Comparison:
If there was any aviation metaphor to be drawn from the news conference, it was that his bombing run would continue — he said he saw nothing wrong with ‘multiple rounds of votes‘ — until he had blown up whatever vestiges of functionality were left in the House Republican caucus. Mercifully, his fellow Republicans shot Jordan down about six hours later.
Dana Milbank, in four paragraphs, turns Jim Jordan's story metaphor inside out. Losing altitude, indeed!
Context:
On what would turn out to be his last day as House Republicans’ speaker nominee, Jim Jordan was losing altitude. What to do about it? Why, call in the Wright Brothers, of course.
The Ohio Republican opened his 8 a.m. news conference at the Capitol on Friday with a long story about touring the Ohio home of Orville and Wilbur, seeing their bicycle shop and their ‘gadgets and gizmos.‘ He marveled at their first flight, in Kitty Hawk, N.C., noting that it ‘barely‘ got off the ground. He then reminded reporters that, over the next 66 years, ‘We went from two guys flying 100 feet to putting a man on the moon.‘
What was Jordan trying to say with this anecdote? That his campaign wasn’t getting off the ground? That it would take him 66 years to win the speakership?
If there was any aviation metaphor to be drawn from the news conference, it was that his bombing run would continue — he said he saw nothing wrong with ‘multiple rounds of votes‘ — until he had blown up whatever vestiges of functionality were left in the House Republican caucus. Mercifully, his fellow Republicans shot Jordan down about six hours later.
Citation:
Milbank, Dana. “House Republicans Go Down in Flames—Again.” Washington Post, 20 Oct. 2023. Web.