Just for the record, I find virtually any play on that Claude Raines line to be an insufferable political cliche. What really rankles is when politicians find it necessary to first explain the context before they make the joke as if no one has ever heard it before. It happens at least every few months on Sunday talk shows. “This is like the scene in Casablanca when Claude Raines . . . etc” I usually shout at the TV: Really? You just think of that? And then expletives fly. I’ve heard Al Gore describe that scene several times, each time as if he was the first to make the joke.

Perhaps even worse is when politicians retell the fable of the kid who optimistically expects to find a pony amidst all the manure. The story was old when Reagan told it. But Reagan was old and he told it effectively. Enough already. I always retell the story where the kid finds the pony, only the poor beast is dead, slumped over on top of the Christmas presents.