The archaic way of saying “life is rough; get over it” to a politician who receives bruising treatment from opponents, critics or the media. A beanbag, obviously, doesn’t hurt when you throw it at someone.
It dates back to 1895, when writer Finley Peter Dunne used it as a quote from his fictional character Mr. Dooley, an Irishman who pontificated on the day’s issues from a Chicago pub. “Sure, politics ain’t bean-bag,” Dooley proclaimed. “Tis a man’s game, an’ women, childer, cripples an’ prohybitionists’d do well to keep out iv it.”
Pundits have kept the expression alive. Just before Tuesday’s election, syndicated columnist Mark Shields wrote: “If Nov. 4 turns out to be a blue-ribbon day for Republicans, Obama will painfully learn once more the timeless wisdom of Peter Finley Dunne.” And after the election, The New York Post’s Bob McManus attacked New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for running a campaign that was “thuggish, hypocritical and utterly without principal” before adding: “Big deal: Politics ain’t beanbag, as the Irish used to say, and Andrew Mark Cuomo woke up Wednesday morning sitting right where it matters most — in the catbird seat."
But politicians often employ it, too. When Fox News’ Sean Hannity asked Texas Sen. Ted Cruz about the characterization of him and Utah Sen. Mike Lee as “wacko birds” in 2013, Cruz responded: “You know, listen, at the end of the day, you know, the old saying is politics ain’t beanbag. And fortunately, neither Mike nor I have thin skins.”
Some mistakenly pluralize it, as Mitt Romney did in 2012 in talking about his then-presidential primary rival Newt Gingrich: “There’s no question that politics ain’t beanbags. . . . The speaker has been attacking me all over the state in ways that are really extraordinary, in some respects painful to watch because it’s so revealing of him.”