Burning A Wet Mule

A reader writes:

OK, Andrew, this needs to go down under "Poseur Alert" as well. This is post-modernist Southern politician speak at its most cynical and incoherent. Yes, there is a hilarious tradition of such hyperbolic statements with folksy imagery in the South (which, as a child of suburban Atlanta, I know mostly second-hand) – but, yes, the statements also have to make sense at a basic level. Who the hell would want to burn a wet mule? And why would it necessitate a lot of money to do so?

Maybe we should ask Dan Rather. Update: A reader dissents:

This does not deserve a Poseur Alert. It’s an old expression to indicate someone has so much money they don’t know what to do with it, so they might do something totally pointless – like lighting a cigar with it, or burning a wet mule. The fact that no one would want to do it is the whole point.