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Tom Wolfe |
People have been digging up their favorite Tom
Wolfe quotes since his death May 14. Here’s mine, from The Right Stuff:
“It was the kind of crowd that would have made the Fool Killer lower his club and shake his head and walk away, frustrated by the magnitude of the opportunity.”
Wolfe was writing about the media mob on the lawn of John Glenn’s house on Feb. 20, 1962, waiting for Glenn to be either hurled into space or explode in a giant fireball on the Cape Canaveral launching pad.
Now, it seems the situation has been reversed. The “Fool Killers” are the media. And they have some rich opportunities for their shillelaghs. Just to name a few:
-- Michael Flynn.
-- Paul Manafort.
-- Michael Cohen.
-- Rudy Giuliani.
-- Scott Pruitt.
-- Donald Trump Jr.
-- Jared Kushner.
“It was the kind of crowd that would have made the Fool Killer lower his club and shake his head and walk away, frustrated by the magnitude of the opportunity.”
Wolfe was writing about the media mob on the lawn of John Glenn’s house on Feb. 20, 1962, waiting for Glenn to be either hurled into space or explode in a giant fireball on the Cape Canaveral launching pad.
Now, it seems the situation has been reversed. The “Fool Killers” are the media. And they have some rich opportunities for their shillelaghs. Just to name a few:
-- Michael Flynn.
-- Paul Manafort.
-- Michael Cohen.
-- Rudy Giuliani.
-- Scott Pruitt.
-- Donald Trump Jr.
-- Jared Kushner.
-- And Kelly Sadler, a nobody Trump staffer who became instantly famous for dismissing John
McCain: “he’s dying anyway.” (As a hospice patient myself, I found Sadler’s remark
particularly galling.)
-- And, of course, the Commander in Chief Fool, who makes all this happen, like a mad wizard flinging poisonous flowers from his fingertips.
Special counsel Robert Mueller and his team are doing an excellent job of chopping through the underbrush in search of fools that need cudgeling. Let’s hope they’re allowed to continue their work unimpeded by the Chief Fool.
And let’s also hope the Fool Killer doesn’t become overwhelmed by his opportunities, as Wolfe says he did back in the beginning of the Space Age.
There’s much more at stake now. Our democracy, for example.
-- And, of course, the Commander in Chief Fool, who makes all this happen, like a mad wizard flinging poisonous flowers from his fingertips.
Special counsel Robert Mueller and his team are doing an excellent job of chopping through the underbrush in search of fools that need cudgeling. Let’s hope they’re allowed to continue their work unimpeded by the Chief Fool.
And let’s also hope the Fool Killer doesn’t become overwhelmed by his opportunities, as Wolfe says he did back in the beginning of the Space Age.
There’s much more at stake now. Our democracy, for example.
2 comments:
Lovely piece Tom, thank you!
The Arizona Daily Star published a shortened version of this post today (Friday, May 19) as a Letter to the Editor. Here it is:
Letter: This time, the Fool Killer isn't walking away
People have been was digging up their favorite Tom Wolfe quotes since his death on May 14. Here’s mine, from "The Right Stuff": “It was the kind of crowd that would have made the Fool Killer lower his club and shake his head and walk away, frustrated by the magnitude of the opportunity.”
Wolfe was writing about the media mob on the lawn of John Glenn’s house on Feb. 20, 1962, waiting for Glenn to be either hurled into space or explode in a giant fireball on the Cape Canaveral launching pad. Now, it seems the situation has been reversed. The “Fool Killer” is the media, and they have found some rich opportunities for their shillelaghs. To name a few: Michael Flynn; Paul Manafort; Michael Cohen; Rudy Giuliani; Scott Pruitt; and Kelly Sadler, who became famous for dismissing Sen. John McCain: “he’s dying anyway” (as a hospice patient, I was particularly stung by Sadler's remark). And the Chief Fool.
Tom Walker
Northwest side
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