I’m sure the Senate won’t just pooh-pooh a judicial nominee

June 29, 2005

I thought this was funny.

[Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist] began his analogy routine earlier in the day with a speech at the Heritage Foundation, saying, “Some might compare the filibuster to constipation; the cloture vote to a colonoscopy; and confirmation to, well, you get the point.” […]

Democrats have their guesses [about what confirmation should be compared to]. One Senate Democratic aide who couldn’t wait to take a dump on Frist’s analogy said, “We’re glad Dr. Frist agrees with us that George Bush should not send a crappy nominee.”

Score one for the Democratic Message Machine.

Well, the White House is so full of sh… oh never mind.

  • There’s a noble tradition to this line of thought, going back to Benjamin Franklin’s satirical letter to the Royal Academy of Brusselles (1781), wherein he suggests making farts the object of scientific study.

    His proposal: “To discover some Drug, wholesome and not diagreeable, to be mixed with our common Food, or Sauces, that shall render the natural Discharges, of Wind from our Bodies, not only inoffensive, but agreeable as Perfumes.”

  • I got so busy trying to find the Franklin bit online that I forgot to mention this. Next time you hear about Fundamentalists taking over the Republican Party, recall definition #2 for “fundament” in Merriam-Webster:

    One entry found for fundament.
    Main Entry: fun·da·ment
    Pronunciation: ‘f&n-d&-m&nt
    Function: noun
    Etymology: Middle English, from Old French fondement, from Latin fundamentum, from fundare to found, from fundus
    1 : an underlying ground, theory, or principle
    2 a : BUTTOCKS b : ANUS
    3 : the part of a land surface that has not been altered by human activities

    I originally came across this use of the word in Arthur N. Gilbert’s “Buggery and the British Navy, 1700-1861.” Journal of Social History 10, 1976. pp. 72-98. A colleague needed it for his textbook on Human Sexuality.

  • Frist’s analogy doesn’t even make sense. A cloture vote is an attempt to end a filibuster. Does he think a colonoscopy is an attempt to end constipation?

  • Well if we’re going down the path of using medical terminology for analogies of politics then let me offer up my own.

    The patient (the United States) has developed a large malignant tumor (the Republicans), the aforementioned tumor must be immediately removed by surgery (an election or chimpeachment) followed by chemotherapy (a period of Democratic governance) consult the doctor (Howard Dean) for further directions. If the patient diligently follows this regimen then the chances of a successful recovery (peace and prosperity) are greatly increased, failure to follow up on the is routine will result in death of patient (fascism, one party rule, sharecropper economy).

    For those of you that are saying don’t quite your day job, I agree, but first I need to find a job.

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