Stretching, the Political Way (Metaphorically Speaking)

The interesting thing about working in DC is that you get to learn all sorts of new things political, such as the latest ways of stretching things (and I don't mean muscles). Like this quaint news item from Arkansas, where Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Curtis Coleman says that his comment that when traveling to southeastern Arkansas one "might as well get a visa and shot" was not meant to be derogatory, but rather as a "metaphor" celebrating the rich diversity of Arkansas (ahem, please give me a moment to clear my throat).

The Little Rock businessman, who has formed a committee to explore a run for Democratic incumbent Blanche Lincoln's seat next year, made the comments Tuesday night to a Benton County Republican gathering. Benton County, for those unfamiliar with life in Arkansas, is in the prosperous, northwestern, corner of the state (whereas southeastern Arkansas is largely agricultural and economically depressed).

Now here is the stretching part. Today, when asked about the comment, Coleman said he was trying to "accentuate or maybe even celebrate the enormous diversity we have in Arkansas."

"I’ve done a lot of international traveling since the 70s," he said, "and when going to a new and different land, you had to have a visa and shots. I only meant it to show the tremendous differences you see from one corner of the state to the other. I love southeast Arkansas and meant it only as a metaphor."

I wonder if he knows any metaphors for "shooting oneself in the foot" or "sticking your foot in your mouth." Oh. Wait. Those are metaphors.