Like a rotten mackerel

Posted by ESC on October 01, 2002

LIKE A ROTTEN MACKEREL IN THE MOONLIGHT - "John Randolph, the eccentric Virginian aristocrat, invented this phrase in the 1820s and used it against at least two of his congressional colleagues. Henry Clay, he complained, was so corrupt that, 'like a rotten mackerel in the moonlight, he both shines and stinks.' The phrase has lived on not only because of its cleverness, but because it defines a moral ambiguity most of us find very hard to understand. We look for heroes to represent us, although we rarely find them." From "Mackerels in the Moonlight," a column by Alan Ehrenhalt, executive editor of "Governing" magazine and author of "The Lost City." The Courier Journal, Louisville, Ky., Oct. 1, 2002.

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