ABBA (Anyone But Bush Again); Sweep the Board

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ABBA (ANYONE BUT BUSH AGAIN

   ABBA, according to Newsweek's Anna Quindlen, is not a Swedish singing
group but rather a person who lives in the Upper West Side of Manhattan and will
vote for Anybody But Bush Again.
---NEW YORK SUN, 13 February 2004, pg. 3, cols. 1-2.

ABBA + ""BUT BUSH AGAIN"--531 Google hits, 74 Google Groups hits

   Please!  No one vote for Abba!  I liked Abba Eban as much as anyone, but
he died in 2002!!


(GOOGLE GROUPS)
Re: OT: At last ...the truth about ABBA
... That's a political party that doesn't exist until after someone gets
nominated.
It has a single issue: unity. My party is called ABBA: Anyone But Bush Again.
...
rec.arts.theatre.musicals - Jun 13, 2003 by Bushwhacker - View Thread (2
articles)

Looking at 2004: MoveOn Bulletin (fwd)
... doc.mhtml?i=20030609&s=hendricks ----- ABBA CADABRA Liz
Langley, AlterNet My new political party, ABBA (Anyone But Bush Again), is an
...
fa.fiction-of-philosophy - Jun 13, 2003 by Alan Sondheim - View Thread (1
article)


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SWEEP THE BOARD

   There's probably no way I'll be able to be in William Safire's column
again and he'll admit errors every month, but this Sunday's NEW YORK TIMES column
is absolutely wrong:


(http://www.nytimes.com)
After political sages stopped speculating about Howard Dean running the table
and started guessing that John Kerry would do it, the columnist Robert Novak
tried to break out of clicheville with ''Kerry's aides won't admit it
publicly, but they see a chance to sweep the board.''

This is a basketball phrase. I put the full-court press on Tom Jolly, The
Times's sports editor, who dribbled a while, thinking it over, before opining
that ''to sweep the boards is to dominate the rebounds until the score is made.
The 'boards' are the backboards behind the basket.'' (He will undoubtedly be
inundated with mail from fans certain it refers to floorboards, scoreboards or
college boards. Better him than me.)

But assuming Jolly is right, is the metaphor already outdated? To allow
spectators seated in rows behind the baskets to see the action, the old wooden
boards have been replaced by unbreakable glass or transparent plastic. ''That's
true,'' says my colleague, ''which is why you now hear cleaning the glass.''


   A glass backboard is still a "backboard."  I hear "sweep the boards" used
all the time.  But it's never "sweep the board."
   This is NOT a basketball phrase.  It's a gambling phrase.  And it's not
even new--it pre-dates basketball!


(WWW.NEWSPAPERARCHIVE.COM)
Bedford Gazette - 9/10/1926
...It is a gambling phrase, and means to SWEEP THE BOARD of all THE stakes
literally.....Phrases That Now Are Household Words "To SWEEP THE deck" sounds
like a THE actor who.....on THE left, THE one' with THE v high BOARD fence
around it, is THE studio of THE.....hard, like agates, were scanning THE high BOARD
fence, from it THEy turned with a look..
Bedford, Pennsylvania Friday, September 10, 1926  802 k

Daily Gazette And Bulletin - 2/23/1888
...SOUTH WilLIAMSPORT. THE REPUBLICANS SWEEP THE BOARD CLEAN. r( KtttrriT Tli
THE uutl.....WUiivte 279; J THUtBJUAY. KKHRUARY 23, 1888 THE SMOKE OF THE
ELECTION 188; H It. Meliok.....H McFiulden. iiuil in familv ul WITPR, and THE
odSWon vm wry THE ta net. In..
Williamsport, Pennsylvania Thursday, February 23, 1888  669 k

Hornellsville Tribune - 10/27/1871
...in THE field next spring and shall "SWEEP THE BOARD" as gamblers say. We
are watching.....politics of this country, and who, in THE BOARD of Supervisors
was always ready to do.....Senate, and as such a member of tho Canal BOARD,
ho voted for numberless iniquitous.....Washington to have Oaksnu'th and all on
BOARD arrested and REMOVED OUT OF WOODFOTD'B..
Hornellsville, New York   Friday, October 27, 1871  475 k

Janesville Daily Gazette - 9/26/1860
...country is all right. Honest old Abe will SWEEP THE BOARD by thousands.
THE Douglas men.....LEVI ALDEN, of Janesville. for Clerk of THE BOARD, S. L.
JAMES, of Beloit. .For IHstrict.....MUST BE MAINTAINED. IT 13 THE LAST, THE ONLY
HOPE OF THE SOUTH." So we ace that.....by THE British government to enquire
into THE working of THE educational system of THE..
Janesville, Wisconsin Wednesday, September 26, 1860  1038 k

Titusville Morning Herald - 2/27/1871
...can play those three cards again, he will SWEEP THE BOARD. "Wo have no
hesita tion in.....of THE syed Guy order Mrs. Wood's last book, ha THE old gal
writer well, in oi her.....landlord ban never been paid for two weeks BOARD, not
for many drinks, nor for THE clean.....men from THE pit. THE alarm subsided
and THE wott.wae re sumed. THE men dug, and dog..
Titusville, Pennsylvania Monday, February 27, 1871  960 k