October 03, 2005

Doing the undo

From this story in yesterday's NYT (emphasis added):

Regardless of how the criminal case unfolds, it is clear that Mr. Delay's persona has produced a cottage industry of forces that trace his every step and draw negative public attention to it.

"I think it's entirely his own undoing, but the good-government groups definitely decided to focus on him," said Tom Matzzie, the Washington director of the liberal organization MoveOn, which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars running advertisements against Mr. DeLay and for his current Democratic opponent.

I've heard of something being (entirely) someone's (own) doing -- that person's responsibility or fault -- and I've heard of something being someone's undoing -- the thing or event that brings that person down -- but something that's entirely someone's own undoing? I'm guessing this is a mixture of the two idioms; assuming Matzzie was quoted correctly, he's trying to say that Mr. DeLay has brought his likely political demise on himself. But I think that's just an odd way to say it.

[ Comments? ]

Posted by Eric Bakovic at October 3, 2005 02:14 AM