Richmond County Daily Journal
Sunday, October 15, 2006
www.yourdailyjournal.com

I don't think that word means what you think it means
Editorial by Rick Bacon

One of my favorite movies of all time is "The Princess Bride," a 1987 Rob Reiner film.

Richmond County legend Andre the Giant played the part of Fezzik in the movie.

In "The Princess Bride" Inigo Montoya said to his boss, Vizzini, several times "I do not think it means what you think it means."

In Vizzini's case the word was "inconceivable."

In Robin Hayes' case, the word is "boondoggle."

I caught part of his TV ad that takes Larry Kissell to task for calling the Medicare Part D plan a boondoggle.

The ad says that boondoggle means "waste."

When I was growing up my parents sent me off to Boy Scout and YMCA camp every summer. It was at these camps that I learned the art of boondoggling.

A boondoggle is a creation made by weaving or braiding leather or extruded plastic lace into all sorts of interesting objects.

Zipper pulls, key chains and bracelets are just a few of the things kids and adults alike make when they "boondoggle."

From the Internet I got this tidbit about "boondoggle."

The name of Robert H. Link, a scoutmaster of Rochester, N.Y., also often turns up when people write about this word. It is sometimes said that he invented it, certainly that he used it for the braided leather lanyards made and worn by Boy Scouts, or for other small craft projects intended to keep Scouts out of mischief.

There is a terrific Web site, www.boondoggleman.com, where you can read all about what boondoggling is and how to create your own projects.

But back to politics.

According the Wikipedia.com, the free encyclopedia, Boondoggle is a North American term which has come to refer to the performance of useless or trivial tasks while appearing to be doing something important. In the United States, the key feature of this "art" is the waste of time and/or money involved.

I believe Kissell was thinking about a lot more than waste when he called the Medicare Part D plan a boondoggle, because this is what Kissell said about the plan. "The new Medicare is a boondoggle for America's seniors. Fact is that insurance companies and HMO's got billions out of the new Medicare changes. Seniors got a confusing plan and lost their right to negotiate lower drug prices."

Hayes is proud to be part of the group that got the Medicare Part D plan into law.

Kissell thinks the changes did more to benefit fat cats than they did for seniors.

Words are funny things. One of them can have several meanings. I guess the meaning you apply to boondoggle depends on your perspective.