June 13, 2007

"Rudy Giuliani has been married more times than Mitt Romney’s been hunting."

Speaking of plagiarism and allusion, when do you have to credit the source of a political joke? Should Harry Reid have to say "as James Carville said"?

39 comments:

Tim said...

Funny, in Carville's quick quip manner, when Carville says it. When Harry Reid, Democrat, Mormon, cops it to complain about Giuliani's marriages - forgetting the dust-up over how many marriages Morman Romney's grandfather may have had (albeit simultaneously), it exhibits a certain, reflexive inability to think while speaking.

Not his first time, either.

And Reid's slagging Romney on hunting speaks to a certain self-cluelessness. There are few politicians carrying a loaded weapon I'd want to be in a room with less than Harry Reid (prediction: Cheney's hunting accident will surely be brought up momentarily...). I'm thinking Barney Fife, but without the charm.

Latino said...

...but not as many times as Harry Reid has been involved in crooked land deals.

Victor said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Victor said...

Wow, talk about a reach. We now know this is a hot button issue for Giuliani. This issue is going to be dragged on and around for a while, and if this is the best Giuliani can come up with he's in trouble.

The Drill SGT said...

I don't agree with Carville's politics but I love his quips and I think he is a savy analyst of politics.

I don't agree with Reid's politics, think his quips are lame and think he is a disaster as Majority Leader. I hope he keeps the job long enough to become Minority Leader.

Sloanasaurus said...

The problem for democrats is that Rudy is not trying to run from position on social issues. Thus, the only hypocrisy on the issues comes from the critics and not Giuliani himself.

In a way Rudy is the ultimate nightmare candidate for the Left, especially if social conservatives accept him with the agreement that Rudy will appoint Scalia copies to the Court (which he has said he would do). It is possible Rudy could get 55-60% in a general election, giving him a mandate to apply the conservative ideas he used in new York to the nation as a whole.

Anonymous said...

Ann asked: "...when do you have to credit the source of a political joke?"

I'd say whenever you want to be honorable. But Harry Reid wouldn't know about that.

Badger Tracker said...

What horrible wording. The quip has more teeth when one says "Rudy Giuliani has been DIVORCED more times than Mitt Romney's been hunting."

Unknown said...

yeah.

from now on, every time anyone tells a joke...we have to provide credit or documentation of who originated the joke.

only a lawyer would come up with this...especially one who is a republican...about a democrat.

duh.

Thorley Winston said...

So who do we credit as the source of the political joke known as Harry Reid?

Unknown said...

hey, mike...have you ever told a joke?

do you always credit the original source?

*reagan used to tell lengthy stories, as if they were actually true...that were from movies he had seen or been in.

did you consider that to be "honorable???"

duh.

Unknown said...

thorley,
it's a bit of a stretch...calling reid a joke...considering who is president.

now THAT IS A JOKE.

Anonymous said...

Who left the door open?

Unknown said...

Sloan...it appears Guli (while not running away from issues?)...forgot about something you hold ear ro your heart:

BEDFORD, N.H. - Moses had the Ten Commandments. Yesterday, Rudy Giuliani offered up his "12 Commitments."

Declaring, "this is how I want to be judged," the GOP presidential front-runner laid out a 12-step program for America... but there was no specific mention of the war in Iraq...

geeeee, i wonder why??

Unknown said...

mike,
i notice you haven't answered the question regarding reagan.

gutless...as ususal.

talk is cheap.

Unknown said...

c'mon, mikey...show me you've got the guts to respond...or at least offer up an explanation for reagan's bullshit stories.

you're good at throwing out insults, but when it comes down to an honest, straight forward defense...you run and hide.

Unknown said...

mikey,

buch, buck, buck, buck...

gutless.

amba said...

Unfortunately, crediting jokes is purely voluntary. Some people have a conscience about it. I know I feel creepy if I take credit, even implicitly, for something I didn't make up. (Sometimes when I come up with something good, it seems familiar and I even wonder if I've unconsciously plagiarized it.) But it doesn't take many missed attributions to lead to misattribution. It's fascinating to follow the trail of any famous quotation through the Internet, and find out how many of them were not originated by the person who gets credit (not to mention how many of them are outright fakes).

KCFleming said...

Reid: "I wish I'd said that."

Carville: "You will, Harry, you will."




*this was plagiarized. Heh.

Bissage said...

Luckyoldson is like a dose of clap.

Revenant said...

Personally, I don't think you ever need to give credit for a joke when you're telling it. For starters, it tends to spoil the joke.

However, if someone asks "where'd you hear that one", you should tell them.

KCFleming said...

I'm with Revenant. That's a silly requirement, much as all the best jokes are usually stolen.

Cedarford said...

Agree with Revenent. You ruin the joke if you have to preface the joke with it's provinence. Who originally wrote it, if you know, it's antecedents, if you know, who you 1st heard it from, if you remember.

Imagine James Carville starting it with credit to CNN's writing staff - notably Joshua Steinberg at a meeting of 6 where the Romney joke was hashed out and it's timing tested. Then Steinberg saying that his joke was a variant of the one told on the Dean Martin Comedy hour in 1974 about his ratpack pal Frank having more marriages than Deano had hit records, which came from the same wtiter, Tanya Schulman who did the Zsa-zsa Gabor marriage riffs, who admits that might have had roots in a 40's radio hour....

