[Peace-discuss] Rove Party - invite your friends for cocktails with Karl, only $20

[C. G. Estabrook]

Ah, and look what's on the menu for lunch: red herring...

[From the ever-helpful Wikipedia: The expression red herring is an idiom 
referring to a device which intends to divert the audience from the truth or an 
item of significance.  For example, in mystery fiction, an innocent party may be 
purposefully cast as highly suspect through emphasis or descriptive techniques; 
attention is drawn away from the true guilty party.

In a literal sense, there is no such fish species as a "red herring"; rather it 
refers to a particularly strong kipper, meaning a fish — typically a herring but 
not always — that has been strongly cured in brine and/or heavily smoked. This 
process makes the fish particularly pungent smelling and turns its flesh red 
(and makes it very noticeable, notably for the idiom)...

The idiomatic sense of "red herring" has, until very recently, been thought to 
originate from a supposed technique of training young scent hounds. There are 
variations of the story, but according to one version, the pungent red herring 
would be dragged along a trail until a puppy learned to follow the scent. Later, 
when the dog was being trained to follow the faint odour of a fox or a badger, 
the trainer would drag a red herring (whose strong scent confuses the animal) 
perpendicular to the animal's trail to confuse the dog. The dog would eventually 
learn to follow the original scent rather than the stronger scent. An alternate 
etymology points to escaping convicts who would use the pungent fish to throw 
off hounds in pursuit.

In reality, the technique was probably never used to train hounds or help 
desperate criminals. The idiom probably originates from an article published 14 
February 1807 by journalist William Cobbett in the polemical Weekly Political 
Register. In a critique of the English press, which had mistakenly reported 
Napoleon's defeat, Cobbett recounted that he had once used a red herring to 
deflect hounds in pursuit of a hare, adding "It was a mere transitory effect of 
the political red-herring; for, on the Saturday, the scent became as cold as a 
stone." As British etymologist Michael Quinion says, "This story, and 
[Cobbett's] extended repetition of it in 1833, was enough to get the figurative 
sense of red herring into the minds of his readers, unfortunately also with the 
false idea that it came from some real practice of huntsmen."]


Karen Medina wrote:
> Wow. Their threshold had been 400 at $75 for the lunch. And they had
> to open up more seats.
> 
> It is going to be a full house welcoming and applauding Karl Rove. The
> thought is making me sick.
> 
> -karen medina
> 
> On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 8:09 PM, E.Wayne Johnson <ewj at pigs.ag> wrote:
>> Champaign County Republicans are gearing up to welcome Karl Rove at their
>> annual Lincoln Day Celebration this Saturday, March 20, 2010 at the iHotel
>> and Conference Center. Because of the incredible amount of interest shown
>> for this event, they have opened up an additional 15 seats to the banquet,
>> and have announced plans for a second event, a live viewing party and book
>> signing. Doors for both events open at 11:30am. Reservations can be made
>> through their website.
>>
>> The live broadcast of Karl Rove's keynote address will be shown in the
>> Lincoln Room at the iHotel and Conference Center. Karl will join guests in
>> the Lincoln room for brief remarks and a book signing following his speech.
>> Tickets to the viewing party and book signing, which include drinks and
>> appetizers are $20. Guests can bring along their own copy of Rove's
>> newly-released book "Courage and Consequence", or purchase a book at
>> registration on the day of the event.
>>
>> http://illinipundit.com/2010/03/18/champaign-gop-luncheon-featuring-karl-rove


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