Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Quote of the day: Footprints


But Cruz is cut from roughly similar cloth. He wears his ambition on his sleeve and is not highly charismatic or relatable. In high school, he could have been voted most likely to be seen walking on the beach in his dress shoes.
- Richard Lowry, comparing the unlikeableness of Ted Cruz to that of Richard Nixon, who, as Digby diplomatically notes, "overcame the political disability of having an extremely unpleasant personality to win the White House twice."

Lowry's analogy reminded me of a great gag from, of all things, a 1976 14-episode Rich Little TV series. As nearly as I can recall, the bit was a five-or-ten second bumper before a commercial break, and showed Nixon – head bowed, hands clasped behind his back, and, of course, wearing a suit and dress shoes – walking away from us along a beach obviously meant to be San Clemente. As Nixon moved away, into the frame behind him came a couple of aides in suit and tie, diligently sweeping away their boss's footprints in the sand. And two more men entered the frame behind them, sweeping away their footprints, and so on.

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