"The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight" vs. "the gang that couldn't shoot straight"

[barondave]

For the first time since May, I had a letter published in the Mpls Star Tribune. Sometimes they edit my letters, usually to make it shorter or to take out some supporting clause. This time, they made an interesting edit. My letter as sent:

"It's official: The Bush/Cheney Administration is The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight."

As printed:

"It's official: The Bush/Cheney administration is the gang that couldn't shoot straight."

I was one of five short letters under the heading Everyone's a comedian. That makes their removing the capital letters even more odd: Haven't they heard of the Jimmy Breslin novel about a bumbling gang of small-time crooks? Do they think the Bush/Cheney Administration is a bumbling gang of big time crooks? I'll spot them the "a" in Administration, though I think the capital is proper, but making the reference generic makes a slightly different joke than I intended. More than just Cheney illegally hunting in Texas and covering up the incident for most of a day, I wanted to make sly reference to the fumbling and bumbling about Iraq, Katrina, Plame, budget deficits, etc etc etc. That's asking a lot of one sentence but I think the point is made sharper with the caps, less so without.

Oh well. At least they didn't put the period in my middle name.

NB: Joke I didn't send but will probably use later. "Now we know the Republican version of Gun Control: Have an ambulance standing by."

Comments

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

I don't think they made the reference generic. You weren't saying that the administration is the novel The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, you were saying it's the gang in the novel: the gang that couldn't shoot straight.

I think that anyone who recognizes the reference at all will ... well, recognize the reference. I doubt that caps would clue in anyone who doesn't recognize it as it is.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Possibly true about catching the reference or not, but I still wanted to point to the novel. The goppies are really only good at one thing: spin control. Making the Administration a work of fiction was the Deep Subtext. I was deconstructed!

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

Ah, then you actually were saying that the administration is the novel. Well, then, you're right.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm subtle, dammit.

I'M SUBTLE, DO YOU HEAR ME? SUBTLE!