Read the beginning of "The American People" from First Laugh: Essays, 2000-2009 by Margaret Randall:

"The congressman stands on the Senate steps. He adjusts this season’s fashionable pink tie and the little electronic receiver continually threatening to slip from his ear, and faces the camera head-on. Which has him facing us. The reporter makes short shrift of the usual pleasantries: “Thank you, Congressman, for being willing to talk to us tonight.” The congressman smiles and says it’s his pleasure. I know what’s coming next. Whatever the issue, whatever the question about it, and regardless of whether the spokesperson is a Democrat, a Republican, or an Independent, within the next thirty seconds he or she will use the catch-all phrase, “The American People.” I can bet my future on it.

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