Notes & Asides

Dear Mr. Buckley:

I write to draw attention to a literary inevitability that has been averted by our public organs. This lapse is due in part to Congressman Frank’s own deployment of the inexact and ridicule-provoking analogue of Eliza Doolittle. At this point, as public investigations have been urged and formal and informal punitive consequences are likely, it should be obvious that the more apt allusion is not to G. B. Shaw, but to Oscar Wilde. Accordingly, the headline of destiny is not ’enry tggins, Washington style or the like, but rather the importance of being frank.