News Quiz

No. 178: “W-O-M-A-N”

“She was quite a talented girl, and she was cute as a button too. And being the woman, she did give it the woman’s touch.” Who said this, about whom, for doing what?

by 5 p.m. ET Sunday to e-mail your answer to newsquiz@slate.com.

Wednesday’s question (No. 177)–“Them!”:

In his inaugural address Tuesday, Texas Gov. George W. Bush said, “We should celebrate them in festivals, we should enjoy their traditions in our homes, we should share them with friends.” What?

“Marlboros.”–Katha Pollitt

“The poor.”–David Rakoff

“The surviving Branch Davidians.”–Steve Lyle

“Graven images. Now he’ll really never win over the religious right.”–Daniel Radosh

“Pornographers in wheelchairs. And if that doesn’t sound like kissing up to someone who’s got something on you, I don’t know what does.”–Chris Kelly

Click for more responses.

Randy’s Wrap-Up

Why is it hard to swallow a plea for tolerance from Texas?

Is it the fondness for executions–half of the nation’s last year–the Civil War, the border patrol, the oxymoronic phrase “compassionate conservatism,” the sweaty midnight memories of the Bush-Quayle administration, that paunch on John Wayne in The Alamo? Is it just metropolitan prejudice, the Southern thing but with cattle?

Lenny Bruce explained Jack Ruby’s actions as essentially lone star: “Texas, they’re really concerned with balls. Got 90-year-old men biting rattle snakes’ heads off, and shooting guns. And a Jew is a tailor there. So Ruby, he figured: If I kill the guy that killed the president, the Christians’ll go wheeeew! What balls he had! See, a Jew at the end saved everybody. And they’ll kiss him and hug him and lift him on high.” But I just can’t believe they’ll enjoy his traditions in their homes or share him with their friends.

Mesquite Melting Pot Answer

Bush embraced the well-known cultural diversity of Texas. “We should be proud of our various heritages,” he said.

Republican Stars of Tomorrow Extra

Eager to counter their mean-spirited geriatric image, the GOP wanted its response to the president’s State of the Union to be delivered by bright, young party stalwarts, but instead … well, make up your own joke. And while you’re at it, let’s meet Steve Largent.

  • Earned Christian Coalition’s 100 percent rating.
  • Made People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People” list.
  • Has seen Braveheart 10 times.
  • Unembarrassed to hold goofy historical views. “As Rep. Steve Largent reminded us during the Congressional debate over DOMA [the Defense of Marriage Act], no society that embraces homosexuality has ever survived.”– Breakpoint With Chuck Colson, a Christian Perspective on News and Trends
  • Has a proud heritage of union busting. “As a professional football player, he’d been physically threatened by other players for refusing to join a strike.”–Matthew Rees, the Weekly Standard
  • Once faced down a pudgy, middle-aged speaker of the House. “In a firm voice, he told Gingrich, ‘I’ve been in smaller rooms with bigger people, and I can’t be intimidated.’ “–lovesick Matt Rees, ibid.
  • Is pleased with traditional male incompetence. “Shares a dingy Capitol Hill townhouse with (fellow Congressman) Wamp and fellow Oklahoma freshman Tom Coburn. ‘We haven’t cooked a single meal in that house,’ says Largent.”–Thomas Fields-Meyer, People
  • Believes God plans NFL rosters. “In a speech following his 1995 induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he thanked ‘my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.’ “–ibid.
  • Is not a wild-eyed, right-wing, radical conservative fruitcake. ” ‘They would love to tag me as a wild-eyed, right-wing, radical conservative fruitcake,’ he says, smiling. ‘But that’s not me. I’m not weird; I’m normal.’ “–Melinda Henneberger, the New York Times

Race Results

Top target: The little brown ones. (And yet the Bartlett’s editorial board persists in its obstinacy.)

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