I have been attacked by Rush Limbaugh on the air, an experience somewhat akin to being gummed by a newt. It doesn't actually hurt, but it leaves you with slimy stuff on your ankle.
Interpretation
The quote humorously compares verbal attacks to an insignificant annoyance.
Molly Ivins uses the metaphor of being gummed by a newt to depict how being criticized by Rush Limbaugh feels. She suggests that while such attacks may not cause real pain, they leave a lingering unpleasantness, much like slime on one's ankle. This highlights the trivial yet bothersome nature of certain criticisms in public discourse.
In practice
During a comedy show discussing political satire.
Racists seem obsessed by the idea that illegal workers - the hardest-working, poorest people in America - are somehow getting away with something, sneaking goodies that should be for Americans. You can always avoid this problem by having no social services. This is the refreshing Texas model, and it works a treat.
Populism is the simple premise that markets need to be restrained by society and by a democratic political system. We are not socialists or communists, we are proponents of regulated capitalism and, I might add, people who have read American history.
We should all laugh more at our elected officials - it's good for us and good for them.
Although it is true that only about 20 percent of American workers are in unions, that 20 percent sets the standards across the board in salaries, benefits and working conditions. If you are making a decent salary in a non-union company, you owe that to the unions. One thing that corporations do not do is give out money out of the goodness of their hearts.
Imagine wasting all that perfectly good anger on paranoid fantasies. Not since Emily Litella got upset about "Soviet jewelry" has there been such a waste of anger. You will notice a certain theme to these Emily Litella Moments. Behind them all is a touching faith that someone, somewhere is actually in charge of what's happening - a proposition I beg leave to doubt.
All anyone needs to enjoy the state legislature is a strong stomach and a complete insensitivity to the needs of the people. As long as you don't think about what that peculiar body should be doing and what it actually is doing to the quality of life in Texas, then it's all marvelous fun.
The taxpayers are sending congressmen on expensive trips abroad. It might be worth it except they keep coming back
Juliet's version of cleanliness was next to godliness, which was to say it was erratic, past all understanding and was seldom seen.
Football combines the two worst things about America: it is violence punctuated by committee meetings.
The truth is, Pavlov's dog trained Pavlov to ring this bell just before the dog salivated.
Musical people always want one to be perfectly dumb at the very moment when one is longing to be perfectly deaf.
It is a cliche that most cliches are true, but then like most cliches, that cliche is untrue.
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