Regular readers of THE SCRAPBOOK will be familiar with the saga of Renaissance Weekend honcho Phil Lader, longtime friend of the Clintons and current U.S. ambassador to the Court of St. James. Several weeks ago THE SCRAPBOOK reported that Ambassador Lader, at a speech before a group of Americans in London over Christmas, launched into commentary on the Monica Lewinsky mess. During the first Thanksgiving, Lader told the crowd "the Puritans gave thanks that they had been saved from the Indians. This year Americans gave thanks that they had been saved from the Puritans."
Last week, we printed an amplification from Nicholas Wills, vice president of the American Chamber of Commerce (UK) and host of the event at which Lader spoke. According to Wills, Lader's remarks about the Puritans had nothing to do with the vendetta that sex-obsessed Republicans are now pursuing against the president. Instead, the line was merely an unattributed quote from humorist Finley Peter Dunne.
If Wills is right, then Finley Peter Dunne's descendants might want to sue for royalties. Ambassador Lader, it seems, has been using the long deceased newspaperman's line all over town. This past Thanksgiving, former congressman Martin Hoke, a Republican from Ohio, found himself in London and decided to take his daughter to a service at St. Paul's Cathedral. Among the featured speakers: Ambassador Phil Lader, who promptly shared with the audience of thousands his apparently purloined joke about the Puritans. Some sophisticated Englishman in the audience laughed. Among many others who heard it, though, says Hoke, "there was a collective psychic gasp: What a stupid, inappropriate thing to say, casting aspersions at religious people at a religious ceremony."
Indeed. And if Lader is saying things like that in packed cathedrals, imagine what he's like at smaller gatherings. If you've been in London recently and would like to recount your experiences with Ambassador Lader, THE SCRAPBOOK wants to hear from you. Send your stories to: THE WEEKLY STANDARD, Phil Lader Department, 1150 17th Street, NW, Suite 505, Washington, DC 20036.