Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 1:09pm

T. Coddington Van Voorhees VII Weighs in on the Delaware Race

The indispensable Iowahawk brings us again the thoughts of T. Coddington Van Voorhees VII, Rino of the Rinos, and his musings on the Christine O’Donnell victory in the Delaware GOP Senate primary:

Thus I assumed when the Delaware Republican party approached me last week requesting high-level strategic advice it was in regards to the November general election. Mr. Biden’s elevation to the executive branch created an open Senate seat and, mercifully, a rare moment of kismet for moderate and intellectual conservatives; here, at last, the right kind of seat, for the right kind of state, and the right kind of candidate in Mr. Mike Castle. With his nomination a forgone conclusion and a voting record scarcely distinguishable from Mr. Biden’s, Mr. Castle would be undoubtedly competitive in November and could be supported by a better stripe of conservative without fear of Washington social embarrassment. Better yet, his nomination would represent a return to the rational conservatism which has been all but eclipsed by the dark moon of Tea Party lunacy. All that remained to formulate a strategy to position Mr. Castle further to the center for the general election, and to make arrangements for cocktails; two task for which I am eminently qualified and brimming with ideas. Instead, I was mortified to learn from party officials that they were in fact seeking help in parrying a primary challenge to Mr. Castle from a dark horse Republican who was in the midst of a last minute charge in the polls.

Who was this mysterious rival, I inquired – some heretofore unknown Machiavellian prodigy from Harvard poli sci? An old-money interloper from the Philadelphia Mainline? Neither, they said. The challenge, they explained, came in the form of one “Christine O’Donnell,” a financially destitute 37-year old Tea Party schoolgirl whose intellectual heft by comparison made even la Palin look Obamanesque. I then watched in abject horror as they played a video of her crusading against teenage onanism. I admit no great pride in my own occasional participation in that unseemly adolescent pastime, but what sort of person declaims it on MTV? And what sort of party allows her name to appear on an official primary ballot? And that is when it struck me: I was obviously now witnessing the premise of an elaborate practical joke. Delawareans have long been known as the irascible pranksters of East Coast Republicanism, and to be selected as the target of their good-natured japery is in some fashion an honor. Even though the stunt nearly led to his untimely demise, the very first T. Coddington Van Voorhees himself reportedly enjoyed a hearty laugh after his waggish Delaware friend E. I. du Pont replaced his trusty dueling pistol with a replica that egested a comical “BANG” flag. Not wanting to spoil their fun, I did not let on to the Delaware party officials that I was wise to their little joke. Instead, I played along and counseled them to run a last minute, no-holds-barred negative media blitz against their impossibly fictional “Tea Party candidate.”

And thus I awaited with wry anticipation as Farquhar slowly traversed the breakfast room with the cart bearing the punchline to the Delawareans’ clever prank. This was followed by gales of riotous laughter when I discovered the wags had printed an entire mock edition of the New York Times announcing their satirical “Miss O’Donnell” had actually won the race! I was so overcome with mirth that I kicked over the cart, spilling grapefruit across the marble. As Farquhar trembled back to the kitchens to retrieve the mop, I reached for the ringing telephone prepared to hear the voice of the Delaware GOP chairman crowing about his ingenious drollery. Instead I was greeted with the panicked entreaties of none other that Mr. Castle himself, joined by the Republican National Congressional Committee brain trust, insisting against all rational evidence that Miss O’Donnell was in fact real and that she had indeed won the contest. I conducted an incredulous review of the cable news channels, which confirmed their wild story. I called the kitchen intercom and bade Farquhar fetch me a stiff drink on his way back with the mop.

What followed, I will state with no small amount of confidence, was the birth of a mighty counterrevolution to wrest the cause of conservatism back from the would-be mobs.

“Gentlemen, at long last it is time to draw a line in the sand,” I announced. “For too long we have stood by idly while these insipid cretins – the Palins, the Limbaughs, the Becks – have run roughshod over our once proud party, making it a mockery and ruining our social standing, advancing the insane notion that years of Washington experience and good breeding are somehow trumped by idiotic pledges to dismantle the very government on which their very existence depends. Well, my friends, I say unto you, with this Delaware disaster they have gone a bridge too far. Today we begin the counterattack, and we will make it plain to the insurrectionists that they shan’t see another dime of our inheritances.”

The polite huzzahs and claps emanating from the speaker-phone indicated to me that my call to arms was striking a chord within the heart of traditional Republicanism. Heartened, I pressed on.

“If it is a fight the Jacobins want, then it is a fight they shall have,” I added with a pugilistic flourish. “And let this be their warning – I once took 4th place in the East Hampton Silver Gloves boxing tournament.”

Go here to read the brilliant rest.

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Karen
Karen
Friday, September 17, AD 2010 10:08am

Not a bad article, but a real T. Coddington etc. wouldn’t be a “VII.” Roman numerals are only appropriate for monarchs, who are also the only people who get to count everyone whose ever had the name. For the rest of us, Jr., Sr. and ordinal numbers are only used to distinguish between living people with the same name, as in “George W. Bush 3rd,” if George’s father and grandfather are still alive and have the same name. It’s barely possible to be a “5th” in families that marry young and live a long time, but mostly it’s only “Sr, Jr, and 3rd.” /pedantic etiquette rant.

This message has been delivered to you by Captain Karen Cox of the 5th Light Pedantry.

c matt
c matt
Friday, September 17, AD 2010 12:17pm

Karen, what happens if you were a 3rd, and then the Sr. dies, and a fourth is born? Does the 3rd revert to Jr. and the putative 4th becomes a 3rd? Does everyone move up a notch as the more senior passes away?

Jay Anderson
Friday, September 17, AD 2010 1:34pm

Unfortunately, the “etiquette” doesn’t take into account idiotic credit bureaus destroying one’s credit rating when “James Thomas Anderson Jr.” can’t buy a house because, unbeknownst to him, he already has 2 other mortgages.

Speaking as a “Jr.” to a “Jr.” to yet another “Jr.”, I make no apologies to the etiquette snobs (like my own mother) that my son’s name is and shall remain – unless and until such time as he sees fit to change it himself – “James Thomas Anderson V”.

/rant off

😉

Jay Anderson
Friday, September 17, AD 2010 1:39pm

As I said to my mother: “Have you read the names in the birth announcements section of the newspaper lately? Do you really think it’s going to raise anyone’s eyebrows that your grandson has a “V” appended to the end of his name?”

😉

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