Required Drinking
December 14th, 2005 - 10:54 am
I’ve never been a big fan of Robert Bork, but he just scored some major points.
UPDATE: Oops! I forgot to credit reader Don Hellwege for sending me the link. Thanks, Don.
I’ve never been a big fan of Robert Bork, but he just scored some major points.
UPDATE: Oops! I forgot to credit reader Don Hellwege for sending me the link. Thanks, Don.
Oh, my.
Folks, click through and read all of that. It’s a thing of brutal beauty.
Unfortunately, the Judge lost my support with his disparagement of the “snack” – the olive is the main reason I even tried a martini (and subsequently became hooked), in the first place! Otherwise, his logic is flawless. (And I have to admit, the “…I’ll ask for a salad” line is priceless!)
Stephen, What is it about Bork that doesn’t make you a fan? His hearings were the closest thing to a kangaroo court I ever want to see. He remained calm and courteous although I would have leapt across the table to strangle Leahy, at least, if not all the hypocrites across the room from him.
The attacks were personal and when he tried to answer, their eyes glazed over. Then there were the attack ads. Gregory Peck sliming Bork with lies. It was the lowest point in our nation’s political history, not Watergate or Clinton’s impeachment, horrible as those things were.
Bork’s life was never the same after that and if he’s a bit bitter, who can blame him.
I think the lemon twist is probably the original intent of the framers of the recipe of the Martini, but as an olive man myself, this is one instance where I do favor the concept of a living, flexible cocktail.
“When I want a salad, I’ll ask for it.” Wow! That is great!
(Yes, I drink them with a twist.)
sorry not a martini drinker but I agree with Tefta, the Bork hearings were a travesty, the same lack of intellectual ability that mars the democratic efforts today were evident in those hearings. While I can never claim to be a democrat (hell I liked Ford over carter and I was 11) and certainly have never voted for one, I will never vote for a democrat until Leahy, Kennedy, Biden et al are dead and buried. I will vote for Lieby but he is being ostracized so is he really a democrat.
tefta,
I can’t speak for Stephen, but for a libertarian’s objections to Bork, let’s just start with his opinion that the Ninth Amendment to the Constitution is just an “inkblot.” (Contrast with Randy Barnett’s interpretation of same).
Oh, and I like my martinis dry, with gin, and an olive.
Stephen, do you agree with Bork’s olivist views? And if so, why does the multi-martini logo at the top of your blog prominently feature such a lovely pimento’d specimen? I agree with the earlier comment about Bork’s great letter being marred only by the sneering salad snark, as one of life’s great joys is washing down the salty tang of a plump olive with the icy bite of a dry gin martini!
I’ll probably be taken out and shot for this, but I developed a taste for gin martinis with these spicy, pickled green beans a friend of mine brought back from a trip to New Orleans a few years back.
Please don’t ban me Steve.
Time to ‘fess up: I have never had a martini. Not even a sip of someone else’s. However, I do like a really good, really cold vodka with a twist of lemon.
Mostly these days I don’t drink much, but when I do I like manhattans, but only made with very good bourbon. Life’s too short to drink bad booze.
The other thing that has ruined too many martinis (to call something with chocolate or raspbery in it a martini simply indicates a literacy problem) is James Bond. Anybody who knows anything about good booze understands that shaking the nectar with ice causes far too much dilution, and results in the object of desire being transformed from a crystal-clear thing of elegance into a milky mess. Once I started drinking martinis, I always rooted for Blofeld or Goldfinger to send 007 to the great beyond. Stirred, not shaken, you heretic, Mr. Bond!
Hilarious.
I must admit though that I like it with an olive, a vodka martini that is, very dry. My wife, on the other hand, will only drink green apple martinis, with a cherry. More proof that women should never have been allowed the vote?
Just kidding.
Re: this post – I’ll drink to that.
Since the Original Martini was made with Gin, I have to wonder if this whole website isn’t dedicated to the concept of a Living Martini.
Surely the Founders Of The Martini could not have conceived of the existence of Ketel One back in the 1860s.
How are we to know what the True Intent Of The Martini is to be?
BTW – olive no, cocktail onion yes. And anyone who orders an “Appletini” in my presence gets laughed at and mocked relentlessly.