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Bits and Pieces
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Published: November 8, 2008
Underlined
There's a lot to like about Republican Dave Plyler's return to the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners, and one is his animated and jovial way with words. While talking to the Journal's Wesley Young after his win Tuesday night, Plyler said he wanted to "put in italics and underline" one of his points.
Which reminds us of another election, eight years ago, when that quirky Texan Dan Rather said these words: "Sip it, savor it, cup it, Photostat it, underline it in red, press it in a book, put it in an album, hang it on the wall, George Bush is the next president of the United States."
Plyler's response when we paraphrased the line for him? A healthy chuckle at Rather's way with words.
Bow Wow
In his acceptance speech Tuesday night, President-elect Barack Obama told his daughters that they will be getting a puppy as they move into the White House.
But along about February, when the big chill of D.C. starts to set in, we're betting Obama will be glad to have the dog himself. As the old saying goes, if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.
Newspaper Comeback
As millions of Americans celebrated Obama's historic win, they bought up all the extra copies of Wednesday newspapers they could find, including copies of our paper.
The increased sales were a needed boom for our industry. Nothing, certainly not a computer disc, is as good a keepsake from a historic event as a newspaper.
Comic-Book Prophecy
A black presidential nominee for the Democratic Party in 1976? That was the theme of a futuristic story told way back in 1964 in a comic book for Catholic-school students.
Good thing it wasn't true. We could never have survived as a country without Billy Carter, the colorful brother of the Democratic nominee who did win the presidency in 1976.
Makes You Wonder
We've heard some stirring oratory this campaign season, and some of it came from none other than Mike Easley, our governor for several more weeks.
Easley gave the national media some good quotes about Obama, including this one from The New York Times: "In difficult economic times, people find the price of prejudice is just a little bit too high. They're saying, ‘We don't care what your race is. If you can make things better, we're for you.' "
Once again, we're left wondering how a guy who's such a natural politician could dislike politicking so much.
Equal Opportunity
And speaking of prejudice, fliers found on Election Day in Fayetteville had the imprint of an Klan group based in Arkansas The fliers railed against both Democrats and Republicans, according to The Fayetteville Observer.
But we won't give those creeps any points for exercising equal opportunity in their hatred of the major parties.
Fair Warner-ing
Mark Warner, a Democrat and the former Virginia governor, won a U.S. Senate seat Tuesday that opened up when Republican John Warner announced he was retiring.
Mark Warner's Republican opponent, Jim Gilmore, another former Virginia governor, has to be wondering how many people voted for Mark, thinking they were getting John. Oh well. Maybe they should just call it the Warner Seat.
Or, with those "Mark" and "John" names, the New Testament Seat. But that being a religious matter, we should consult Elizabeth Dole, our soon-to-be-former senator who was so quick to judge the faith of her victorious challenger, state Sen. Kay Hagan.
Likely Candidate
A juror who vanished from the corruption trial of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens has reappeared, now that Stevens has been convicted.
The juror told the judge she'd lied about her father dying, then went into a long rambling story that included a conspiracy theory about her apartment being bugged, according to The Associated Press.
She almost sounded like a candidate for Congress.
The Official Language
In England, a couple of town councils want to rule out Latin words such as ad hoc and et cetera, saying they're no longer widely understood.
That's crazy. About as crazy as some of our local governments that want to make English the official language even though for, for all intents and purposes, it already is that.
The Last Word
"Sure politics is a tough business, but … my campaign is about creating jobs and fixing our economy -- not bearing false witness against fellow Christians."
-- State Sen. Kay Hagan, in a TV spot last week in response to U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole's ad painting Hagan as "godless." Hagan won Dole's Senate seat Tuesday.
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