Animal House Politics

While browsing the WSJ this morning, I also came across a staff column called "The Delta House Congress". In it, a comparison is made between the Democrat Congress and a scene from the movie Animal House:

In the movie "Animal House," the fraternity brother known as Otter reacts to the Delta House's closure with the classic line, "I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part." To which Bluto, played by John Belushi, replies, "We're just the guys to do it." The movie ends by noting that Bluto becomes a Senator, so perhaps this explains the meltdown among Democrats on Capitol Hill.

This, of course, reminded me of Glenn Reynolds' use of the "Flounder Principle" yesterday. It's worth noting for two reasons. One, that Glenn (you leading edge, you) was once again ahead of the pack with this theme.

Two, the theme seems to fit - should it be used more? It shouldn't be difficult to replace many of the arcane phrases we use now with references to scenes in a movie that nearly everyone has seen and understands. There must be some way to work "Toga Party", "Double Secret Probation", and "He's a sneaky little sh*t" into the arsenal of descriptive phrases we use in relation to the Democrat Congress, right?

On the other hand, folks might get the wrong idea:

While the Democrat Congress is easily as irresponsible as the characters in Animal House, Belushi and crew caused far less harm, and are endearing - something that Pelosi and Reid definitely aren't. Maybe we should pick another movie for next time, eh?