[kellychaos]

Once they got locked into the whole "the wagons are circling" metaphor, the "noose is tightening" metaphor was the next logically progressive metaphor in the old west, cowboy motif. He IS a Texan, after all. They are clearly out of metaphors until maybe they bust out with the "trapdoor is sprung" or an "at death's door" metaphor at the very last tightening ... or some such.