THE ROBERT W. WHITAKER ARCHIVE

WHEN BOB GETS SWEET ... | 2006-08-24

In the discussions below, I referred to Joe as a mean old bastard and praised him to the skies.

Normal people would expect me to be sweet when I praise Joe. But Bob's Blog is not chock full of normal people, and Joe and I would both get homicidal if we were called normal.

I will never forget when someone in Washington asked me if I was angry at him. I said, "No, what makes you think that?"

He replied, "Well, you've been awfully NICE to me lately." He knew me well. He was aware that I treat men I don't like with an infallible, COLD courtesy.

I will be nice to ladies. But one time when Joe was nice to me, I got scared. I said in that piece that Joe was being awfully complimentary to me, and that had to mean he had discovered I had an uncurable disease I didn't know about.

If Joe hadn't gotten back to his old irrascible self right after that, I would have lost a lot of sleep.

I refer to my commenters in general as a necessary pain in the nether regions, like suppositories.

Which means I like you folks.