Washingtonians love the "So-and-so is spinning in his grave" cliché. Someone is always speculating about how some great dead American would be scandalized over some crime against How It Used to Be. The Founding Fathers are always spinning in their graves over something, as is Ronald Reagan, or FDR. Edward R. Murrow is a perennial grave spinner in the news business (though in fact, Murrow was cremated).
Mark Leibovich, This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral — plus plenty of valet parking! — in America’s Gilded Capital
clichés, comparison, contrasts, edward-r-murrow, gossip, great-americans, journalism, media, nostalgia, political-gossip, politics, scandalization, scandals, sensibilities, speculation, spinning-in-their-grave, washington-dc