Watching ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” Sunday, we caught up with this Jay Leno joke from last week:
“Also running, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback. He announced he is running for president. He said he is running and this is his quote. He’s on the Yellow Brick Road to the White House. The Yellow Brick Road to the White House! Hey, Sam, watch out for the Wicked Witch of New York, OK? Tangle with her and you can kiss your house goodbye.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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29 Comments
I watched it, sadly those outside of Kansas laugh at the remark. Those inside of Kansas wish Brownback was from Arkansas! I sometimes wonder if people back East have learned we have building taller than two stories and Wow we even have color TV. now! Phelps and Brownback are our two best known exports… I wish could just shut the door once they walk through it.
Brownback is an ass, we all know that. But why would anyone with half a brain watch Leno in the first place? The man’s a raving lunatic.
As far as the “Wicked Witch of New York?”
Well, I think we can all agree that the last time we had a gal like her in Kansas – we dropped a house on her!
’nuff said.
Brownback, Phelps, Kline … successors to the memory of Carrie Nation. Like Writer Dog said, no wonder people pronounce Kansas, followed immediately with a question mark. It’s shameful that their first thoughts are not of Eisenhower or William Allen White, for example, and it’s our fault. If they are so convinced that fundamentalism is the only path, let’s show them one of the most fundamental of religious acts — “shunning”.
Sadly? What’s so sadly? If you can’t stand the heat get out of the fire…or maybe that’s why you have Brownback : )Kansas will always have the “Wizard of OZ” stigma, and be the butt-end of jokes. The recent Eagle headline: “Escape From California”. What’s this another joke? People can’t escape Kansas fast enough, and If they do come they turn around and leave about just as fast as they got there.
References to “The Wizard of Oz” are a really unfortunate way to launch a presidential bid.
After all we already have
Dick “Tin Man” Cheney–who travels with an ambulance idling by because of his bad heart
Condaleeza “Cowardly Lion” Rice–who shows her tremendous courage by sending other people’s kids into battle
George “Scarecrow” Bush–who desperately needs a brain
Then there’s Karl “Pay No Attention to that Man Behind the Curtain” Rove who’s pulling everybody’s strings. Unfortunately, the smoke and explosions he causes are real ones as you can see from the dismembered bodies returning from Iraq.
Cap: Plaudits for that one!!!
Hmmmmm, it’s been a while since the comments on even the Eagle’s blog have been this insipid and predictable.
Ben, you’re a goddamn genius.Don’t waste your time here.
I’s sure Jay Leno’s career will not go up in smoke because some podunk in Kansas calls him a raving lunatic.
It was a joke on the Tonight Show – plain and simple. This is not brain surgery. I do not know of anyone that watches Jay Leno to get their daily talking points, unlike the dittoheads.
Frankly, I found the reference to the Wicked Witch of the North humorous.
“I sometimes wonder if people back East have learned we have building taller than two stories and Wow we even have color TV. now!”
Writerdog, in one word: Uh, no. (Oops, sorry. That was two.)
Case in point: I just received revision notes on my latest manuscript (sold on 3 chapters & synopsis). The editor needs some clarification, which I will do. Here is one of the comments:
“She wasn’t ‘in the middle of nowhere’–she was on her way back from the pharmacy. Also, she only lives ‘10 minutes out of town.’ Why is this ‘the country’? Seems pretty close to town. Also we need to name the road so that we can get some local bearings.”
Am I the only person who understands what being ‘in the middle of nowhere’ in the middle of the night, some 20+ miles from the city means? On a deserted country road? The character lives 10 minutes from a town that is 30 miles from the city. She is driving from the pharmacy in the city to the town. 30 miles of nothing but scattered farmhouse (maybe), dirt roads and a few trees. No traffic.
You tell me how much people back east understand. Perhaps I should add a few buffalo and some Indians to the contemporary setting…
Would someone care to explain why people move OUT of a big city to a nearby small town?
Julie?
Anybody?
(Like I don’t know, but I want to hear it from others.)
RD-(I told you I could provide expert advice – teehee)I moved from a real big city (KC) to a big city (Wichita) for college (WSU has a better business college that any other Kansas state school)I moved from a big city (Wichita) to a small city (Park City) because I fell in love with a wonderful man and we made a life together.I moved from a small city (Park City) to a small town (in harvey county but shall remain nameless on the blog for privacy reasons) because we wanted a small acreage where our children could play. We wanted somewhere with good schools. We wanted to be able to lay in bed at night and sleep and not be woken up with headlights shining in our bedroom window at 3 am because our neighbor got kicked out of the house again and is literally blaring mexican music and I could make out each individual word. We wanted peace and quiet.We wanted our kids to be safer. (I know if my son’s been in trouble at the park by the time he gets home because I’ve already gotten 3 phone calls that he was in a fight – true story).We want a community where everyone knows everyone and says “Hi, how ya doin’?” even if they already know the answer.
