Humbug in the Pickwickian sense?
Jeffrey S. Farmer (af369@ACORN.NET)
Sat, 26 Dec 1998 17:42:04 EST
Dear Mr. Dickens,
Have you, by chance, been following the impeachment proceedings in the
U.S. House of Representatives? If you have, perhaps you are aware that
the House Judiciary Committee (the committee that drafted and voted out
articles of impeachment for consideration by the whole House) is chaired
by a portly, white haired, kindly, yet rather opinionated gentleman from
Illinois named Henry Hyde. Henry Hyde (I say, although I do not know the
man) is a humbug. That is, if one accepts, as a principle, that all
politicians are humbugs, and acknowledges, as a matter of fact, that
Henry Hyde is a politician, it follows that Henry Hyde is a humbug. The
question is, what sort of humbug? Is he a humbug in the ordinary sense,
or in the Pickwickian sense? How does one tell the difference?
Thank you,
Jeff Farmer
Stow, Ohio, USA
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