LAT: The timeless art of flattery(Miers' best gov'na ever comment)

[Tiggeroshii]

The timeless art of flattery
Harriet Miers. Eddie Haskell. Your co-workers. They've all indulged in currying favor with higher-ups. But the payoff isn't always clear -- unless you live in Los Angeles or Washington, where there seems to be no such thing as inappropriate fawning.

By Robin Abcarian, Times Staff Writer


Move over Eddie Haskell. Harriet E. Miers could teach you a thing or two about sucking up. Papers released last week by the Texas state archives show a woman who admired the boss and wasn't afraid to show it, with puppy dog cards and flowery notes in her own hand, often added to official typed correspondence.

"You are the best Governor ever — deserving of great respect!" Miers wrote to George W. Bush in a belated card for his 51st birthday. (Which is why the puppy on the front of the card has such a hangdog look). At the bottom of the greeting card, she added, "At least for thirty days — you are not younger than me." In a flowery thank you card, she wrote, "Hopefully Jenna and Barbara recognize that their parents are 'cool' — as do the rest of us … All I heard is how great you and Laura are doing … Texas is blessed!"

more: http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/cl-et-flattery21oct21,0,3241503.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[goclark]

1. Harriett deserves a puke!

[Marr]

2. Ms. Miers is just not very bright.

I can see why she loves GW so much. Compared to her, he's Einstein.

[Metta]

3. When is this a normal sentiment?

Looking at when things are normal is a tool I find very effective in figuring things out. It seems that this is an appropriate sentiment for an adolescent to express so we can assume that, in her emotional maturity and ablility to hold conflict, Harriet Miers is a teenager. "You're just the bestest pal/ dad a girl could have," or some such. Even if she were playing, this speaks to a projected parent from the viewpoint of a child who wants to be happy/ safe.

George Bush isn't within a good day's flying distance of being cool, nor are his parents or daughters, as far as I can tell. Oops, a judgement.

[Misskittycat]

4. She doesn't know grammar, either. n/t

[Lisa]

5. she fits right into this administration!

But seriously -- this is scary.

If the White House is "more like the courts of Renaissance Europe than it is to our modern era" -- we should remember what happened not long AFTER the Renaissance (a big-assed wave of rebellions and revolutions!)