ltfire
September 12, 2005, 11:35pm
61
The funniest line I read all week. This, from a disgruntled reader of the NY Daily News (maybe a Doper?)
On George Bush…
He was born at third base and thinks he hit a triple.
I think you summed it up perfectly Kimstu . I don’t really sense any malevolence, just a big aura of aloofness. Kind of like a ballon that broke free and is just sort of floating around.
ltfire:
The funniest line I read all week. This, from a disgruntled reader of the NY Daily News (maybe a Doper?)
On George Bush…
He was born at third base and thinks he hit a triple.
I thought Molly Ivins was the origin of that quote.
ltfire
September 13, 2005, 12:39am
64
Have no idea who said it first. That’s why I didn’t use quote marks.
I found a site that claims Barry Switzer said it first :
Barry Switzer, the successful head football coach at the University of Oklahoma and for the Dallas Cowboys in the 70s, 80s, and 90’s, was practically a sound byte machine. Relevance? A December 1986 Chicago Tribune article opens with a quote from Switzer: “Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple.” The article profiled the rags-to-riches Coach who related better to scrappy players who grew up poor, like him, than to the rich. The quote pre-dates “Bushleaguer” by roughly 17 years. Remember that Switzer would become famous for coaching Texas football, and in this story, Texas comes up a lot.
Fast forward to the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Dubya’s father, George Bush Sr. was the Republican candidate running for president. Among the Dem convention’s high points was then Texas Agricultural Commissioner Jim Hightower’s fiery speech which included him saying that George Bush Sr. was a person who was “born on third base [who] thought he had hit a triple.” Just as people often say Dubya only got ahead through nepotism, remember that even George Sr.'s had a head start in life. His father – Dubya’s grandfather – Prescott Bush was a U.S. Senator from Connecticut from 1952 - 1963.
But I suspect the comment originated well before that, much earlier in the lifetime of the game.