- Mayberry Machiavelli
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Mayberry Machiavelli is a satirically pejorative phrase coined by John J. DiIulio Jr., Ph.D., a former George W. Bush administration staffer who ran the President's Faith-Based Initiative. After DiIulio resigned from his White House post in late 2001, journalist Ron Suskind quoted him in an Esquire magazine article describing the administration of the Bush White House as follows: "What you've got is everything--and I mean everything--being run by the political arm. It's the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis."[1] DiIulio elaborated on "Mayberry Machiavellis" in a subsequent letter to Esquire,[2] stating that in his experience Bush administration staffers almost always substituted political calculation in place of policy discussion.
The phrase is derisively meant to invoke infamous Machiavellian-style power politics coupled with a supposed sense of incompetent regional backwardness exemplified by a fictional rural town on Mayberry, R.F.D., and The Andy Griffith Show which ran on the American television network, CBS, from 1960 - 1971. One of the town's characters, deputy sheriff Barney Fife (played by Don Knotts) is the epitome of such ineptness.[citation needed]
References
- ^ Suskind, Ron (Jan, 2003). "Why Are These Men Laughing?". Esquire. http://www.ronsuskind.com/newsite/articles/archives/000032.html.
- ^ DiIulio, John (October 24, 2002). "Letter: Your next essay on the Bush administration". Esquire. http://www.esquire.com/features/dilulio.
Mayberry, North Carolina TV series The Andy Griffith Show (episode list) · Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (episode list) · Mayberry R.F.D. (episode list)Telefilm Main characters Andy Taylor · Opie Taylor · Bee Taylor · Barney Fife · Elinor "Ellie" Walker · Sam Jones · Gomer Pyle · Goober Pyle · Vince CarterRecurring characters Ernest T. Bass · Chuck Boyle · Otis Campbell · Emmett Clark · Martha Clark · Alice Cooper · Helen Crump · Briscoe Darling Jr. · The Darlings · Clara Edwards · Warren Ferguson · The Fun Girls · Charley Hacker · Mike Jones · Floyd Lawson · Flora Malherbe · Duke Slater · Howard Sprague · Millie Swanson · Thelma LouRelated programs Related topics Mount Airy/Mayberry · Pilot Mountain/Mount Pilot · Desilu Productions · "rural purge" · "What it Was, Was Football" · "Mayberry Machiavelli""Main characters" are those whose portrayers were billed in the opening credits of at least one of the programs listed under "TV series". "Related programs" are those which had a direct influence on, or were heavily influenced by, the programs listed under "TV series". Categories:- Presidency of George W. Bush
- American political catch phrases
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