RD-name the road Ridge Road and you’ve got it pretty darn close from 53rd North to 125th north where it passes thru Sedgwick, then further north where it goes thru Hesston. Especially from Sedgwick to Hesston (14 miles if I remember correctly)
…The tinman had no heart…The lion had no courage…The talking scarecrow an unexpected similarity to talking heads…The twister is comparable to todays news media distorting reality…Wicked Witch of the East is killed by a falling house (Republican Congressional house falling to Democratic Election and killing the power of the Wicked Witch of the East relinquishing the ruby slippers)…Munchkins dance with glee and commence with “I always hated her and get involved with War Protesting)…Flying Monkeys (democratic operatives) whisk Dorothy away to the Wicked Witch of the West (Hillary.) The Witch finds she cannot get the ruby slippers unless Dorothy is dead. The Wicked Witch of the West falls prey to (white) water…Glinda (Oprah)the good witch refers Dorothy to a fake Wizard…similar to Quacks looking to resolve all of her problem by telling her what she already knew (common sense) and entices Dorothy to join the book of the month club…The Wizard of Oz relays that he too is from Kansas and arrived in Oz by hot air (balloon)…Glinda finally admits to Dorothy after sending her on a wild goose chase that the red slippers was the solution all along. Dorothys world tour to find herself (Kansas youth)…The yellow brick road really leads back to Sedan Kansas where residents have carefully layed sponsored painted brick on the sidewalks…Dorothy returns to Kansas to inherit her Auntie Ems house which puts Dorothy on an independent financial path to personal wealth…Dorothy Sebelius readily admits there is no place like home, even though its not her home state of Ohio…Dorothy moves to Topeka into a larger home…The Tin Man (morrison,) Scarecrow(Kline) and the Lion (Ethanol Farmer) settle into respective careers and sing melancholy songs…Glinda returns to Chicago and Munchkin mansion to make further plans to advance education in South Africa….:-)…
oh, and RD, for effect, just north of Sedgwick, on Ridge, is Harper’s corner. Pretty treacherous if you’re not driving the posted 30 mph. :)
A story concerning the younger daughter, who, as I have bored you with numerous times, attends college in Maine. The majority of the students attending there are from New England.
Unlike her sister, who endured many, many Wizard of Oz jokes while in school in Minnesota, when the New England students heard she was from Kansas, the number one question she was asked was: “Have you ever seen a tornado?” Now, you might believe this has Ozian import, but apparently, from her recitation, there are a number of students who really liked the movie “Twister”, and are fascinated by tornadoes.
Now, we return to your regularly scheduled programming.
yeah, you’ll take that corner on 2 wheels if you’re going 40. It’s a mile north of Sedgwick right by a farm with cattle. Lots of wildlife, lots of deer, some coyotes and couple of mountain lion sightings a few years ago.
A field trip was offered my senior year in high school for a week in Washington DC to learn about politics and such. There were 4 girls to a room. In my room there was another girl from Kansas and 2 girls from California. We had the girls from California convinced for days that this was our first plane ride and we rode to school on a horse, only a select few had cars but you had to crank start them from the front. We had just installed electricity and not all homes had it in the Kansas City area let alone other areas. We had no idea who Tom Cruise was and we had no clue what rock n roll music was.
RD-Case in point – the body found this morning at 119th and 101st is 20 minutes outside of town and is ‘in the middle of nowhere’.
That brings back memories Julie…I’ve been around those corners at over 40mph many times….lucky we survived. (youthful indiscretions) I remember coming home years ago, around the first corner to find a car way out in the field with the doors and hood open and a very drunken man looking for a passenger he thought he had.
RD, to comment a bit on your 11:52 AM post. As a Kansas guy, it was a bit of a shock when we first went into the New England area; it seemed like, in places, that five miles out of one “town”, we were in another; as one who is used to the wide open spaces, the concept of that many clusters of ‘civilization’ was foreign to me.
Of course, there are areas where the concept in your manuscript would not be so unusual; but there seemed to be more of the town then town then town situations than town, drive 30 minutes, another town, etc.
I guess it’s all a matter of perspective and experience.
…notes that the Wichita streets running North and South run into farm fields and appear once again on the other side…ponders the thought about roads running to nowhere…If nowhere was found at the end of a road what would nowhere look like…And if one found himself in the middle of nowhere, how would he give give directions to a taxi to pick him up?…Reminds one of fatherly lectures advising children they are going nowhere if they don’t get an education…After my education I am still unable to reach or locate nowhere if I wanted to go there and most certainly couldn’t describe how to get back from it if I did indeed find it…And what am I going to about it?…Nothing…Which brings up why schools don’t teach more about nothing…Our ever expanding universe has confounded the re-thinkers of Einsteins theory as the inclusion of nothingness as a “filler” amongst all that matter and energy…And there is nothing that can be done about it…:-)…
“I guess it’s all a matter of perspective and experience.”
Indeed, VT.
I’ve traveled all over the U.S., all 48 ‘continental’ states, Canada twice, Mexico twice, and even went to Havana (yes, Cuba) when I was 3. I’ve seen big cities (NYC) and open spaces (Montana), and maybe I think everyone else should have a clue. Or maybe I just wasn’t thinking along the lines of someone in NYC when I wrote those words.
I have this ridiculous urge to fly these wonderful women here, drive them out where there are few houses (not far outside of Wichita) and leave them there…just for the experience. *evil grin*
My other idea is to take a camera and do a 360 panarama shot ‘in the middle of nowhere’ so I won’t have to pay for a couple of plane tickets.
Julie,
I knew I could count on you. :)
I’m beginning to believe that … is psychotic in some way.
“The yellow brick road really leads back to Sedan Kansas where residents have carefully layed sponsored painted brick on the sidewalks.”
…? Be you from Sedan or near the area? Not everyone knows about that, although many do.
RD -Get a video camera that has a timestamp and while someone else drives, record the trip that you envision for your book using area roads/locations while you provide a verbal narrative. This might help.:)
Leno’s joke was a slam on Hillary, not Brownback. Calling her a witch will get HIS house flattened.
Good idea, Julie. Do you think the snow would help? After all, who can see roads out in the boonies when there’s snow? *grin*