Bob Hope was a Republican, but, above all, he was a comedian, and he never let politics stand in the way of a good punch line. A death bed Catholic convert like John Wayne, he will be the subject of a future post here on AC.
Bipartisan Hope
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 41 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
I don’t get the second one… is it an age joke? (Serious, here– the zombie one is easy, but I think I lack the background for the reincarnation one.)
(FWIW, my favorite political zinger is the “I’m not part of any organized political party, I’m a Democrat!” from Will Rogers, although it seems to have flipped around a bit these days.)
The second one was a tribute to the electoral weakness of the Republicans under FDR. Shortly after FDR’s third election as President, in one of the Road pictures, Bob Hope and Bing Cosby are sentenced to jail. When Hope asks for how long he is told, “Until the Republicans get back into the White House!”, to which Hope shrieks, “Oh, no! Life!”.
Not to be doing, what people in our church sometimes do, playing the “hero” but
“….but, above all, he was a comedian,”
And perhaps above all in this vein, he was an American.