Thursday, January 25, 2007

Personal Asides: Correcting the Record on Bob Kjellander…News in One Sentence…Trivia Song Lyric: Let’s See if You’re Old Enough to Play.

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Roeser the Corrector.

Just because some people are taking pot-shots at the Illinois Republican National Committeeman Bob Kjellander is no reason to allow some misinformation about him to go by the boards…and misinformation it was, I am told after checking with multiple sources, that led me to report that he was “shopping” around for a presidential candidate before he settled with Mitt Romney. As a matter of fact, the sources—both friendly and unfriendly to him—have confirmed that this was far from the case…that Kjellander has been in firm support of Romney for a long time…that some time ago Sen. John McCain tried to invite Kjellander aboard his own presidential exploratory committee…that Bob courteously listened to the Senator in his office for an hour or so and just as courteously declined and decided to go with Romney.

Nor, am I told, is his role with Romney over-encompassing or super-chairman of this or that. I regret passing along the bad info and thank those prominent Illinoisans from various factions who set me straight. There is a quality in some of the more intemperate critics of him that is identical with Captain Ahab and the white whale Moby Dick…the story which you remember by Herman Melville wherein hatred so consumed Ahab that his vengeance destroyed him and his boat. It was meant to be an allegory of hatred that can consume one’s entire life, folks...and applies as well to those who see in George W. Bush the looming white whale. I have always-always-always maintained that the view nothing whatever can be done until and unless Kjellander is gone is ridiculous, uninformed and emotional in the extreme. Besides, it has nothing to do with politics whatsoever.

I’m getting a bit tired of this continual abuse of him, you know? It tells more of the people purveying it than he. By all means let the process work but stop this incessant bitterness against him.

News in One Sentence Each.

The answer to the first trivia song is “Ragtime Cowboy Joe.” . The song is the official theme of the University of Wyoming. . The answer to the second is “The Wreck of the Old `97.” In answer to one query, I don’t remove criticism of me from this web-site but have been known to do so when it is scatological and involves an innocent third-party.

Trivia Song Lyric.

Again, no search engines. A song often heard at weddings in my youth and which has not been heard for many years had lyrics that ran like this—starting in the middle after the song title was sung:

Or leave a kiss but in the cup/ and I’ll not look for wine/ the thirst that from the soul doth rise/ Doth ask a drink divine: But might I of Jove’s nectar sup/ I would not change for thine.

I sent thee late a rosy wreath Not so much honouring thee/ As giving it hope that there/It could not weathered be/ But thou thereon didst only breathje/ And sent it back to me/ Since when it grows and smells, I swear/ Not of itself but thee.


For bragging rights: who wrote it? He was an English bard.

8 comments:

  1. "Drink to me only with thine eyes--"

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  2. But - it was Ben Jonson - no not the old cowboy actor - Ben - Founder The Tribe of Ben! The orginal street-fighting man!

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  3. Tom, I have to say, I'm really embarrassed for you.

    So the same man who constantly harped on Topinka and made cheap cracks about her personal appearence (remember those "gnarled hands" you told us about?) - now comes to Individual K's defense?

    You've gotta be kidding me!

    I think it's really sad that when this Illinois Party FINALLY gets close to getting rid of an obviously failed, self-dealing player, there are always some useful idiots to the rescue.

    It's also reprehensible that you would try to assign motives like "hate". For heaven's sake, this is just a simple clean-up matter. As far as "hate," well, I'm sure Republicans DO hate losing here while a senior official does nothing but pad his own pockets working with the Dems. Do I "hate" that? Okay, if it makes you feel better, convict me as guilty.

    Tom, you have some good things on your blog from time to time. But you are so inconsistent and get wishy-washy at the drop of a dime.

    Tom, have you ever stopped to wonder why the Illinois Party has kept getting weaker the entire time you have been around? How about finishing a project - just once?

    If you aren't serious about getting even the most basic reforms in our Illinois Party, then stop kidding yourself that you can have any impact talking about the Presidential races. Illinois will once again NOT even be on the radar screen as long as Republicans keep acting in such a silly, feckless fashion.

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  4. The song is: Drink to me only with thine eyes. Author ???

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  5. I can't forgive Kjellanders part in getting rid of Peter Fitzgerald. I'm fearful of the result of Hastert and Rove making him Treasurer of the National party. Some of that money will stick to him, or his cronies.

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  6. "Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes" truly one of the worst songs/poems ever written in the English language. Goes to show that even Dr. Jonson was capable of producing a clinker. Its absence from Wedding receptions is a blessing, and the recollection of this schmaltzy melody and lyric has renewed my appreciation for "Proud Mary."

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  7. Ooops!! I confused Ben with Sam. Sorry. Nevertheless, the song is still awful.

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