By Michael J. Smith on Saturday April 4, 2009 12:25 AM
From Politico:
Inside Obama's bank CEOs meetingNice to see that Obie agrees with us here about his role.Arrayed around a long mahogany table in the White House last week, the CEOs of the most powerful financial institutions in the world offered several explanations for paying high salaries.....
[Obama said] "The public isn’t buying that.”
“My administration,” the president added, “is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.”
Comments (8)
Michael, you are the best! Who else would have seen the double entendre in that? A new form of the "lesser evil" argument, too!
Posted by hce | April 4, 2009 10:04 AM
Posted on April 4, 2009 10:04
Yes! He's our Lesser Evil -- and theirs. They're our Greater Evil -- and theirs is us.
Posted by MJS | April 4, 2009 12:50 PM
Posted on April 4, 2009 12:50
Yep, capital's javelin catcher.
Great catch, Mr. Smith!
Posted by Michael Dawson | April 4, 2009 1:54 PM
Posted on April 4, 2009 13:54
But this is how the meeting really went:
Bankers troupe into Oval Office; President sitting behind his desk. "Hi guys" he says, "how ya doin?"
"Fine, son. Whatta you got for us?"
"Well, sir, I think you're gonna like it. Tim has worked it out so that . . ."
"Yeah, yeah, we know all that. What about the tax write-offs?"
"Oh, sir, don't worry about that -- you're free and clear for the next ten years!"
"And the airplanes?"
"No problem, sir. All taken care of!"
Posted by hce | April 4, 2009 6:28 PM
Posted on April 4, 2009 18:28
Yep, hce. Plus, the conclusion of the pitchfork comment could only have been one thing, right? "Let's agree no to talk about this again."
Posted by Michael Dawson | April 4, 2009 8:25 PM
Posted on April 4, 2009 20:25
Because hce is so adept at imagining how conversations might continue, I offer him a counterexample, based on his own device:
"Michael, YOU ARE THE BEST! But you don't even know I exist! Sometimes I respond to your posts with the most abjectly obsequious flattery--the kind of stuff that would make most people cringe enough to stay their hand, but I just let it rip! And do you even give me the time of day? You never even call. What does that doddering old fraud Opie have that I don't have! I guess you're just one of those types who love guys who treat them like crap and call them by funny nicknames! But I'm the one who really cares! You big brute! I could just . . . ." (heaving sobs follow)
Posted by Van Mungo | April 9, 2009 12:50 AM
Posted on April 9, 2009 00:50
Van's imaginative projections remind me of Flaubert's comment: La Bovary, c'est moi.
Posted by MJS | April 9, 2009 1:22 AM
Posted on April 9, 2009 01:22
So, MSJ, I guess you thought of this quotation because you think of yourself as Rodolphe to hce's Emma? Or you are Emma to Opie's Rodolphe? Do tell--I love lurid true confessions.
And, MSJ, your precious--if not always precocious--apercus on this blog remind me of the motive behind another famous quotation--Marx's, "I am not a Marxist."
Now--would you care to finally tell us whether you, the caped crusader against the malefactors of the political duopoly, have ever collected a signature to put a left alternative to the Democrats on the ballot? Even one signature going back to, say, 1980? That would make for an even more lurid true confession. DO TELL!
Posted by Van Mungo | April 9, 2009 2:01 AM
Posted on April 9, 2009 02:01