A little history of Rock the Vote and "boxers-or-briefs"
President Clinton has said that he owes his election in 1992 to young voters. We tend to agree. That was Rock the Vote's first election, coming just two years after our founding during a peak moment of the censorship wars. MTV opened their airwaves to a Rock the Vote PSA campaign, forever branding Rock the Vote and driving millions of young people to the polls in the process.
So, some have credited Rock the Vote indirectly with electing Bill Clinton. Now Jonathan Alter has also credited us, again indirectly, with his demise. Nonpartisan to the end!
Alter has some genuine insight here, having been a reporter for MTV in 1992. Despite this dubious origin (jokes, jokes) he is now a well respected columnist and MSNBC talking head. He has a nice piece that neatly ties up a little history: the late Hunter S. Thompson, Rock the Vote, and Bill Clinton.
Although Alter doesn't quite say it directly, it would appear the now famous/infamous "boxers-or-briefs" question posed by one Laetitia Thompson to President Clinton in 1994 at a Rock the Vote event broadcast on MTV was actually channeled by Tabitha Soren from an experience Alter had involving Hunter S. Thompson (no relation). If you haven't read Hunter Thompson yet, you should do it pronto, but know that the guy was totally crazy and his life was self-destructive on an epic scale, sort of like a 67 year long episode of Jackass.
So anyway, there's an insinuation to Alter's story that if he hadn't gotten drunk with Thompson in a bar one night, Clinton would have never been asked whether he wore boxers or briefs...and perhaps that was the butterfly-flapping-its-wings incident that resulted in Clinton's impeachment and the election of George W. Bush. Or at least aptly described a turning point.
As for the origin of "boxers-or-briefs," I'll have to check with the aforementioned questioner Laetisha Thompson...or, as i call her, Tisha. She's my cousin! Go figure. My grandmother married her grandfather not too long after that whole thing went down. Boy, does she have a piece of history.
And there you have it. A little Rock the Vote story, full of randomness.
So, some have credited Rock the Vote indirectly with electing Bill Clinton. Now Jonathan Alter has also credited us, again indirectly, with his demise. Nonpartisan to the end!
Alter has some genuine insight here, having been a reporter for MTV in 1992. Despite this dubious origin (jokes, jokes) he is now a well respected columnist and MSNBC talking head. He has a nice piece that neatly ties up a little history: the late Hunter S. Thompson, Rock the Vote, and Bill Clinton.
Although Alter doesn't quite say it directly, it would appear the now famous/infamous "boxers-or-briefs" question posed by one Laetitia Thompson to President Clinton in 1994 at a Rock the Vote event broadcast on MTV was actually channeled by Tabitha Soren from an experience Alter had involving Hunter S. Thompson (no relation). If you haven't read Hunter Thompson yet, you should do it pronto, but know that the guy was totally crazy and his life was self-destructive on an epic scale, sort of like a 67 year long episode of Jackass.
So anyway, there's an insinuation to Alter's story that if he hadn't gotten drunk with Thompson in a bar one night, Clinton would have never been asked whether he wore boxers or briefs...and perhaps that was the butterfly-flapping-its-wings incident that resulted in Clinton's impeachment and the election of George W. Bush. Or at least aptly described a turning point.
As for the origin of "boxers-or-briefs," I'll have to check with the aforementioned questioner Laetisha Thompson...or, as i call her, Tisha. She's my cousin! Go figure. My grandmother married her grandfather not too long after that whole thing went down. Boy, does she have a piece of history.
And there you have it. A little Rock the Vote story, full of randomness.
posted by Hans Riemer at 12:17 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home