"[T]he rope line is also hazardous, a seemingly friendly creature, like a giant sea anemone whose waving tentacles beckon the candidate and can trap him if he lingers too long... The stickiest tentacle of all is the voter hoping to reminisce."

--An uncomfortably poetic description by the New York Times of the meet-and-greet rope line presidential candidates work after delivering a campaign speech. Could there possibly be a worse analogy? Probably not.