Erk. Before the lawyers get involved, I would like to offer a sincere and fulsome (yes, I know what fulsome means, you pedantic nit, that's why it's funny. Geddit?) apology to Mr. Eric Margolis, whom I may have inadvertently slandered in a previous comment, when I called him a "little tosspot."
As an innocent babe of letters, I thought that "little tosspot" meant, well, something like a hideous ceramic knick-knack that you chuck into the garbage upon learning that it is the one and only thing that dear old rich deceased Aunt Sadie (may she roast in Hell) has bequeathed.
Alas, as the title of this blog would indicate, I am perhaps untutored in English idiom; and it was thus to my consternation that I learned that "tosspot" means, in fact, a drunkard.
I certainly have no knowledge of, nor did I wish to imply that, the party of the second part was a part of the party.
Or, for that matter, The Party.
Mr. Margolis' saturnine, roseate glow I might have unconsciously attributed to excessive consumption of Jack Daniels, or possibly magic mushrooms. For this I apologize.
There are other valid explanations, such as high blood pressure, or embarassment.
I understand he blushes furiously when "Afghanistan" and "quagmire" are mentioned in polite company.