Painted pigs and combination plates

In reading the multitude of Ann Richards tributes, I ran across a collection of some of her memorable quotes in the New York Times. You’ll need to register to read them all, but here are a few of my favorites:

• Asked once what she might have done differently had she known she was going to be a one-term governor, Richards grinned and replied,  "Oh, I would probably have raised more hell."
• "I get a lot of cracks about my hair, mostly from men who don’t have any." 
• And in discussing ineffective government programs, "You can put lipstick and earrings on a hog and call it Monique, but it’s still a pig." 

Gov. Richards might not have originated some of her famous pronouncements, but she delivered them better than most.

My favorite Ann Richards’ comment, however, didn’t make the Times’ list. It’s a saying that most Texans utter when assessing someone’s ineptitude: "He (or she, since Gov. Richards definitely didn’t discriminate) is one taco short of a combination plate."

Wise and witty words: You can find more of Gov. Richards’ pearls of down-home wisdom at ThinkExist.com and About: Women’s History. And you just have to read this Molly Ivins appreciation that marvelously captures the spirit that we all will miss.

Painted political and profitable(?) pigs: Mark McGlinchey says the expression "let’s put some lipstick on this pig" originated in the brokerage/investment banking industry as a sales technique.

Typically, it referred to promoting or selling an investment product that the broker didn’t believe in or which may not have been in the client’s best interest to buy.

Politically speaking, painting a pig’s lips is more commonly known as "spinning" something, either to make it look better or to get observers so dizzy they can’t see how terrible the situation is. 

But former White House and Pentagon official Torie Clarke says regardless of whether you’re in politics or business, or even dealing with a personal crisis, you’re better off owning up to mistakes than wasting vast quantities of L’Oreal lip gloss.

You can read more on what McGlinchey and Clarke have to say about painted pigs in their books (links below).