Southerners have expressions and a lingo all their own. CBS News Anchor, Dan Rather, uses them more often than most on air personalities. Here's a few quotes from the broadcast on Election Night 2004:
"Do you hear that knocking...President Bush's re-election is at the door."
"This race is hotter than the Devil's anvil."
"His lead is as thin as turnip soup."
"This race is humming along like Ray Charles."
"The presidential race is swinging like Count Basie."
"Ohio becomes like a sauna for the two candidates. All they can do is wait and sweat."
"One's reminded of that old saying, 'Don't taunt the alligator until after you've crossed the creek.'"
"Bush is sweeping through the South like a big wheel through a cotton field."
"What Kerry needs at this point is the equivalent of Tom Brady coming off the bench to rescue him. But it's still too close to call."
"No question now that Kerry's rapidly reaching the point where he's got his back to the wall, his shirttails on fire, and the bill collector's at the door."
"John Kerry needs something on the order of a 55 or 60-yard field goal to win this."
(To Joe Lockhart) "I know that you'd rather walk through a furnace in a gasoline suit than consider the possibility that John Kerry would lose Ohio."
(To Joe Lockhart) "What about Michigan? It's been out there for a long time. Is that making your fingernails sweat?"
"This presidential race has been crackling like a hickory fire for at least the last hour and a half."
"Let's see where it goes from here. Round and round it goes, where it stops nobody knows."
"We keep talking about Ohio... if you've been tuning in and out, or you put the baby to bed, or you went to pop the cap on an adult, or otherwise, beverage..."
"We used to say if a frog had side pockets, he'd carry a handgun."
"No one is saying that George Bush is not going to win the election, and if you had to bet the double-wide, you'd have to bet that he'd win."
"In southern states they beat him like a rented mule."
"If you try to read the tea leaves before the cup is done, you can get yourself burned."
"We need Billy Crystal to 'Analyze This'."
"You know that old song, 'it's delightful, it's delicious, it's de-lovely' for President Bush in most areas of the country."
"We had a slight hitch in our giddy up, but we corrected that."
"In some ways, George Bush's lead is as thin as November ice."
"Put on a pot of coffee, this race isn't going to be over for a while."
"You look at the map and say it's all a big Bush victory. But this is one time when your Mother is right, looks can be deceiving."
"John Kerry's moon has just moved behind a cloud, as far as Florida is concerned."
On Kerry's chances: "To use a metaphor, he's gotta draw an inside straight. But hey, sometimes you get lucky and hit that straight."
"Is it like a swan, with every feather above the water settled, but under the water paddling like crazy?"
"What you have here is the football equivalent of a fourth quarter rally by Kerry."
The election is "closer than Lassie and Timmy"
"Keep in mind they are teetotally meetmortally convinced they have Ohio won."
"Vice President Dick Cheney would not have flown all the way out there (Hawaii) overnight and put that lei around his neck and sort of hula-danced, if you will, unless he thought there was a chance of carrying that out there."
"President Bush smiling there with his family. He's laid down aces so far."
"You can almost hear the GOP (deep breathing sound). We're getting within maybe smelling distance."
"We don't know what to do. We don't know whether to wind a watch or bark at the moon."
On how the results are affecting strategists: "It's one reason so many of them drink a lot."
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), on being congratulated on victory by Rather: "Thanks Dan, I always believe you." Rather: "Now, ladies and gentleman, if you believe that, you'll believe rocks can grow."
And my personal favorite of the night:
"This race is hotter than a Times Square Rolex."
Want more? Then go to the extended entry for past election Ratherisms.
Quotes from Dan Rather on Election Night 2002
"Could be game set and match Republicans."
"They're about first and goal from 4 yards out."
"Tight as the pages in a book."
"President Bush is hoping to ace his first midterm."
"Crackling like a hickory fire."
"Two hands worth of white knuckle still hanging ten."
"Reminds you of that old Will Rogers line, it takes a lot of money just to get beaten."
"It's beginning to get exciting as the Democrats' fingernails are starting to sweat"
Quotes from Dan Rather on Election Night 2000
"This race is shakier than cafeteria Jell-O."
"Turn the lights down, the party just got wilder."
"It's cardiac-arrest time in this presidential campaign."
