In our third Gelf Cliché Watch, we have compiled even more of the assorted random pop-culture references that journalists like to sprinkle on their prose. (The first two are here and here.) One of our favorites has to do with the upcoming Israeli elections, but there are plenty more after the jump.

Peres will win the primaries on November 9 like a knife going through pâté de foie gras—Ha'aretz, Oct. 21.

Bush's poor polling numbers have been fodder for several similes recently.

Bush's presidency is sinking faster than New Zealand's Whakarewarewa Thermal Village: both sit precariously atop a locus of volcanic activity—Antiwar.com, Oct. 31.

National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman's [star] had been falling faster than George W. Bush's popularity—London Free Press, Oct. 21.

Perhaps the only organization getting worse press these days than Team Neocon is the Vikings, whose losing ways and maritime sexcapades have made Minnesotans long for the heady days of the Original Whizzinator. (Speaking of the Whizzinator—and this is slightly off-topic—the company definitely needs to do a better job of screening the testimonials it publishes on its website.)

As for Culpepper, the Vikings are sinking faster than the Titanic in the middle of Lake Minnetonka—Rocky Mountain News, Oct. 21.

Jeff Garcia is on the rise for the Lions, but the Vikings are sinking faster than one of Al and Alma's boats after a knee injury suffered by Daunte Culpepper—NBCSports.com, Oct. 31

Mariucci's status is sinking quicker than a Minnesota Vikings' charter boat—Scout.com, Oct. 25.

Other losers: Martha, Katrina, and Baseball.

'Marthavision' Falling Faster Than Bad Soufflé—Canton Repository, Oct. 30.

Perhaps that's because SUV sales are falling faster than rain from Hurricane Katrina, and there's not much any automaker, foreign or domestic, can do today—or in the next 24 months—about making them more fuel efficient—Forbes, Oct. 14.

Baseball wasn't living some idyllic traditional lifestyle when it began to evolve out of necessity. It was sinking like the Romanov Dynasty, only the Bolsheviks were the NFL—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Sept. 29.

Spot an interesting cliché, simile, or turn of phrase on television, in a magazine or newspaper, or on a news website or blog? E-mail Gelf with your find.

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