Pleasant vegetable

Question

He attacked Frank Holt as a "pleasant vegetable".

Pleasant vegetable = good looking vegetable? Or "Tasty vegetable"?

Vegetable here refers to a "retarded person like a vegetable" or one who lacks of ability of activity?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

If "vegetable" is being used as a derogatory term for a disabled person, then "pleasant" has the same meaning as usual:  "pleasant vegetable" = "pleasant person who is disabled".  In my opinion, the conceptual dissonance between "pleasant" and "vegetable" makes this a particularly unkind insult.   It's similar to saying someone is a "harmless idiot".

Mister Micawber · Answer

Googling produces too many Frank Holts to judge, but Frank may just not be intellectually dynamic enough to suit the speaker.

Who is he and what is his relationship to the speaker, Jobb?

Jobb · Answer

Context: Though the campaigns were more personal, they were far from just personality contests.
When there were big issues at stake, they had to be addressed. And if a strong tide of public
opinion was rolling in, and you couldn’t go with the flow in good conscience, you had to be
tough, disciplined, and quick to avoid being washed away.
In 1966, Jim Johnson—or “Justice Jim,” as he liked to be called—was riding the tide and
making big, ugly waves. He attacked Frank Holt as a “pleasant vegetable,” and implied that
Rockefeller had had homosexual relations with black men, a laughable charge considering his
earlier well-earned reputation as a ladies’ man. Justice Jim’s message was simply the latest
version of an old southern song sung to white voters in times of economic and social
uncertainty: You’re good, decent, ***-fearing people; “they’re” threatening your way of life;
you don’t have to change, it’s all their fault; elect me and I’ll stand up for you just as you are
and kick the **** out of them. The perennial political divide, Us versus Them. It was mean,
ugly, and ultimately self-defeating for the people who bought it, but as we still see, when
people feel discontented and insecure it often works. Because Johnson was so extreme in his
rhetoric, and largely invisible on the traditional campaign trail, most political observers
thought it wouldn’t work this time. As election day neared, Frank Holt refused to answer his
attacks, or the attacks from other candidates, who assumed he was way ahead and also began
to hit him for being the “old-guard machine” candidate. We didn’t have many polls back then
and most people didn’t put much stock in the few that floated around.

Mister Micawber · Answer

So-- just two political opponents calling each other names.  'Vegetable' as opposed to sentient being, I suppose.

Jobb · Answer

it means "tasty"? or it refers to its appearance meaning good looking?

Mister Micawber · Answer

No. 'pleasant' here means agreeable, easy to get along with. He is a pleasant man, but not very intelligent, says his opponent.

Jobb · Answer

According to your inspiration, I think "pleasant vegetable" is equal to "amiable dunce", or "amiable mediocre person," Right?

Those men called Reagan as a "amiable dunce". Well, in his last days, Reagan was indeed a "pleasant vegetable". No offense to those who love Reagan so much.

Mister Micawber · Answer

Yes, that's a pretty good equivalent.  (Not the part about Ronald Reagan's later years, however-- no kicking a guy when he's down, Jobb-- it's not cricket.)

Jobb · Answer

I've said I was not intended to offence him. I know now that you love Reagan so much.

Pleasant vegetable

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