Faint Praise

One thing we've noticed, now and in the past, is the lack of irony among the Claremont 400. Face it folks, this is a town of literalists in almost all things. There is one notable exception, however. When they praise someone, most of the time they're being sarcastic!

We noticed this in the March City Council election when so many of the 400 were spending their time trying to pump up candidate Mike Maglio. Privately, they thought, "Poor sap. He's a loser, but he'll steal votes from McHenry and Nasiali." This a prototypical Diann Ring strategy (Ring, a former Claremont Mayor, gave a speech about getting "our city back" at a Sam Pedroza kickoff party in January, 2007).

So at every opportunity, they would assure Maglio that he was doing a great job and that he belonged with them. "You should apply for a commission if you don't win," they said.

And, of course, Maglio ended up with about 800 votes--a quarter of what he needed to get elected. But, most importantly for the Claremonsters, the margin of victory for third-place Linda Elderkin over Jackie McHenry was 600 votes. Bravo, Maglio! Bravo, Ring!

There has actually been research into the phenomenon of sarcastic praise, as The Onion reports this week:


Report: 70 Percent Of All Praise Sarcastic

(Hint for Claremonsters: The foregoing is known as "satire." In the rest of the country, it's considered humorous.)