"So cheap"

March 20, 2004 12:18 PM

"You've admitted what you are Fat Tony, now you're just haggling over the price." Thanks for the Churchill whore meme to RogerAiles, who flagged this comment by Justice Scalia: "If it is reasonable to think that a Supreme Court justice can be bought so cheap, the nation is in deeper trouble than I had imagined." So, what is the going rate?
posted by Slagman (19 comments total)

Hm, for whatever reason AP did not include that part of the statement, but it's here, among other places.
posted by Slagman at 12:22 PM on March 20, 2004

"The justice said he was guilty only of hunting with a friend and taking a free plane ride to get there. "If it is reasonable to think that a Supreme Court justice can be bought so cheap, the nation is in deeper trouble than I had imagined,"

The country IS in more trouble than we imagine, thats the problem...
posted by Elim at 12:39 PM on March 20, 2004

Duck Season (Flash.)
posted by homunculus at 12:59 PM on March 20, 2004

the hunting trip was just the cigarette after the mutual hand jobs.
posted by Tryptophan-5ht at 12:59 PM on March 20, 2004

Which reminds me of my favorite Winston Churchill story: At a dinner party, Winston Churchill asked the woman sitting next to him if she would sleep with him for one million dollars. After hemming and hawing, she agreed that yes, she would. Then, he asked her if she would sleep with him for one dollar. She was offended, "What do you think I am, a prostitute?" she indignantly replied. "Madam" Churchill said in the droll voice of his, "We've already established what you are, now we're just haggling over the price."

I don't buy this, why would they be talking about dollars in england!?
posted by delmoi at 1:09 PM on March 20, 2004

Delmoi: the dinner party may have been in the US.
posted by silusGROK at 1:41 PM on March 20, 2004

Something tells me that Iraqi oil fields were one topic of discussion brought up during these energy policy meetings.

It would be interesting if we were to ever find out; however "Tricky" Dick Cheney seems to have the SCOTUS in his pocket already... insofar as Fat Tony appears to loudly defend his right to be in the VP's pocket.
posted by clevershark at 2:19 PM on March 20, 2004

Isn't it amazing just how smart famous people get after they're dead for a few decades.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 2:19 PM on March 20, 2004

Other versions of the Churchill tale give the story in pounds. I think it's apocryphal, because I couldn't find a legit source. It is often paired with the one where he tells a lady she's ugly, and she replies that he's drunk, and he says, yeah, but in the morning I'll be sober.
posted by Slagman at 2:39 PM on March 20, 2004

Of course, at least Scalia isn't best buds with an alleged pedophile like Sen. Rick Santorum.
posted by Slagman at 2:50 PM on March 20, 2004

Excellent post Slagman!

Fat Tony and Santorum are not very different when it comes right down to it. And come to think of it neither is that perverted porno loving buddy of Scalia's on the bench, Thomas. Of course we can't forget that good old poll blocker who serves as their Chief, Rehnquist. A sorry bunch of activist judges if ever there was to steal democracy from our country.
posted by nofundy at 3:35 PM on March 20, 2004

Erich Auerbach recounts the same Churchill story in Mimesis, written before or during the war but published in 53. In the version he recounts it is George Bernard Shaw and not Churchill. Auerbach is meticulously detailed, and the comment sounds like Shaw, but I can't recall if he names a source for the anecdote.
posted by putzface_dickman at 3:41 PM on March 20, 2004

At an elegant dinner party, Lady Astor once leaned across the table to remark, "If you were my husband, Winston, I'd poison your coffee." "And if you were my wife, I'd beat the shit out of you," came Churchill's unhesitating retort.

More of the famous Churchill Wit.
posted by Wet Spot at 7:14 PM on March 20, 2004

Wet Spot, that is hilarious.
posted by sklero at 7:25 PM on March 20, 2004

Oh lord yes. Thanks, Wet Spot. I think I remember reading it soon after it came out, but what a classic. This one still had me in convulsions:

When the noted playwright George Bernard Shaw sent him two tickets to the opening night of his new play with a note that read: "Bring a friend, if you have one," Churchill, not to be outdone, promptly wired back: "You and your play can go fuck yourselves."


And am I (and Elm?) the only one who read this - "If it is reasonable to think that a Supreme Court justice can be bought so cheap, the nation is in deeper trouble than I had imagined" - and immediately thought to Mr. "Fat Tony" - "YEAH, it IS, you MORON, so now that that's CLEAR, how about DOING SOMETHING to change it instead of MAKING IT WORSE???"

Your capitalization may vary, of course.
posted by soyjoy at 9:33 PM on March 20, 2004

Yeah, Shaw sounds more plausible. In the same vein is the "Silent" Cal Coolidge story. Woman at dinner party says she has a bet she can make him say more than three words.
"You lose."

I like the "Fat Tony" sobriquet immensely. I hadn't noticed it before the RogerAiles blog post -- and no, it's not that Roger Ailes -- but now I see it everywhere. These people do behave like petty mobsters, do they not.
posted by Slagman at 9:38 PM on March 20, 2004

Coincidentally, the smoking gun has posted a number of famous mug shots, including an earlier Fat Tony.
posted by Slagman at 9:48 PM on March 20, 2004

Ask Justicette Ginsburg and the gals over at NOW. They already know the going rate.
posted by flatlander at 10:00 PM on March 20, 2004

What? No mug shot of Tony "Ducks" Corallo?
posted by flatlander at 10:06 PM on March 20, 2004