This will work for half the people who read NRO. It even works for a

stay at home Gothamite like me. Take any current or reven recent GOP

congressman you have met. Say Peter King. Surely he has shaken hands

with Rodney Freylinghausen (R, NJ). Well, his family is a straight shot

back to Frederick Freylinghausen, who first went to Congress in 1778. I

am certain (though off hand I know of no specific occasion) that George

Washington would have met such a man.

Now the problem, for all of us, and even for Scott Fitzgerald (see

earlier posts): Washington was not a big handshaker. He was rather

reserved, especially while he was C-in-C and President. He did embrace

the officers who came to Fraucnes Tavern, but that was a moment of high

emoition. So perhaps the chain of handshakes ends in, “Your

Excellency…”