Photo by flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13184821@N07/3252199446/" target="blank">eks4003</a>.
Reading Nick’s quote of the day below, I was struck by the, um, incredibly jarring contrast in tone between Dan Froomkin’s sober final column about the harrowing legacy of Bush and Cheney’s tenure in office, and a competition the Post launched yesterday challenging readers to write the first paragraph for Cheney’s forthcoming book. When I saw the contest I was thinking of a parody in the vein of, say, The Trial, or 1984, but the Post appears to be aiming more for a PG Wodehouse kind of thing, perhaps—it’s hard to tell. Here’s their sample opener:
“Undisclosed Location, Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2009: Well, the baton is passed. Our work is finally done. Eight years, one devastating terrorist attack, two wars and one recession later, it’s finally time to relax. It’s been an amazing ride. George and I can certainly say, ‘We did it our way!’ Or really, if you want to get technical about it, my way. Well, best of luck to this new crew. They’re going to need all the help they can get. Or as I was saying to Lynne the other night, it’s going to take an ‘extraordinary rendition’ to get us out of this mess. And with this bunch coming into office, you can bet it’s going to be torture. Ha-ha!”
Torture: so droll. Let’s hope the Post‘s readers can do a little better.
