[Ads-l] "If he invited me to a public hanging, I'd be on the front row."

[Ann Burlingham]

Google Ngrams tells me that "to a public hanging" has been used in a tiny
fraction of books from 1800-2018, so I'm curious whether any on this list
know if "If he invited me to a public hanging, I'd be on the front row" or
some version of it is a common phrase, sentiment, or saying, as the
Mississippi Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith seems to imply:

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/mississippi-senator-praises-man-public-hanging-remark-59127299

A newly published video shows a white Republican U.S. senator in
Mississippi praising someone by saying: "If he invited me to a public
hanging, I'd be on the front row."

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, who faces a black Democratic challenger in a Nov. 27
runoff, said Sunday that her Nov. 2 remark was "exaggerated expression of
regard" for someone who invited her to speak and "any attempt to turn this
into a negative connotation is ridiculous."

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