Posted on 10/21/2015 8:08:16 AM PDT by Kaslin
So what's the difference between the leading contenders -- for now -- for the Democratic presidential nomination? The lead could change any day or even hour, but in the middle of last Tuesday evening's rambling kumsitz of a debate that seemed to go on even longer than it did, something Huey P. Long once said came to mind.
The late great Huey Pierce Long Jr. of Louisiana had it all figured out long ago. Back in his heyday, namely the 1930s, Senator/Governor Long would tell a story about a traveling salesman who offered two varieties of a popular patent medicine: High Popalorum and Low Popahirum.
The first was taken from the bark of a tree from the top down. The other came from the bark of the same tree cut from the bottom up. Huey's conclusion: The only difference he'd found between the two types of politicians this country produces is that "one of them is skinning us from the toes up and the other from the ears down."
Huey's cynical theory was -- and remains -- a common enough thought but nary so well expressed. It would apply just as well now to the supposedly crucial policy differences between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, her chief rival for the moment. The more things change, it seems, the more they remain the sad same -- even if our present-day politicians lack Huey Long's ability to sum things up in a single colorful phrase.
If the Kingfish was an aspiring tyrant with his eye always on the next rung up the political ladder, he was also a keen judge of his fellow politicians -- and their tricks.
More high popalorum and low popahirum is sure to come as the next presidential election approaches -- like a mudslide.
To borrow another metaphor from Huey Long, the essential difference between the two Democrats fighting it out for a transient lead in the polls is that one is a hoot owl and the other a scrootch owl. What's the difference? Here's how he explained it:
"A hoot owl bangs into the nest and knocks the hen clean off and catches her while she's falling. But a scrootch owl slips into the roost and scrootches up to the hen and talks softly to her. And the hen just falls in love with him, and the next thing you know, there ain't no hen!"
Hillary Clinton is definitely a scrootch owl. She's become cool as a bushel of cucumbers over the years as she's gone from young firebrand to seasoned pol. In contrast, Bernie Sanders is all fuss-'n'-feathers as he attacks capitalism, rails against The System, and generally raises Hell, explaining how much better Democratic Socialism would be -- and citing little Denmark as his ideal society. He leaves it to the old scrootch owl, Hillary Clinton, to point out that Denmark is not the United States -- and who can argue with that? Her geography is impeccable.
Ol' Huey had 'em both figured out long ago. One specializes in high popalorum, the other in low popahirum.
Huey Long is wrong on this one.
I’ve always heard that the bird is the word.
high popalorum and low popahirum:
When “The Kingfish” was asked to give a comparison of the Republican and Democratic Parties, he would tell the story about a traveling salesman who offered two patent medicines. One was “High Popalorum,” which was taken from the bark of a tree from the top down. The other tonic was “Low Popahirum,” which was taken from the bark of a tree from the bottom up. Governor Long said, “The only difference I’ve found in Congress between the Republican and Democratic leadership is that one of them is skinning us from the ankle up and the other from the ear down.”
You will find that you cannot do without politicians. They are a necessary evil in this day and time. You may not like getting money from one source and spending it for another. But the thing for the school people to do is that if the politicians are going to steal, make them steal for the schools.”
— Huey Long to a conference of educators at LSU on its 75th
We do not propose to say that there shall be no rich men. We do not ask to divide the wealth. We only propose that, when one man gets more than he and his children and children’s children can spend or use in their lifetimes, that then we shall say that such person has his share. That means that a few million dollars is the limit to what any one man can own.”
— Huey Long, Share Our Wealth radio address, February 23, 1934
I think another quote from a famous Democrat (presidential candidate Al Smith) is in order: “no matter how thin you slice it, it’s still bologna.”
Huey Long was a populist or as al $harpton says of Trump, “He’s a popularist”.
Thank God for Mr. Weiss.
My aunt was a delegate (committed to Governor Ritchie of Maryland) to the 1932 Democratic convention. There she listened to a lecture by the Kingfish and came away appalled at how erudite and knowledgeable he was. She came to the conclusion that his corn-pone “little pea patch” political demeanor was just an act.
Of course it was. It was for consumption back home where the voters are.....................
As you may know, there is a strong chance that Dr. Weiss did not kill HPL, Jr., but the Long bodyguards in mistaken self-defense.
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