Nothin’ But Good Times: Who can forget our hard-hitting interview with candidate Bob Dole (center)at the 1996 Republican National Convention in San Diego?
Dan Rather turns 80 today — a development that has the perverse effect of making me feel old, since for a very long time a principal determining factor in my stalwart belief in my own youthfulness was my ability to chase after him, from Cape Town to Alaska, from Osaka to Havana to Tbilisi to the eye of whatever storm happened along. Nowadays, I couldn’t keep up with him, and lately I haven’t been asked to. But Dan keeps charging ahead.
Spend a little time in Dan’s orbit, and the most outlandish notions begin to seem perfectly commonplace. Take, for example, his penchant for colorful expressions, or “Ratherisms.” Chances are, you don’t know anyone who talks like Dan — but I do — and in his company, you may start talking like him, too.
And so, in honor of my tee-total, me-mortal mentor, model, sometime boss and longtime friend, I’d like to wish him a happy birthday — his way.
Spend a little time in Dan’s orbit, and the most outlandish notions begin to seem perfectly commonplace. Take, for example, his penchant for colorful expressions, or “Ratherisms.” Chances are, you don’t know anyone who talks like Dan — but I do — and in his company, you may start talking like him, too.
And so, in honor of my tee-total, me-mortal mentor, model, sometime boss and longtime friend, I’d like to wish him a happy birthday — his way.
Here’s hoping your birthday is happier than a fourth-grade field trip to a chocolate factory…
More festive than happy hour at the Chicken Ranch…
More memorable than a moonwalk…
More song-filled than a honkytonk jukebox…
Hotter than Kreuz’s barbecue pit…
Full of more kicks than a line dance at Billy Bob’s…
Wilder than a possum hunt on Crack Street…
More exciting than a doubleheader in extra innings … during a hurricane…
As dazzling as Jean’s smile…
…And just the start of another back-to-the-wall,
foot-to-the-pedal, eyes-to-the-stars,
call-your-mama-collect-’cause-the-baby’s-milk-money’s-on-fire
adventure.
More festive than happy hour at the Chicken Ranch…
More memorable than a moonwalk…
More song-filled than a honkytonk jukebox…
Hotter than Kreuz’s barbecue pit…
Full of more kicks than a line dance at Billy Bob’s…
Wilder than a possum hunt on Crack Street…
More exciting than a doubleheader in extra innings … during a hurricane…
As dazzling as Jean’s smile…
…And just the start of another back-to-the-wall,
foot-to-the-pedal, eyes-to-the-stars,
call-your-mama-collect-’cause-the-baby’s-milk-money’s-on-fire
adventure.
Speaking of feeling old . . . can you tell me, Bill, which presidential election it was that gave Ratherisms their moment in the sun? I remember the CBS coverage of one election as non-stop Ratherisms. Was it Clinton-Dole?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure, Michael. Certainly both the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections featured lots and lots of Ratherisms, whereas 1988 (the other presidential election during which I worked for Dan) didn't maintain quite so furious a pace. I know that one of the wire services compiled a list of Ratherisms after Dan's coverage of the 2000 election (when I was at ABC News, though Dan used at least a couple of phrases in which my fair hand can be detected), and this is the list that typically turns up on the Internet now.
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