Did anyone happen to catch the news today when several elected officials–liberal and conservative–were rebutting Hugo Chavez’ insulting comments about Bush II? Nancy Pelosi, who I respect a great deal, in a press conference, seemed a wee bit flustered. I could have sworn, correct me if I’m going deaf (which is a possible side effect of years of punk rock and house music), that she said that Chavez “fancies himself a modern day Simone BeauDevoir.” I tried to double check this online but came up empty windowed. Could this smart, sassy politician possibly have uttered such a malapopism? Perhaps only noticable to the intelligencia (so was it really a malapropism since most of the country is part of what Mike Judge terms an “Idiocracy“), Pelosi was referring, I assume to Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre’s feminist partner for years. Apart from the name error–BeauDevoir in French actually translates into, “Handsome Assignment,” isn’t that an odd reference? Comparing a South American dictator to a feminist existentialist. It’s kind of like Dada. I just don’t get it. Ok, I’ll shut up now lest I embarrass myself when it is revealed that I misheard her and that she was actually referring to some obscure ancient rebel figure that only REALLY smart people know of. So, I guess I bid you RevoirAu, or is that Au Revoir…

Posted by Shana Ting Lipton