"He swept through the South like a tornado through a trailer park."
"Don't bet the trailer money yet."
"It's too early to say he has the whip hand."
"Now Florida, that race, the heat from it is hot enough to peel house paint."
"It's a ding dong battle back and forth."
"If he doesn't carry Florida Slim will have left town."
"If a frog had side pockets, he'd carry a hand gun."
"They both have champagne on ice, but after the night is over, they might need a pick axe to open them."
"This race is tight like a too-small bathing suit on a too-long ride home from the beach."
"It's about as complicated as a wiring diagram to some dynamo."
"Only votes talk — everything else walks."
"This will show you how tight it is — it's spandex tight."
"We're going to go to some of those longnecks from a long time ago."
"He's going to find that people will hang on him like a coat rack."
"This election swings like one of those pendulum things."
"This race is as tight as the rusted lug nuts on a '55 Ford."
"What we know is that there will be no decision until some of those races are decided."
"Al Gore has his back to the wall, shirt tails on fire with this race in Florida."
"You talk about a ding-dong, knock-down, get-up race."
"When it comes to a race like this, I'm a long distance runner and an all-day hunter."
"It's the American way: if you don't vote, you don't get to whine."
"Smelling salts for all Democrats please."
"Maybe you can bring some perspective on this, we're plum out."
"When the going gets weird, anchor men punt."
"Tipper is probably telling her husband to hook a U, go back to the house to get a recount."
"It doesn't matter if you're a Democrat, Republican or a mug wamp, elected officials play it straight."
"Florida is the whole deal, the real deal, a big deal."
"The presidential race still hotter than a Laredo parking lot."
"These returns are running like a squirrel in a cage."
"It was as hot and squalid as a New York elevator in August."
"Bush has run through Dixie like a big wheel through a cotton field."
"This will have the people in Austin standing up like they got stuck with hat pins."
"...in Austin, between the 10 gallon hats and the Willie Nelson head bands."
"The big burrito out there in California"
"They'll be doing back flips in Nashville."
"It would be Shakespearean for Al Gore to lose because of his home state."
"I think you would likelier see a hippopotamus run through this room than see George Bush appoint Ralph Nader to the Cabinet."
"None of this television mumbo jumbo, let's get in there and count the votes."
"Frankly we don't know whether to wind the watch or to bark at the moon."
"We've lived by the crystal ball, we're eating so much broken glass. We're in critical condition."
Some of these are REALLY funny! :-)
Some of them are just plain weird:
"teetotally meetmortally convinced"
WTF?
Posted by: Harvey at November 4, 2004 02:31 PMI couldn't make it to the end - let alone go to the extended entry.
Is talking like an idiot supposed to be endearing?
Posted by: Stephen Macklin at November 4, 2004 07:26 PM"We had a slight hitch in our giddy up.."
My Grandpa used to say that!
Posted by: Tammi at November 4, 2004 07:43 PMPost cBS jobs for Rather:
Dan Rather and Ralph Nader become crash test dummies for GM.
Rather offers "Imus style" program for disadvantaged inner city Democrats where they are taught rudimentary liberal bias survival skills, including how to hunt the elusive Dan "Quail" for political fodder. This is a catch and release program, however, as this species is easily caught and considered to be endangered.
Editorial Director, Alien Division, National Inquirer. Unlimited mileage.
Teaching Texas ballroom dancing at the Arthur Murray Dance Studio in Hoboken, NJ.
Starts his own blog, marries James Carvelle and they ride off into the sunset. (Being sentimental, this one brings a tear to my eye...)
Patents new brand of oats soaked in Chevas Regal for special breed of donkeys raised in Texas using stem cells from Ted Kennedy.
"Will Rogers never met Dan Rather"
Posted by: bsp at November 5, 2004 02:07 PMThe way they cook the truth at that vile crockpot they call CBS News reminds one of the late Rodney Dangerfield's statement that his wife's cooking was so bad he couldn't leave dental floss in the kitchen because the cockroaches would hang themselves.
Posted by: bsp at November 5, 2004 02:12 PMDo you think he actually wrote all those are there were people in the back feeding him this stuff... I couldn't make it to the end! Runaway! Runaway!
Posted by: Boudicca at November 5, 2004 09:44 PM