Nah, doesn't work in comedy. Comedy is not footnoted academic research.

Reid has every right to rip it off like Milton Berle bragged no good joke is worth anything until it is stolen from someone else and said funnier.
Reid doesn't have a right to butcher the joke though with mistelling and bad timing. The guy has the sense of humor that Nixon or a feminist has - little to none.

(The "How many feminists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?" joke has become a modern classic)

As is though, Romney tells his own pretty good polygamy jokes:

"What can I say? I married my high school sweetheart and stuck with her. One marriage. I guess in the eyes of my great-grandfather that makes me sort of a black sheep..."

Unknown said...

Bissage said..."Luckyoldson is like a dose of clap."

There aren't many who admit to the experience of having such a disease.

*Get it from close relative or girlfriend?

KCFleming said...

With my medical background, I can affirm that Bissage is correct. Unfortunately, this particular strain is refractory to treatment.

Amputation is the only answer.

Revenant said...

Declaring, "this is how I want to be judged," the GOP presidential front-runner laid out a 12-step program for America... but there was no specific mention of the war in Iraq... geeeee, i wonder why??

He didn't specifically mention cancer and heart disease when he talked about health care, either.

Winning the war against terrorists was item #1 on the list. That covers the war in Iraq.

Unknown said...

rev,
are you actually telling us that someone who is running for president, and lists his 12 most important goals...and leaves out IRAQ...is not avoiding any association with the fiasco bush has created??

so now...iraq is really just a cog in the "war on terror" wheel? it no longer represents "democracy" in the mideast? WMD? that bad, bad man saddam? (take a look at a newspaper from 2002 and before...and see if you can find a single article relating to terror, al queda, osama bin laden or civil war in iraq.)

i swear, you on the right will say literally anything to avoid admitting what the rest of the world can see.

Unknown said...

pogo,
has fen or any of your close relatives ever infected you...or...vice versa?

and was it painful?

Unknown said...

fen,
pogo called.

can't make it tonight.

handle things "yourself."

Bissage said...

Pogo,

Excellent! Problem is, if our hostess amputates Luckyoldson's pain-in-the-dong, there'll be nothing left but his ears.

Here's hoping.

KCFleming said...

Bissage
Whenever Lucky posts I am reminded of the cartoon where an older lady encounters a flasher in a grocery store and remarks "Oh thank you, young man, I almost forgot to get baby carrots.

Revenant said...

re you actually telling us that someone who is running for president, and lists his 12 most important goals...and leaves out IRAQ...is not avoiding any association with the fiasco bush has created??

Of the three Democratic front-runners and three Republican front runners, the only one with LESS responsibility for the Iraq war than Rudy Giuliani is Barack Obama. He doesn't need to distance himself from the war -- not with Hillary as his likely Democratic opponent and McCain and Thompson as his main Republican rivals.

Giuliani has said many times that we need to win the war in Iraq; he can hardly be said to be avoiding the issue. Iraq doesn't merit a separate entry on his list for the simple reason that Iraq is part of the war on terrorism. Saying "I want to fight terrorism AND win in Iraq" is like saying "I want to reduce crime AND reduce the murder rate".

hdhouse said...

and then I think of Lewis Black on Dick Cheney's hunting....

Now let me get this right. You drink a few beers and walk out to a field. Migrants run out with birds in sacks. In sacks. They reach in. The break the bird's wings. They throw the bird up in the air. BLAM. Cheney just shoots the shit out of them. Cheney takes careful aim. the Migrant breaks another set of wings. Cheney says "flush" the bird. He aims. He wheels dead to the right...BLAM..he shoots a lawyer....

hdhouse said...

and again Sloan spews forth saying:
Sloanasaurus said...
"It is possible Rudy could get 55-60% in a general election, giving him a mandate to apply the conservative ideas he used in new York to the nation as a whole."

Sloan...he was mayor of New York City for two terms. Would you point out some other aspect of his resume that is germane? What "conservative ideas" did he apply successfully in New York? What ideas in particular? Debt...mountains of debt pushed off to Bloomberg? Bernard Kerick? Infidelity?...Yes I guess those are hallmarks of the GOP - deficits, criminality and cheating on wives...but what else.

You are so lame.

Roger J. said...

It seems silly to credit someone with a joke, but YMMV. As for Cheney and his hunting mishap: Most folks don't know that it is legal to shoot lawyers in Texas; where Cheney screwed up was shooting a tax lawyer before the season opens on April 15. (in the spirit of this post, credit: internet; author unknown)

Anonymous said...

I'd still rather going hunting with Cheney than driving with Teddy. (source unknown)

Unknown said...

house,
you're wasting your breath.

Unknown said...

mikey,
WOW!!!

that was a really, really good one!!

i mean, what could possibly be more important than a re-hash of something that happened 38 years ago?

keep 'em coming, mikey...you are a hoot!

sanbota said...

He only seems to run when he's looking for a new wife. Come on do we need another white house scandal