May 30, 2008

Hillary Clinton frog punching allusion confuses excitable Andrew Sullivan

Most people agree that the three lowest forms of comedy are sarcasm, stand-up, and making fun of Andrew Sullivan. The latter is also rather difficult since he makes a lot of posts, and all of them are pretty stupid.

However, just to fulfill our quota, consider a recent one where Ever Excitable Andy highlights this interview:

ABC News' Eloise Harper Reports: Facing an increasingly improbable candidacy for the White House, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., showed no signs of stopping on the trail in South Dakota and cited an old Arkansas, saying in an off-handed reference to her campaign: "you can't tell how far a frog will jump until you punch him."

Sully's post on the interview consists entirely of that quote, her name linked to the interview, and the title "Weirdest Campaign Quote Of The Day" (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/05/weirdest-campai.html).

As for what exactly he thinks of the quote we aren't informed, but it's probably not too good. He probably doesn't understand or have much interest in "down home" sayings such as that, nor do many other Obama supporters, partially explaining his results in certain states.

Nor does Sully probably understand where it probably came from: "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" by Mark Twain. Consider this excerpt:

He ketched a frog one day, and took him home, and said he cal'lated to educate him; and so he never done nothing for three months but set in his back yard and learn that frog to jump. And you bet you he did learn him, too. He'd give him a little punch behind, and the next minute you'd see that frog whirling in the air like a doughnut--see him turn one summerset, or maybe a couple, if he got a good start, and come down flat-footed and all right, like a cat.

So much for Sully's book lernin'! Oh well, he's heading back to Europe anyway, let them deal with him.

Posted to Politics at May 30, 2008 12:38 PM