Make them think it is their idea

From one of our correspondents in Iowa:

Dear Left Bank of the Charles:

Much of your recent writings are too intellectual for me to understand. I know that to keep animals (or people) within certain perimeters of civilization, the corner posts must be of sturdy hedge and set deep; the line posts in a straight line and the wires tight and it can last 40-50-60 and maybe 70 years or more before it begins to loosen and break and allow animals to escape the perimeters into chaos or on to someone else's property and rights.

And that, in sorting young cattle, you absolutely must sort steers off heifers. Heifers are too tentative and unsure of themselves to run past you to sort them off steers. But after they have raised 3 or 4 offspring and been through the pens several times, then it’s a different story. The bulls never go first - most of the cows are afraid to go first, but there are a few veterans who are confident that they know what to do, and they go first, and the others then follow and after about 1/4 to 1/3 of the cows go, then the bulls will go. All of the time you need to make them think it is their idea.

Now those confident cows that are the leaders will try to dart past you when you inadvertently give them an opening and therefore, they may get yelled at, when the other cows and bulls that have been holding back don't get yelled at, at all. But the leaders are still the leaders and it is essential to have them to get the others moving.

Sarah Palin has the confidence to lead. Give her an opening and she is gone.

Karl Rove has had remarkable success in organizing things so that people think it was their idea first.

Barack Obama may be the young bull waiting to see which way the herd is going and then rush to the front as though he is leading so as not to be left behind. We have young bulls like this.

Joe Biden is not really a steer. He is just an old bull who doesn't really care anymore, and is entirely content to settle down under a shade tree and paw the ground and bellow. Not looking for a fight - - just bellowing.

This I have learned in the socially incorrect environs south of Bedford, Iowa, just north of the Missouri state line.

LBOTC: Yes, our correspondent is calling Sarah Palin a cow, but from this correspondent that would be a very high compliment. We’re not sure where John McCain fits into this heifer-cow-steer-bull scheme. Maybe he’s the hedge post, and from this correspondent that would be the highest compliment. I am a little worried about who is getting herded and who is doing the herding in this story, but that’s just my idea.