Caspar the Friendly Ghost

Former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger has died at age 88. Providing a fractal microcosm of the recent conservative movement, Weinberger traded the moniker "Cap the Knife" (for his advocacy of cost-cutting during his tenure at Health, Education and Welfare), for the tongue-in-cheek "Cap the Ladle," which he earned as an advocate of massive defense spending.

Comments

[joe]

RIP

In 20/20 hindsight, Carter was right, and the Republicans wrong, about the B-1. It would have been better to go straight from B-52s to the B-2. People were totally dissing the B-52 in the late 70s and 80s.

Oh well.

[Shoe Fits]

Fractal microcosm of a lot of supposed libertarians, too.

[Opus]

The wind doth taste of bittersweet
Like jasper wine and sugar
I bet it's blown through others' feet
Like those of Caspar Weinberger

[joe]

That took 44 minutes, for those of you keeping score.

44.

[Douglas Fletcher]

Yes, when I'm looking for carefully considered opinions about military aviation, I always look to Commenter Joe.

"Cap the Ladle?" Don't ever remember that one being in wide use, don't even remember ever hearing it before now. Not very catchy, really.

[Mark Lambert]

March 30, 1983. The full poem from Opus:

How I love to watch the morn with golden sun that shines,
Up above to nicely warm these frosty toes of mine
The wind doth taste of bittersweet,
Like jasper wine and sugar.
I bet it's blown through others' feet,
like those of... Caspar Weinberger.

[Jeff P.]

Man, all these cabinet members from one administration dying at once, reminds me of the Clinton years...

[SR]

"'Cap the Ladle?' Don't ever remember that one being in wide use, don't even remember ever hearing it before now."

I know it from Herblock cartoons, but I don't know if it got used elsewhere.

[Robert]

Wasn't he also chair of the SEC?