Swoop and Squat; Clay & Burgoo; Kerry & Cheesesteaks

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

SWOOP AND SQUAT

   From the NEW YORK POST, 13 August 2003. pg, 23, col. 3:

   The two basic scenarios in the scam were the "swoop and squat" and the
"side-swipe," according to Assistant DA Peter Smith.


   Google Groups has "swoop and squat" from 1997.  Google it and see some
other scam terms.  I thought "swoop and squat" was some new Arnold Schwarzenegger
exercise.

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BURGOO (continued)

   Henry Clay may have been a great statesman, but he sure didn't write a lot
about food.  No "burgoo."  No wonder he never became president.


Dear Mr. Popik:

I am unaware of any such mention.  I did not find it in the supplement ot the
Papers of Henry Clay and if you have checked the other 10 it must not be
there.  I will check a few other sources and see what I might find on the matter.
If I come up with anything, I will let you know.

Yours,

Eric Brooks
Curator
Ashland, The Henry Clay Estate
120 Sycamore Road
Lexington, KY 40502
(859) 266-8581
<A HREF="mailto:ebrooks at henryclay.org">ebrooks at henryclay.org</A>
<A HREF="http://www.henryclay.org/">www.henryclay.org</A>

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OT:  KERRY & CHEESESTEAKS

   Every election cycle there's a story like this.  So who do we elect for
president, Emeril?  Julia Child?  Famous Amos?



Steak Raises Stakes for Kerry in Philly
    Sen. John F. Kerry bites into a Philly cheesesteak sandwich during a
presidential campaign stop in South Philadelphia. (Jacqueline Larma -- AP)

By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, August 13, 2003; Page A03 If Sen. John F. Kerry's presidential
aspirations melt like a dollop of Cheez Whiz in the sun, the trouble may well be
traced to an incident in South Philadelphia on Monday.

There, the Massachusetts Democrat went to Pat's Steaks and ordered a
cheesesteak -- with Swiss cheese. If that weren't bad enough, the candidate asked
photographers not to take his picture while he ate the sandwich; shutters clicked
anyway, and Kerry was caught nibbling daintily at his sandwich -- another
serious faux pas.

"It will doom his candidacy in Philadelphia," predicted Craig LaBan, food
critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer, which broke the Sandwich Scandal. After
all, Philly cheesesteaks come with Cheez Whiz, or occasionally American or
provolone. But Swiss cheese? "In Philadelphia, that's an alternative lifestyle,"
LaBan explained.

And don't even mention Kerry's dainty bites. "Obviously, Kerry's a high-class
candidate, and he misread the etiquette," LaBan said. "Throwing fistfuls of
steak into the gaping maw, fingers dripping -- that's the proper way."

For Kerry, a Boston Brahmin, this is something of a sore spot. As he seeks to
lose his reputation for $75 Salon Cristophe haircuts, Turnbull & Asser shirts
and long fingernails to play classical guitar, he has been seen riding a
motorcycle and doing other regular-guy things.

Appearing out of touch with the common man can be deadly for a candidate.
Recall George H.W. Bush's wonderment in the 1992 campaign upon coming across a
supermarket scanner, and Sargent Shriver's legendary request for a Courvoisier
while visiting a milltown bar in 1972.

Kerry spokesman Robert Gibbs insisted that the candidate was "not taking a
dainty nibble" of the steak. "I suspect that Kerry was thinking about provolone
cheese but became distracted by thinking of the more than 3 million jobs that
have slipped through the holes of George W. Bush's economic plan."

The owner of Pat's Steaks, Frank Olivieri, was forgiving, though he points
out that Bill Clinton and Al Gore knew to ask for Whiz. "It happens," he said.
"I swayed him to the Cheez Whiz. If you're eating in Philadelphia, you eat what
I serve you."

At least Kerry didn't ask for Camembert.