"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast" -Oscar Wilde |
"The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered also himself." -- Proverbs 11:25 |
In long black overcoat and matching Resistol cowboy hat, former Wyoming governor Jim Geringer put the night into perspective before the Texas-Wyoming ball. "This is a celebration!" he said. "We believe the country has chosen the right president."
But, added Geringer, this is also a launching party. The president has set the country on a mission "to spread the opportunity for democracy."
Geringer said, "Let's do it. Now is not the time to hesitate."
"We enjoy good fortune," said Geringer's wife, Sherri. "It's time to share."
Though there was no official poem for the occasion, impressionist Rich Little, emceeing the Constitution Ball at the Hilton Washington, did provide a bit of inaugural doggerel.
The gist of it was: "Let's get together, let bitterness pass, I'll hug your elephant, you kiss my ass!" And the crowd went crazy.
Little said he missed and adored the late President Ronald Reagan and "I wish he was here tonight, but as a matter of fact he is," and he proceeded to impersonate Reagan, saying, "You know, somebody asked me, 'Do you think the war on poverty is over?' I said, 'Yes, the poor lost.' " The crowd went wild.
...not only did he [Newt Gingrich] leave wife number-one when she was ill; he did the same with wife number-two. Few people seem to realize that when Gingrich dumped Marianne, his second wife, on Mother's Day in 1999 (half a year after he was forced to resign as Speaker), she was in medical trouble. Eight months earlier, Marianne had been diagnosed with a neurological disorder that could lead to multiple sclerosis. The New York Post's Brian Blomquist reported this in July 2000. But the tidbit seems not to have become part of the Gingrich legend. Imagine the question, though, that could be put to Gingrich as a presidential candidate: You ended your first marriage when your wife had cancer, you divorced your second wife after she was diagnosed with a neurological disorder, can you please tell us what this says about your character and your respect for family values? Do you believe there is a need for an Eleventh Commandment: Thou shall not leave your wife when she is really sick?