Hold On, You Guys. Too Soon — and Too Easy — to Start on the Hilla-Drumpf Drama
SCOTT
SIMON: I remember hearing, when I first began to read about political history,
that the 1952 Florida Senate race between George Smathers and Claude Pepper
was, like, the dirtiest people could recall then.
A.J. JACOBS: Right, this is famous for being the dirtiest campaign speech ever.
Smathers gave a speech, and the idea was the crowd was not so sophisticated.
And Smathers slammed his opponent by saying that his opponent’s sister was a
thespian, and the brother was a homo sapiens, and the opponent himself was a
shameless extrovert. Now, he never actually said any of those. They were a hoax
made up by a reporter.”
—Scott Simon with “trivia expert” A.J. Jacobs, “Is This Really The Nastiest Election Season? Or Just
Politics As Usual?” on Weekend Edition Saturday, National Public
Radio, July 23, 2016. Listen here. Image: Claude Pepper,
one-term Democratic Senator from Florida, also 13-term congressman, 1963-1989.
• Editorial Comment: Sadly, in 2016, these guys are amateurs. But I have complete faith in today’s press to make up the deficit.
PeezPix by Ted Pease
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“Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard
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