The Wizard of Ooze
Everett Dirksen was a man of unbending principles, the first of which was to be flexible at all times.
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Listen to Episode 221 of Slate’s The Gist:
Remember when Mike Pesca gargled Pond’s cold cream on The Gist? That gargle honored the master orator and Republican Sen. Everett Dirksen, who collaborated with a Democrat, Lyndon B. Johnson, to pass major civil rights legislation. Today, Todd Purdum tells the story of the Senate minority leader who liked to give news conferences in the lotus position. He’s the author of An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. For the Spiel, Angelina Jolie is brave.
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