lady bountiful

But count on it: The District’s days of playing Lady Bountiful, ostentatiously spending other people’s money on benevolent causes, are numbered.

That she apparently contains multitudes is an especially useful trait in joining the joyful Lady Bountiful of the opening scenes with the mad misanthrope of the later ones.

That means Ljuba is someone Lorraine can patronize as Lady Bountiful.

Just when you think Marnie’s grating, un-self-aware Lady Bountiful act couldn’t get more patronizing, “The Meddler” morphs into something tender, even poignant.

In 14 lines, she managed to cast America—in reality a raucous young nation built by the brains and brawn of newcomers—as a sort of Lady Bountiful, selflessly extending asylum to the poorest and most wretched.