Word: claghorn
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Ervin's consistent conservatism made him acceptable to Senators of both parties when the Watergate committee was created. The country, eager for some displays of frankness and humanity, was cheered as the commonsensical Claghorn scolded and probed weaselly White House witnesses. His indignation provoked, his jowls wagging, Ervin offered up biblical allusions and down-home anecdotes, chortling and then fuming. "I think that Watergate is the greatest tragedy this country has ever suffered," he said. "I used to think that the Civil War was our country's greatest tragedy, but I do remember some redeeming features in the Civil...
...crated up his Raleigh TV scripts, driven five hours north, and started pitching those editorials into the Senate hopper. If anyone took notice, it was generally with a snickering glance: Helms the flailing buffoon, a crossbreed of Dickens' Pecksniff and Fred Allen's Claghorn, full of futile cracker righteousness. Yet in Aide John Carbaugh's phrase, Helms "planted the flag": his hopeless proposals sometimes forced Senators to take stands on issues they would have just as soon avoided. He introduced numberless bills to stop abortions, to prohibit sex education, to reinstate capital punishment. All lost, by ratios...