Something seems to have gone a little wrong with the Times Obits page. Something that needs correction.
In an election described as “Claytie versus the Lady”, he quickly established a double-digit lead over Richards, the liberal state treasurer and recovering alcoholic who had gained national prominence at the Democrats’ 1988 convention by joking that George HW Bush, who was running for president, had been “born with a silver spoon in his mouth”.
That’s not actually a joke. It doesn’t make sense as a joke either. Further, Richards was known for having more than a little wit. The joke being that HW was born high and mighty and also prone to the more than occasional malapropism and thus “born with a silver foot in his mouth”.
Sure, politics is a little short of truly good jokes but by the standards of politics this is a pretty good one.
The record of lives past by the newspaper of record should – perhaps could – be a little better than this?