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Monday, September 1, 2008

Why can’t McCain stop saying “My friends”?

[I]n the last half-century it’s been exclusively resorted to by the worst orators in our presidential races.

What happened to change the phrase’s status in our language after Eisenhower’s 1956 speech? I have my own unprovable pet theory: It’s because the following year saw The Music Man debut on Broadway. Ever since, the phrase has been irrevocably associated with old-timey con men in straw boaters: “My friends, you got trouble right here in River City!






2 drops of oil

  1. With a capital ‘t’ that rhymes with ‘p’ that stands for Palin

    Donated by ay
    9/1/08 @ 12:35 PM


  2. This is my favorite part.

    “When McCain invokes ‘my friends,’ he’s making an appeal to the old days—the really old days.”

    That sounds about right.

    Donated by Brian
    9/1/08 @ 7:32 PM