40 Comments

I’ll say it again (and this time I’ll spell his name right). Pete Buttigieg. Secretary of the Department of Transportation. Naval officer. Rhodes Scholar. Sensible Democrat. Why not? Because he’s married to a man (who would make a great second man, incidentally) with twins. It’ll be a long time before the country will go for that. Too long.

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Wow, Tess. That is just plain weird. Mrs. Keillor I can imagine. But how did we get from Mrs. Keillor to Pete Buttigieg? Unless of course, "Tess Clayton" is...wait, wait...Pete Buttigieg? Clever. Very clever. Shouldn't you be at the office, Mr. Secretary, or maybe the airport?

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I'd vote for her.

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Let's face it, Garrison, those whom we married for love and life, if we're lucky as we are, scan "All the News That's Fit to Print." Some days there's very little. Others swamp the trees made into a newspaper. I gave up reading my St. Paul Pioneer Press years ago, but I do read "Dear Abby" for total nonsense that makes you wonder. Our local conservative reporter,Joe, writes about commonsense every now and then, but you can count on 4 fingers with your thumb those who support commonsense. As Mark Twain passed on from Voltaire, that high degree of sense can't often be found. "So it goes," as Vonnegut writes. But having a spousal newspaper strainer who knows you and the things you love and don't, while that's enough for Garrison to have goodly friends, and a few for me. So guys like us are grateful for the straining of a good NYT editor like David Brooks. Well, at least I am. And Ms. Dowd? I'm not so sure, what with her big words. I like her best when her brother takes over her column once or twice a week.That makes me wonder if, every now and then, we ask our spouses to write a piquant piece for us, and we thake a couple more hours of shut-eye. I suspect the same as your loving spousal-editor: Editor a few words and call it our own. Amen

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Sorry for the typos. It's far better when my dear wife edits it.

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If you're going to imitate somebody else's lyric for humor, Cole Porter is an excellent choice.

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I thought of Porter when I read that song's lyrics, too!

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BY THE GENIUS HIMSELF AND STILL TRUE TODAY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN2KHeEWqZM

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It's not Cole Porter, but I hope you grinned with satisfaction when you came up with "And there are Quaker women/Who have ten Mennonite" -- it's worthy of satisfaction!

That little semantic bend at the end of the couplet reminded me of a conversation with a sister last week, about songs with so-called "subverted rhyme" lyrics -- like the "Shaving Cream" song, Dinah Shore's "Sweet Violets," etc. Now there's a verse form I bet you could embrace, Mr. Keillor! (Just not for a whole musical's duration, lest you want to send the audience home at intermission.)

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Very clever except for the fact that Quakers have nothing in common with Mennonites and never did. Garrison is evidently confused about that fact. Mennonites and Amish have some similar connections but that's about it.

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LITERALISTS!!! THEY'RE EVERYWHERE.

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I've been called worse. But poetic license can only go so far. At least I don't complain about limericks whose required internal meter is often fouled up - by many would be poets.

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Cole Porter must be grinning somewhere. The line about Quaker women having ten Mennonite put me on the floor.

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Ten Mennonite. 😆

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Oh..... thank you! I didn't get it until now! 😂

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PLEASE, PLEASE finish the musical. It is sure to be a Tony runner-up. Great show in Eau Claire, thank you and Heather so much.

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"Officer, Scholar, Sensible". I would vote for Pete B in a heartbeat! Of course it would be a wrenching decision to pass on the gaggle of hopefuls the broken GOP has offerred up.

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Just finished reading the lyrics to the song in the musical you're writing. Unfortunately its already been done. Given your high level of musical literacy almost unbelievable you wouldn't recognize almost the exact same stuff in Cole Porter's "Let's Fall In Love". He probably wouldn't sue, but you'd best pick another theme.

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TAKE A DEEP BREATH. PUT YOUR MIND AT REST. IT'S NOT FOR THE MUSICAL. IT'S A PARODY. ONE COULD PUT A PARODY IN A MUSICAL BUT I WON'T.

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"This musical has stuff in it that won’t be found in The Lion King or Chicago, such as an excellent duet about making love." After this statement in your column came the parody. I apologize for thinking it was to be included. My mind is now at rest.

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Hi Garrison, I must say amen to your new musical's theme song, and many here have cited Cole Porter's 1928 entry....from the musical "Paris" . But I have to say Lady Day said it best....... /Users/rogerkrenkler/Desktop/2-12 Let's Do It.m4a .

Additionally, re: "Ten Mennonite" , your Quaker reader must be feeling his oats !!

Roger Krenkler L.A.

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PS: Just what the Dem ticket needs: Pete Buttigieg ! Let's just hand Donald of Orange his second term! Pete makes a wonderful Trans Sec, but let's just let him handle that post ( no pun intended ) until he ages out. Roger Krenkler L.A.

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There are those who mate,

With someone who they hate,

Because skill is high rate.

Both arrive, never late.

Evem on the first date.

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I appreciate your view that public service institutions are important in a democracy. What puzzles me is that your personal grudge against some idiots in public radio keep you slagging public radio in general. It would be like me working in a hospital and getting fired by some idiots and then deciding that our Canadian medicare system kept me in a skirt. We have a fine public broadcaster here in canada and you have a good one there as well. You would do us all a favour, in a world of Fox News, to show a little support for public broadcasting as well as the other fine public institutions. You and NPR were the reason we fell in love with public radio.

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I was in public rradio for a long time and I know whereof I slag. I haven't listened to NPR for a decade and am better off for it.

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Bravo, Garrison, You tell them fekken canucks where to get off....!

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She's way overqualified for that job!

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