Word: backseaters
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...scene delights the trim, crisply dressed man in the backseat of the Ambassador, India's doughty knockoff of the 1954 Morris Oxford. "Look at them doing their threshing," he says eagerly. "They're so happy threshing, threshing...
...What goes unmentioned in all the caterwauling about the sacrifices of public service is the joy it offers. Public officials lead interesting lives: they all have the opportunity to make a difference; some even make history. Compared with underappreciated professions like teaching and nursing, where doing well takes a backseat to doing good, Congressmen are handsomely paid. The days of politicians like Lyndon Johnson amassing a fortune may be over, but few people leave public service poorer than when they entered...
...FAILS TO STICK TO INSPECT LAW. Before long, the crack drive-time team at one of Cape Cod's largest radio stations began repeating the story, complete with sirens in the background, advising listeners that they too could avoid tickets if only they had a Governor riding in the backseat. The "Backseat Governor" spots tapped a well of venom toward Dukakis, who recently jacked up registration and driver's-license fees as well as speeding fines. In response to callers, workers at WCOD began making cardboard cutouts -- no redundancy intended -- of the Duke suitable for backseat duty. The first batch...
...agreed to pay part of the cost of the pilot project. E.D.F. has committed itself to raising the remainder, partly by lobbying the state and the U.S. Forest Service, which has declared Mono Lake a National Forest Scenic Area. If tax dollars are unavailable, says Graff from the backseat, E.D.F. may propose turning the lake over to a private trust and setting up a tollbooth...
...much of this is within spitting distance of what really occurred. Even the little details in the film -- such as placing James Chaney, a black thoroughly familiar with the terrifying back roads of Neshoba County, in the backseat of the station wagon he was actually driving -- relegate blacks to the background of the drama of which they were the real-life heroes. One gets no sense of their courageous struggle against violent white supremacy and second-class citizenship...