The Lady or the Tiger?
By Uppity Woman on December 31, 2008 at 9:20 AM in Current Affairs
Does anybody remember the short story written in the late 1800s by Frank Stockton, entitled The Lady or the Tiger? If not, you can read it here. You may want to, after you are done reading this post.
There was a “semi-barbaric King” who had a strange way of conducting criminal trials. He would place the prisoners into an audience-packed arena where there were two doors.
Behind one door was a hungry tiger.
Behind the second door was a beautiful woman.
The prisoner would be forced to pick a door without knowing which of the two was behind the door he picked. If he picked the door where the tiger resided, he was considered guilty and became the tiger’s lunch in front of everybody watching in the stands. If he got lucky and picked the door that led to the beautiful woman, he was considered innocent and could go free. But he would have to marry the woman as his reward for freedom. This was not negotiable.
Now, the King had a beautiful daughter who was in love with a man who was far below her station in life. The King would have none of this, so he arrested his daughter’s lover and planned his “trial”.
Since the King knew that his daughter loved this man, he added a bit of a twist to the routine. He tossed her beloved into the arena and then told his daughter which door housed the tiger so that she could signal her beloved as to which door he should choose.
The wicked King had put his daughter into one of those “rock and hard place” positions. Her catch-22, so to speak. If she pointed to the door that held the tiger back, her beloved would be ripped to shreds. If she pointed to the door that released the beautiful woman, she would have to endure his marriage to the woman, thereby losing her lover forever.
The lover of the king’s daughter stood before the two doors in silence. Then he looked to the King’s daughter for a sign.
The story ends with the question: “Did the tiger come out of that door, or did the lady?”
The answer is left open for the reader to ponder.
Let’s fast forward to today and think about Harry Reid. He has made it very clear that if Governor Blagojevich picked anybody to replace Barack Obama in the Senate, the appointee, regardless of who it is, would not be acceptable to the Senate.
For starters, if Harry accepted an appointment from Blago, it would be an admission that he still has the full powers of the Governor of Illinois. This would not be very helpful to those who want him gone as fast as humanly possible, if not sooner.
Earlier this month, Bobby Rush had made it clear to Governor Blagojevich that an African American must be selected to replace Barack Obama in the only seat in the senate held by an African American. He said quite frankly that not appointing an African American would be a “National disgrace”. I mean it’s not like it’s a woman’s seat or anything. Then it wouldn’t matter. Just kidding. Not.
Not long after Bobby Rush made his comments, the house fell down on Blagojevich. Everybody wanted him gone. He was and is a pariah. People have lawyered-up all around in anticipation of what’s on all those tape recordings of Blagojevich and themselves or their surrogates. Furthermore, Blago is peeing all over the President-Elect’s fun. And Jesse Jackson Jr. isn’t having a great time of it either.
Let’s face it, Blagojevich is everybody’s nightmare at this very moment. The sooner somebody pulls him off with a hook, the sooner everyone can breathe at least a temporary sigh of relief. Blagojevich is not only a nightmare, but he’s a very clever nightmare, indeed.
This morning, the terribly clever Blago, much like the king in The Lady or The Tiger? showed Harry Reid two doors. He boldly appointed former Illinois DA Roland Buriss to fill Obama’s Senate slot. Burris is an African American who also ran against Blagojevich in the Gubernatorial race. To complicate things, it’s a matter of record that Barack Obama endorsed Burris in that race.
After Blago’s announcement, while Harry Reid was probably having the dry heaves in the men’s room, Bobby Rush spoke on Burris’ behalf, stating that Roland Burris is “worthy”. He also made his feelings known that to punish Buriss for what Blagojevich has done is tantamount to a “lynching”.
Now Harry Reid has two choices:
He can renege on his threat to see to it that anybody appointed by Blagojevich appointed would be blatantly rejected, thus giving credence to Blagojevich’s powers as a sitting governor at a time when the game calls for rejection of that thought. Or…… Reid can keep his promise and reject Burris.
Which door are you going to tell your cohorts in the Senate to pick, Harry? The Lady or the Tiger?
Just wondering. Heh.
Here, Harry, let me refresh your memory, even though I’m fairly certain you’ve already watched this video a minimum of 15 times today.
, the basis for the Best Motion Picture Nominee (Golden Globes) starring Brad Pitt.
, the novel by John Le Carre, a new motion picture starring Gary Oldman and Colin Firth.
by 
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.by David Fredosso who wrote 2008's 
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