May 04, 2004

Carmine Dubya Lupertazzi

Blogger Daniel Geffen has another interpretation of last week's "Sopranos" (no, it doesn't involve Gay Vito)- aspiring New York boss "Little" Carmine Lupertazzi is the mob version of a certain current President of the United States. Geffen quotes this scene:

Little Carmine Lupertazzi: The point I'm trying to illustrate is that of course no one wants all-out conflict, but, historically, historical changes have come out of war.

Carmine's Advisor: As far as I'm concerned it's a new day. All old treaties and ways of doing things are null and void.

Little Carmine: Exactly.

Angelo Garepe: And the Joe Peeps thing: where does that leave us?

Carmine's Advisor: When you've had a quadruple bypass like I did, it gives you a lot of time to think. The only thing Johnny understands is force.

Angelo G: But the fact is, we've pissed on a bee's nest.

Unknown Character: So what's the other option: roll over?

Angelo G: We could've had a sit-down...the other captains maybe.

Little Carmine: This isn't the UN, Angelo. I won't let what happened to my father happen to me.

Carmine's Advisor: God forgive me, but you may be a stronger man than your dad was.

Little Carmine: The fundamental question is, will I be as effective as a boss like my dad was, and I will be. Even moreso. But until I am, it's gonna be hard to verify that I think I'll be more effective.

As Daniel points out, it all fits- the contempt for the UN, the comparison to his predecessor/father, etc. And the analogy works further- when Little Carmine was first introduced last season, every other word out of his mouth was a painfully tortured malapropism; he's since gotten better but his syntax is still quite a ways off-"historically, historical changes have come out of war" does indeed sound like something from a Bush speech.

But on the other hand, it's hard to imagine Frankie Valli as part of the Neocon Cabal (but is "Phil treats nickels like manhole covers" a Jewish stereotype?) And besides, Johnny Sack isn't such a multilateralist himself ("What are we, the UN now?"). If he were the Saddam surrogate, he'd be getting bribes from the UN.

(Speaking of Johnny, he and a couple of the writers are speaking at CUNY Monday night, along with Jeffrey Goldberg of Slate. I'm there; anyone else?)

Posted by Stephen Silver at May 4, 2004 10:08 PM
Comments

More evidence: "The fundamental question is, 'Will I be a successful president when it comes to foreign policy?' I will be, but until I'm the president, it's going to be hard for me to verify that I think I'll be more effective." — In Wayne, Mich., as quoted by Katharine Q. Seelye in the New York Times, June 28, 2000

I am so right it hurts.

Posted by: Daniel Geffen at May 10, 2004 08:15 PM
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