Is it possible that Pelosi�s outrageous comment was inspired by �Seinfeld�? A reader reminds us of the 1992 episode �The Limo,� in which Jerry and George scam a limousine ride from the airport via George�s pretending to be �O�Brien,� the intended passenger. Hilarity ensues when O�Brien turns out to be the leader of a group called the Aryan Union, in town for a rally at Madison Square Garden. In order to get home to Manhattan, George has to pretend to be a neo-Nazi for the benefit of the two other passengers, Tim and Eva. Making matters even funnier, Eva is good-looking, and George is flattered by her professions of devotion to him--or rather, to O�Brien.
As we join the program in progress, Tim and Eva have stepped out of the car, leaving Jerry and George alone:
Jerry: What�s taking him so long out there?
George: Didja see the way she was looking at me?
Jerry: She�s a Nazi, George. A Nazi!
George: I know, I know. Kind of a cute Nazi though.
Jerry: Well we gotta make a plan before they come back, what are we gonna do?
George: I don�t know.
Jerry: Let�s just make a run for it.
George: I can�t run, I have a bad hamstring.
Jerry: How�d that happen?
George: I hurt it in a hotel room. You know where they tuck the covers in real tight in those hotel rooms? I can�t sleep like that so I tried to kick it out and I pulled it.
Jerry: I know, why do they make that bed so tight? You gotta sleep with your feet like that.
George: For a mental patient. Wait a minute, the phone, we�ll call the police [grabs the car phone]. Nine-one-one. She said she�d do anything. Hello, police? Uh, yeah, listen, we�re in the back of a limo in Queens--
[Tim re-enters the limo.]
George: --Astroturf? You know who�s responsible for that, don�t you?! The Jews! Ah, the Jews hate grass. They always have, they always will.
We entertained the possibility that Pelosi was riffing on this dialogue to make a joke, but thought better of it. After all, it would play right into the stereotype of the �limousine liberal.� Even Pelosi isn�t foolish enough to do that, is she?