"When Washington talks about...taxpayers should watch their wallets"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 3/7/06, Bapopik at aol.com <Bapopik at aol.com> wrote:
>
> 7 March 2006, New York Sun, pg. 10, col. 2 editorial:
> The old saying is that when Washington starts talking about bipartisanship,
> taxpayers should watch their wallets.
> ...
> What does Fred Shapiro have? It's the phrase "when government talks about"
> and ends with "watch/check your wallet."

There are all sorts of snowclone-y variants on the theme, "If a
politician (or someone) talks about Y, watch/check/hold on to/keep
your hand on/etc. your wallet". For instance:

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New York Times, Aug 23, 1981. p. E4, Leslie H. Gelb (HNP 111904717)
There are very few general rules of politics that hold true almost all
the time. One that never fails is: Hold onto your wallets when they
start talking about future deficits and military spending.
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Washington Post May 18, 1981. p. A15, Ben Wattenberg (HNP 132170102)
When some big out-of-town jasper with a pocket calculator comes up to
you and says, "If present trends continue..."-- hold onto your wallet.
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One variant is attributed to LBJ:

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Lyndon Johnson once said that when anyone tells you he's just a dumb
old country boy, put your hand on your wallet.
1001 More Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking (1998)
http://books.google.com/books?id=-M936QLAlkcC
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It does explain why Lyndon Johnson said that whenever he heard someone say "I'm
just a country boy," he checked to make sure his wallet was still there.
Southern Folk, Plain and Fancy by John Shelton Reed (1988)
http://books.google.com/books?id=WnT3tQhkrVsC
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The only Johnson quote I know is: "If anyone tells you he's just a
dumb country boy, keep your hand on your wallet."
http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/004011.html
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As LBJ once remarked when someone said he was just a "country boy" he
reached back and held fast to his wallet.
http://www.worldmagblog.com/blog/archives/019783.html
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The general exhortation to hold on to your wallet in the presence of
untrustworthy politicians goes back to the '40s at least:

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Chicago Daily Tribune May 12, 1949. p. 22 (HNP 489132542)
Hold onto your wallets, folks; Will Clayton's a window dressing vice
chairman of another committee to promote another international trade
and recovery scheme.
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--Ben Zimmer

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