Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.—Gustav Mahler

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

But You Already Had Your Fifteen Minutes . . . TRC and Newsweek

When The Reform Club was a bit younger, I noticed the excellent comments to our posts by a fellow calling himself "TVD" and urged him to reveal himself. He did and I asked Tom Van Dyke, legal headhunter, game show champion, and musician to join our act.

Tom came on board and is the original source for our now stupendously well-circulated line claiming that to be "miered" is to be "unscrupulously torpedoed by an ally." He hasn't gotten the credit because the media powers that be refuse to give him any additional time after his stints as champion of Joker's Wild and Win Ben Stein's Money (a show that will be remembered for unleashing the amazing half talent Jimmy Kimmel upon the world).

Gwinnett County budget-meister Jay Vinicki (a very longtime personal friend of an entire lifespan) called me to say that The Reform Club is once again in the mass media as part of Newsweek's Blog Watch. Color me impressed.

Thanks, Mr. Van Dyke. Great things may lie ahead. I can remember when we were thrilled to be mentioned at NRO's The Corner. (Actually, we'd be thrilled to see that again. Do it, Goldberg. Do it, Ramesh.)

I'd be remiss if I didn't say that I dispute (and disputed) the definition of being "miered." In my book, Ms. Harriet was not torpedoed and it was not unscrupulous. The cannon were all fired from above the surface of the water and war was fairly declared. The result was a good one.

Still, the turn of phrase was brilliant and there is NO argument about that.

7 comments:

The Driving Buddha said...

I (the Warsaw Ferryman) am said lifetime friend of Mr. Baker. An occasional reader who is actually envious of the depth of discussion here. I haven't commented in the past, but may put down the occasional random thought here and there.

Hunter Baker said...

Come on in, Warsaw. I'm not sure we have a commenter who actually fits your profile. Hard-headed pragmatist, number-cruncher, interested in world religions, who cannot predictably be politically pigeon-holed ever, ever, ever. Who is also a big sports fan.

Jay D. Homnick said...

Van Dyke is the man!

Tom Van Dyke said...

And upon further investigation, the missus points out that the Newsweek link goes directly to an article about an article by Mr. Karnick. Being his Salieri is reward enough, though I thoroughly appreciate the appreciation, HB.

BTW, I consider you a fine and excellent headhunter yourself, sir. I think I could get you a gig.

Cheers, all.

(Connie, you would probably see more apostasy than apolegetics around here if the barbarians weren't always at the gates. Such is the crisis of our times.)

John H. Watson said...

I would have thought the definition applied to the White House's choice of Miers, rather than the reaction to that choice . . .

Barry Vanhoff said...

(Connie, you would probably see more apostasy than apolegetics around here if the barbarians weren't always at the gates. Such is the crisis of our times.)


Very interesting, if I understand you correctly TVD, and worthy of a thread in and of itself. It is easy (for me) to get dragged into defending my position on the "big issues" where the discussions are almost never edifying.

Hunter Baker said...

Tom is hoping for a chance to get real and do some interesting explorations from a Christian/First Things point of view. I hope he'll pursue that at every opportunity.