16 August 2016 - POLITICIANS KISSING BABIES

POLITICIANS

 KISSING BABIES

G'day folks,

Ever wondered why politicians kiss babies during an election campaign? Me too!

Baby-kissing may be a campaign trail cliche—and a germaphobe’s nightmare—but it’s also a time-honored American political tradition. According to George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum Director Alan Lowe, who researched the subject for the institution’s new “Path to the Presidency” exhibit, the earliest recorded instance of a politician puckering up dates to 1833 when President Andrew Jackson toured New Jersey. As Jackson stopped to greet a mother and baby, the woman thrust her little boy into his arms. “Ah! There is a fine specimen of American childhood!” declared the president, who then passed the dirty-faced infant over to Secretary of War John Eaton for him to kiss. 

While “Old Hickory” outsourced the job, his successor, Martin Van Buren, reportedly kissed quite a few babies, and the tradition took off. Not all politicians, however, embraced baby-smooching. President Grover Cleveland, perhaps not wanting to remind voters of reports that he had sired an illegitimate child, flatly refused. 

 In 1968, Richard Nixon declared, “I won’t wear a silly hat, or kiss a lady or a baby.” He told Life Magazine that he feared such “stunting” would make him “look like a jerk.” 

Lowe says that candidates engage in baby-kissing because it can help them connect with voters. “The campaign trail can be a rough-and-tumble place, and this shows a softer, gentler side of candidates,” he says. “Voters want to elect someone who is a decent person, and this makes them more relatable.”
That means engaging in an activity that’s not the most hygienic. “As a mother,” said 1984 vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, “my instinctive reaction is how do you give your baby to someone who’s a total stranger to kiss, especially with so many colds going around?” Ferraro may not have understood the strange campaign ritual, but she kissed the babies nonetheless. 

Clancy's comment: Mm ... Yuk!

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16 December 2015 - WHY PEOPLE KISS THE BLARNEY STONE

WHY PEOPLE KISS 

THE BLARNEY STONE

G'day folks,

The Blarney Stone is a block of Carboniferous limestone built into the battlements of Blarney Castle, Blarney, about 8 kilometres from Cork, Ireland. According to legend, kissing the stone endows the kisser with the gift of the gab.

 Kissing Ireland’s Blarney Stone, a tradition that’s been around for several centuries, is said to give a person the gift of eloquence and persuasiveness. The iconic stone is set in a wall of Blarney Castle, constructed in 1446 by Dermot McCarthy, king of Munster, on the site of a demolished 13^th century castle. 

Various legends surround the Blarney Stone’s origins. One story holds it was acquired during the Crusades and brought to Ireland, while another tale claims it was made from the same material used at Stonehenge. An additional account links it to the Stone of Scone (also called the Stone of Destiny), which was used for hundreds of years in the coronation of Scottish and English monarchs, while yet another legend contends it was a gift from Robert the Bruce, king of Scots, to Cormac McCarthy, king of Munster, for sending men to help Bruce defeat the English at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. 

However, in 2014, geologists from the University of Glasgow shed some light on the Blarney Stone’s heritage when they concluded that the famous rock isn’t from Scotland but instead is made of 330-million-year-old limestone local to the south of Ireland.

The word “blarney,” meaning skillful flattery or nonsense, supposedly came into use following an incident involving the head of the McCarthy family and Queen Elizabeth I, who ruled England and Ireland from 1558 to 1603. The queen sent the earl of Leicester to seize Blarney Castle but the talkative McCarthy managed to keep stalling him. The queen grew exasperated by the earl’s reports about the lack of progress in the matter and uttered something to the effect that the reports were all “Blarney.”

Today, people travel from around the globe to give the Blarney Stone a peck (which must be done by leaning backward while holding onto two railings). Winston Churchill is among the notable figures who’ve kissed the stone, doing so in 1912 when he was First Lord of the Admiralty. Who’s to say that smooch didn’t bestow a little eloquence on Churchill, who went on to become British prime minister in 1940 and earn a reputation as a masterful orator?

Clancy's comment: One can only assume that all politicians have been there and done that.

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