confirming it. "Obviously, Dick Cheney is the black sheep of the family," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said

Fred Thompson -- Mitt Romney exchange

Fred Thompson -- Mitt Romney exchange
Toward the end of the Republican debate, Fred Thompson took a lighter tone as he discussed his late entrance into the race.
"I've enjoyed watching these fellas," he said. "I've got to admit, it was getting a little boring without me, but I'm glad to be here now."
Earlier, Mitt Romney compared the contest for the nomination to the television drama "Law & Order," in which Thompson portrayed a district attorney: "It has a huge cast, the series seems to go on forever, and Fred Thompson shows up at the end.""And to think I thought I was going to be the best actor on the stage," Thompson responded with a smile

Friday, October 19, 2007

Interview with the author of I'll Be Sober in the Morning

A Few Questions With Chris Lamb,
Author
I’ll Be Sober in the Morning: Great Political Comebacks, Putdowns, and Ripostes


Q1: What’s your favorite comeback in I’ll Be Sober in the Morning?
A: The 18th-century British politician John Wilkes was involved in a nasty exchange with his rival John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, who yelled at Wilkes that he would either die on the gallows or of venereal disease. Wilkes then replied, “That, sir, depends on whether I embrace your principles or your mistress.”

Q2: How did the Earl of Sandwich respond?
A: Probably by collecting what was left of his manhood, putting it in a thimble, and then skulking away quietly.

Q3: In your introduction, you write that the comeback and putdown “come from the dark side of the brain?” What do you mean?
A: The person who delivers the putdown isn’t interested in getting a chuckle. Putdowns aren’t jokes, they’re assaults; they’re intended to leave their victim skulking away with their manhood in a thimble.

Q4: Based on the quotes in your book, who was the person you would most like to spend an evening with?
A: Calvin Coolidge. I like quiet evenings at home. Coolidge had that rare charisma that he could walk into an empty room and blend in. When he died, Dorothy Parker said, “How could they tell?” It’s a great line. I don’t know why it’s not in the book.

Q5: Who was the person in your book you would least like to spend an evening with.
A: Joseph Stalin. Mass murderers don’t tend to be a lot of fun. I’m not speaking from personal experience here, just a gut feeling.

Q6: You don’t typically find Stalin quoted in humor books, do you?
A: I think this is probably one of the few humor books that quote Stalin. When told that Pope Pius objected to the Soviet Union’s plans to invade Poland, Stalin asked: “How many divisions does the Pope command?” When told of Stalin’s answer, the Pope replied, “You may tell my son Joseph he will meet my divisions in heaven.” That may not seem particularly funny to you but it had the Archbishops slapping their knees for weeks.

Q 7: What’s the secret to delivering a spontaneous putdown?
A: Winston Churchill, who contributed the book’s title, said, “All the best off-the-cuff remarks are prepared days beforehand.”

Q8: How does one do this?
A: Lloyd Bentsen, the Democratic vice presidential candidate in 1988, knew that Dan Quayle, the Republican vice presidential candidate, had been comparing himself to John F. Kennedy. During the vice presidential debate, Bentsen waited for his moment. When Quayle compared himself to JFK, Bentsen responded with his “I knew JFK and you’re no JFK” line.

Q9: Who, among recent politicians, was the best at the putdown?
A: “Fritz” Hollings of South Carolina. During a television debate, one of his opponents, for unknown reasons, challenged Hollings, then in his 70s, to a drug test. “I’ll take a drug test,” Hollings snapped, “if you’ll take an IQ test.”

Q10: Do you expect any memorable comebacks by any of the candidates currently running for president?
A: No. For two reasons. Humor comes about as naturally to this bunch as knitting to a bear. Secondly, the ability to deliver a clever riposte isn’t the kind of thing that’s rewarded in politics. Political campaigns and the news media want everything choreographed and predictable. If a candidate delivered a comeback, like the ones found in this book, the candidate’s media consultants would spontaneously combust and the media would bury the candidate as too mean to be president.

Q11: Didn’t the media say that Senator Bob Dole’s humor was too mean-spirited when he ran for president?
A: It was Dole who was mean-spirited. There was nothing wrong with his humor. During the Reagan presidency, the three living former presidents, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon were standing side by side at a White House event when Dole observed, “There they are. See no evil, hear no evil,” and then pausing to look at Nixon, he said, “And evil.”

Q12: Do you think politicians shy away from using humor because there’s an impression that humor isn’t dignified for a president.
A: Maybe. We can’t very well have someone like Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, or Winston Churchill running the country, can we?

Q13: What inspired you to compile I’ll Be Sober in the Morning.
A: How else would my name get in a book like this?

Q14: What did you learn about politics and politicians from compiling this book?
A: We should be electing the wits. Instead, we’re electing the twits.