A Drive By Digression

 I saw ‘All the President’s Men’ a couple of weeks ago and thinking of ‘lapgate’ I was wondering when the drip, drip, drip of revelation like Washington water torture would start.  Biden may well be gone before impeachment ripens.  The consensus with aggravated ribaldry by powerline blog commentors is that the intersectional wonder woman Kamala will replace him.  In his own words ‘he will be given a break’ and his vig. which God forbid.

The book by W & B i.e. ‘All’ proves that you can be a great reporter without being able to write even moderately competent English.  Maybe it was an aesthetic decision: dull is more serious. By page 44 (Kindle) the link to Nixon’s outfit seems adamantine and the judgement looms:

“Him the Almighty Power
Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky,
With hideous ruin and combustion, down
To bottomless perdition ; there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire,
Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms.”

At least Nixon avoided ‘durance vile’:

“In durance vile here must I wake and weep,

And all my frowsy couch in sorrow steep;”

(from ‘Epistle from Esopus to Maria’ by Robert Burns)

Maria was Maria Riddell a poetess friend whom he alienated by some drunken caper.  However they met again shortly before his death:

A month later, when Burns was at Brow, bathing himself on Dr Maxwell's orders, under the belief that he was making a last attempt to regain his health, Maria invited him to dine with her. She, too, was in search of health, and living not far away. She sent her carriage to bring him to her lodgings. Soon afterwards she recorded her impressions of this meeting, which must have given deep satisfaction to the dying poet: 'I was struck with his appearance on entering the room. The stamp of death was imprinted on his features. He seemed already touching the brink of eternity. His first salutation was: 'Well, madam. have you any commands for the other world?"

(from robert burns )

But I digress.