Supersecret Saloon

...er, I mean, salon. (Love that AB's pun so much I can't stop using it.) Actually, the most potent drink offered by the AB was V-8 juice (one of my faves), with nary a drop of vodka to spike it, but that didn't stop the conversation from being as free-ranging as one of Mr. Purdue's chickens isn't. We stayed an hour past closing time, which I guess was permissible given the alcohol-free environment

The guest of honor was Frank Farricker, who is attempting to unseat the ignoble Snickerson. We were all delighted to learn that Snickerson's nickname up in Hartford is "Skippy", and it seems just perfect. He skips votes, walks with a mincing gait, and is as cloying as a surfeit of peanut butter. The widely-traveled AB treated us to an Aussie song about Skippy the kangaroo which seemed to fit right in as well.

Knowing that I would soon be sharing Skippy's nickname with y'all, I asked the assemblage what color best became the epithet. The consensus was lavender - let's see - ah yes, here we go: Skippy.

Frank is an impressive guy, and obviously has it all over Skippy when it comes to credentials and personality. You can learn more about him at Frank Farricker 2006, along with seeing pictures of his beautiful wife Cathy and their 5-year-old twins. My concern was that too few people know about Frank, or even that he is running, so we ran a brainstorming session on how to try to fix that.

Part of the problem with people running for office here in Greenwich is that they tend to be too namby-pamby for their own good. Stephanie Sanchez made a pretty good run some years ago, but someone must have told her to be a good little girl and eventually she would get her turn, because she ran a dull-as-dishwater campaign in a year when telling a few home truths could have gotten her elected. Peter Berg ignored every hot-button issue in the last election for First Selectman, and came off appearing to be the perfect milquetoast. And so toast he became.

In the present cycle, Arianna Huffington has already written Ned Lamont's concession speech for him; its main point is that Ned is being too wimpy and not hitting JoJo "me-first" Lieberman where it hurts. The link: The Blog Arianna Huffington: Ned Lamont's Concession Speech (A Speech I Never Want to Hear) The Huffington Post. Sorry - I'm sure there's a way to shorten links, but I need to check it out with the all-knowing AB.

So we felt it imperative that Frank not fall into the same pit, and I made him promise to refer to Snickerson as Skippy at least once per appearance. I told him that irony and sarcasm and ridicule could be powerful rhetorical tools when rightly used, and that IMHO there would seem to be no harm in letting the electorate know what Skippy's compeers in the state legislature think of him. Will Frank have the guts to do it? Stay tuned.