Dave Weigel has probably never heard of Allen Drury and is of such a tender age that he almost certainly has never read Drury’s 1966 novel, Capable of Honor. Which is a shame, because he might have recognized somebody familiar.

Capable of Honor, the third in a series of political thrillers that began with the 1959 mega-bestseller Advise and Consent, dealt with the role of the news media in national politics. While the novel has long been out of print, it is notable for having introduced a memorable phrase into the American language: “standing tall in Georgetown”.

Anyone familiar with the intellectual and cultural milieu of the nation’s capital will grasp the meaning of the phrase immediately. It refers to the tendency of those who come to Washington to go native, to gradually abandon the ideals that brought them there and adopt the worldview of their new environment. The phrase is most often applied to Republican Congressmen who were elected on platforms of fiscal conservatism but, after a few years in office, forget the principles that got them elected and join the other pigs at the trough. Read more »