Ann Richards, RIP

I always found Ann Richards to be among the most annoying public figures of our times, and now that legacy lives on, as even her eulogizers seem determined to annoy me. From Salon obituary, "The Texan Who Actually Governed" (a really annoying title in itself):

She had promised them she would use a pair of bolt cutters to open the gates of the Greek-revival governor's mansion to "the people" of Texas. "The people" were blacks, Hispanics, gays and lesbians, along with the shrinking Anglo majority..."

Gee, and she didn't get re-elected? And what could be more annoying than Bill Clinton talking about Ann Richards?

He told about 50 of her close friends and family about a lunch he shared in New York with Richards and a group that included comedians Billy Crystal and Robin Williams. "I thought to myself, I bet this is the only time in their entire lives that Billy Crystal and Robin Williams are the second- and third-funniest people at the table," he said.

Of course Richards might have seemed funnier as it would not have been the 100th time Clinton was hearing the same jokes from her. But Clinton's contention that Richards was funnier than professional comedians (I'll grant that the "silver foot" remark was pretty good) recalls Richards's most annoying quip, which we have been forced to hear literally ad nauseum over the last few days:"Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, She just did it backwards and in high heels." Such a preposterous, ignorant comment should have set back the cause of feminism 50 years, but somehow in America today even a comparison of Ginger Rogers to Fred Astaire is seen as affirming the equality of the sexes.